Paul Outerbridge, Jr.

platinum print, mounted, signed and dated in pencil on the mount, an 'Estate of Paul Outerbridge Jr.' estate stamp with number '305' in pencil, a typed caption label, and number '79' in pencil, on the reverse, 1921

Estate of the photographer

G. Ray Hawkins Gallery, Los Angeles

Robert Shapazian, Los Angeles

Sotheby’s New York, 8 May 1984, Sale 5176, Lot 244

Private collection, New York

Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, 1997

Open Secrets: Seventy Pictures on Paper, 1815 to the Present (Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, and Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, 1996), pl. 40 (this print)

Paul Outerbridge, ‘Visualizing Design in the Commonplace,’ Arts & Decoration, September 1922, p. 320

Elaine Dines, Paul Outerbridge: A Singular Aesthetic, Photographs & Drawings, 1921-1941 (Laguna Beach Museum of Art, 1981), pl. 2

Graham Howe and G. Ray Hawkins, eds., Paul Outerbridge Jr.: Photographs (New York, 1980), p. 38

This exquisitely-rendered early platinum print, on a buff-colored embossed mount, is in generally excellent condition. The mount's edges are rubbed and appropriately age-darkened. The corners are bumped, with small abrasions at the top corners. The reverse is lightly soiled. The typed label on the reverse reads, 'One of the earliest experiments in light and form pattern - Here two simple objects, a saw and a square, have been combined with shadows used as a component part of the design. The saw has been purposely thrown out of focus to resolve the teeth into a straight edge.'
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.

Paul Outerbridge, one of the most successful and technically-innovative commercial photographers of his day, can be credited with creating the conventions of the modern studio still life.  Yet the print of Saw and Square offered here demonstrates the extent to which the photographer would subvert compositional conventions to create compelling personal imagery.  Using a saw and a carpenter’s square, he has crafted a complex abstract composition punctuated by triangular and quadrilateral patches of light.  Made at the outset of his career, a year before his iconic Ide Collar (Howe, p. 35), Saw and Square shows the photographer's early refinement of his talent and his ability to create a novel composition from unlikely subject matter.  

This photograph's wide array of subtle gray and black tones is expertly rendered by Outerbridge in the platinum print process.  Although the First World War made platinum scarce, Outerbridge felt strongly that certain of his photographs were most successfully printed on platinum paper.  For this reason, he printed even the best of his platinum images in very limited quantities.  The photograph offered here is believed to be the only print of this image to have been offered at auction, and was originally sold in these rooms in 1984. Another print of this image is in the collection of the Library of Congress. 

Outerbridge authority Paul Martineau notes that this image was first reproduced in the September 1922 issue of Arts & Decoration magazine, accompanying Outerbridge's article, 'Visualizing Design in the Commonplace.'  Outerbridge describes it there as 'a purely abstract composition in which a saw and box are arranged to form a geometric design.'