Front / Recto

  • Title Untitled
  • Negative Date 1931
  • Print Date 1931–35
  • Medium Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions Image 8 11/16 x 6 1/2" (22 x 16.5 cm)
  • Place Taken Dessau
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Abbott-Levy Collection funds, by exchange
  • MoMA Accession Number 1914.2001
  • Copyright © 2015 Makoto Yamawaki

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type No mount
  • Marks and Inscriptions Signed in pencil on sheet verso, bottom right: Iwao 1931. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, bottom center: PF 16769.
  • Provenance The artist; to Tom Jacobson, San Diego, 1985 [1]; to Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, 1996 [2]; purchased by Thomas Walther, September 24, 1996 [3]; purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] Howard Greenberg, e-mail to Simon Bieling, April 10, 2005; and Alicia Colen (Howard Greenberg Gallery), e-mail to Maria Morris Hambourg, October 25, 2013.
    [2] MacGill/Walther 2000, p. 43; Colen, e-mail to Hambourg; and Howard Greenberg Gallery inventory no. PF 16769 inscribed on print verso. The gallery acquired the print for a Yamawaki exhibition.
    [3] Howard Greenberg Gallery invoice no. 96-0624, September 24, 1996.

Surface

  • Surface Sheen Semireflective
  • Techniques Retouching (additive)
    Enlargement
  • 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 Metric
  • Weight Single weight
  • Thickness (mm) 0.18
  • UV Fluorescence Recto negative
    Verso negative
  • Fiber Analysis Softwood bleached sulfite 87%
    Hardwood bleached sulfite 5%
    Rag 6%
    Bast 2%
  • Material Techniques Developing-out paper
    Baryta-less 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: Al, Si, P, S, K, Ca, Cr, Zn, Sr, Ag, Ba
    • Verso: Al, Si, P, S, K, Ca, Cr, Zn, Sr, Ba

    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, P, S, K, Ca, Cr, Ag, Ba
    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Zn, Sr, Ag

In Context

Related Images

Iwao Yamawaki. Attack on the Bauhaus (Der Schlag gegen das Bauhaus). 1932. Gelatin silver print photomontage, 2 3/8 x 9 1/2" (6 x 9 cm). Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin. © Makoto Yamawaki
Iwao Yamawaki. Attack on the Bauhaus (Der Schlag gegen das Bauhaus). 1932. Reproduced in Kokusai-Kenchiku (International architecture) 8, no. 12. (December 1932). Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin. © Makoto Yamawaki

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