Front / Recto

  • Title Music—A Sequence of Ten Cloud Photographs, No. 1
  • Negative Date 1922
  • Print Date 1922–37
  • Medium Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions Image 7 9/16 × 9 1/2" (19.2 × 24.2 cm)
    Sheet 7 15/16 × 9 15/16" (20.1 × 25.3 cm)
    Mount 21 7/8 × 18 1/4" (55.6 × 46.3 cm)
  • Place Taken Lake George
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of David H. McAlpin and Alfred Stieglitz, by exchange
  • MoMA Accession Number 1872.2001
  • Copyright © 2015 Estate of Alfred Stieglitz / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type Mount (original)
  • Marks and Inscriptions Inscribed in pencil on large mount verso, center: 22 and 39 [circled]. Inscribed in pencil on large mount verso, bottom right: Clouds Music #1/[illegible] 22/PL 46. Inscribed in pencil on large mount verso, bottom left: Rosenfeld.
  • Provenance The artist, New York; to Dorothy Norman, New York [1]; to Photofind Gallery (Howard Greenberg), New York, 1991[2]; purchased by Thomas Walther, April 13, 1991 [3]; purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 21; Alicia Colen (Howard Greenberg Gallery), e-mail to Maria Morris Hambourg, October 25, 2013; and Photofind Gallery invoice no. 91-0074, April 13, 1991.
    [2] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 21; and Colen, e-mail to Hambourg.
    [3] Photofind invoice.

Surface

  • Surface Sheen Semireflective
  • Techniques Mount
    Retouching (additive)
    Contact print
  • 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 Imperial
  • UV Fluorescence Recto negative
    Verso no data
  • Fiber Analysis No fiber data available
  • Material Techniques Developing-out paper
    Gaslight 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: P, S, Ca, Zn, Br, Sr, Ag, Ba, Pb
    • Verso or mount: not available

    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), Background (red)
    Elements identified: S, Ca, Ag, Ba
    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Zn, Br, Sr, Ag, Pb

In Context

Historical Exhibitions

  • The Anderson Galleries, New York. The Second Exhibition of Photography by Alfred Stieglitz (whole series, without individual titles, shown as nos. 78–87, as Music—A Sequence of Ten Cloud Photographs).

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