Cologne Kalkerfeld Settlement, Balcony of the Penthouse of the "Blue Court"

Front / Recto

• Title Cologne Kalkerfeld Settlement, Balcony of the Penthouse of the "Blue Court" (Siedlung Köln-Kalkerfeld, Balkongliderung am Kopfhaus des "Blaues Hofes")
• Negative Date 1928
• Print Date 1928–55
• Medium Gelatin silver print
• Dimensions Image 8 3/4 × 5 3/8" (22.3 × 13.6 cm)
  Sheet 9 × 5 1/2" (22.8 × 14 cm)
  Mount 16 7/8 × 12 13/16" (42.9 × 32.5 cm)
  
• Place Taken Cologne
• Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Abbott-Levy Collection funds, by exchange
• MoMA Accession Number 1778.2001
• Copyright © 2015 / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Germany

Back / Verso

• Mount Type Mount (original)
• Marks and Inscriptions Inscribed in pencil on mount recto, bottom left: 1928. Signed in pencil on mount recto, bottom right: Werner Mantz. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, bottom left: ú 35. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, bottom right: TW 770702.
• Provenance The artist, Maastricht/Eijsden, the Netherlands; to Wilhelm Schürmann, probably 1976–77. [1]; purchased by Thomas Walther, July 1977; purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
  [1] MacGill/Walther 2000, p. 24; Wilhelm Schürmann, telephone conversation with Simon Bieling, April 1, 2005; and Ina Schmidt-Runke (Kicken Berlin), e-mail to Maria Morris Hambourg, November 13, 2013. Galerie Schürmann & Kicken published the portfolio Werner Mantz: 10 Photographs, 1927–1935, in 1977.

Surface

• Surface Sheen Semireflective
• Techniques Mount
  Retouching in negative
  Toning
  
• PTM
  

  Detail view of the recto of the artwork made using reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) software, which exaggerates subtle surface details and renders the features of the artwork plainly visible. Department of Conservation, MoMA
• Micro-raking
  

  Raking-light close-up image, as shot. Area of detail is 6.7 x 6.7 mm. Department of Conservation, MoMA

  

  Raking-light close-up image, processed. Processing included removal of color, equalization of the histogram, and sharpening, all designed to enhance visual comparison. Department of Conservation, MoMA

Paper Material

• Format Unknown
• UV Fluorescence Recto negative
  Verso no data
• Fiber Analysis No fiber data available
• Material Techniques Developing-out paper
  
• XRF

  This work was determined to be a gelatin silver print via X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry.

  The following elements have been positively identified in the work, through XRF readings taken from its recto and verso (or from the mount, where the verso was not accessible):

  • Recto: S, Cl, Ca, Zn, Se, Sr, Ag, Ba
  • Mount: Al, Si, S, K, Ca, Ti, Fe, Zn

  The graphs below show XRF spectra for three areas on the print: two of the recto—from areas of maximum and minimum image density (Dmax and Dmin)—and one of the verso or mount. The background spectrum represents the contribution of the XRF instrument itself. The first graph shows elements identified through the presence of their characteristic peaks in the lower energy range (0 to 8 keV). The second graph shows elements identified through the presence of their characteristic peaks in the higher energy range (8 to 40 keV).

  

  Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
  Elements identified: Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, Se, Ag, Ba

  

  Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
  Elements identified: Fe, Zn, Se, Sr, Ag

In Context

Related People

• Artist

  • Werner Mantz