Jerome, Arizona 20
Artist
Aaron Siskind
(American, 1903 - 1991)
CultureAmerican
Date1949
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsOverall, Image: 19 1/2 × 13 3/4 in. (49.5 × 34.9 cm)
Overall, Paper: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
Overall, Mat: 28 × 22 in. (71.1 × 55.9 cm)
Overall, Paper: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
Overall, Mat: 28 × 22 in. (71.1 × 55.9 cm)
InscribedSigned and titled on reverse.
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Menschel
Object number78.576O
Not on view
DescriptionThis is a photograph of peeling paint.Label TextAaron Siskind American (1903-1991) Jerome, Arizona 20, 1949 Gelatin-silver print Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Menschel 78.576o ~ During the 1930s, Aaron Siskind was an active member of the New York based Photo League. But the documentary approach espoused by that organization, did not satisfy all of Siskind's needs. He recalled that "for some reason or other there was in me the desire to see the world clean and fresh and alive, as primitive things are clean and fresh and alive. The so-called documentary picture left me wanting some- thing." In the early 1940s Siskind shifted his style of photography dramatically and began to make abstract pictures. He has said that "for the first time in my life, subject matter, as such, had ceased to be of primary importance. Instead I found myself involved in the relationships of these objects, so much so that these pictures turned out to be deeply moving and personal experiences." To make a photograph that was not about the object photo- graphed but rather how that object looked ina two-dimensional photograph was a new concept. At first the only admirers of Siskind's work were the abstract expressionist painters, and in particular Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline. With time, Siskind's achievement of developing a new style of photography has come to be appreciated by connossieurs of the photographic image.Exhibition History"Hidden Treasures," The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., Nov. 26, 1985 - Jan. 5, 1986. "Making and Meaning: Selections from the Chrysler Museum of Art Collection," Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, June 1 - August 11, 2013.
