Dr. Dain L. Tasker

mounted, signed, titled, and dated by the photographer in pencil on the mount, matted, 1930 (Tasker, cover and unpaginated; Flora Photographica, pl. 180; Pictorialism in California, pl. 81; Modernist Photographs, pl. 74)

Collection of Hal Mohr and Evelyn Venable

Acquired by the present owner from the Estate of Evelyn Venable, 1994

This warm-toned print, on matte-surface paper mounted to a cream-colored board, is in generally excellent condition. There are three tiny deposits of original retouching in the center of the image. The mount is appropriately age-darkened and its corners are worn. There is a faint 1½-inch handling crease in the lower-right corner of the mount. The upper edge of the mount is bumped, and the tip of the upper right corner of the mount is bent.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Dr. Dain Tasker worked as chief radiologist at Wilshire Hospital in Los Angeles.  An active amateur photographer, Tasker first began making x-ray images of flowers in 1930.  By placing a flower directly onto a sheet of film, and then exposing it to x-rays, Tasker produced an image which he then used as a negative from which to make finished prints.  Through practice, Tasker perfected this technique to produce graceful images that rendered his subjects in subtly-shifting gray tones.  Reluctant to promote his own work, he was encouraged by photographer Will Connell to exhibit in the 1931 and '32 salons of the Camera Pictorialists of Los Angeles.  That group had named the calla lily image offered here one of the hundred best photographs of 1930.  Tasker exhibited his x-ray flower photographs at the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco in 1939, and in that year published an article about his own work in the U.S. Camera Annual.