Balconies
Artist
Aleksandr Rodchenko
(Russian, 1891-1956)
CultureRussian
Date1925
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsOverall, Image: 8 3/4 x 4 1/2 in. (22.2 x 11.4 cm)
InscribedRodchenko's stamp is on the verso.
Credit LineMuseum purchase, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Photography Endowment Fund
Object number95.14
Not on view
Label TextAleksandr Rodchenko
Russian (1891-1956)
Balconies, 1925
Gelatin silver print
Purchase, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Photography Fund 95.14
Originally trained as a painter, Aleksandr Rodchenko became one of the giants of 20th-century photography, pioneering new photographic processes and ideas. He was active in Russia during the dynamic and intensely creative years following the 1917 Revolution and was able to continue working there even after the Communists came to power.
Mainly self-taught, Rodchenko began experimenting with photomontage in 1923, working as a magazine photographer and photo-reporter. His abstract images eliminated unnecessary detail and emphasized dynamic compositions. To challenge the viewer's perception and delay recognition, he often photographed scenes from odd angles. He achieved this by pointing the camera up or down, constructing new realities within the picture plane. Balconies is a prime example of his constructivist approach to photography.
Exhibition History"Photography Speaks II: 70 Photographers on Their Art from The Chrysler Museum Collection," The Chrysler Museum of Art, November 11, 1995 - March 31, 1996
"Treasures for the Community: The Chrysler Collects, 1989-1996," October 25, 1996 - February 16, 1997
"Silver Images: The Photography Collection at 25," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., November 5, 2003 - August 2004.
"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.Published ReferencesBrooks Johnson. _Photography Speaks II_. Norfolk, VA: Aperture/The Chrysler Museum of Art, 1995, 68-69, ill. p. 69.
Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 4 det. & 109 fig. 131. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1
