Géza Blattner

Front / Recto

Title Géza Blattner
Negative Date 1925
Print Date 1925–35
Medium Gelatin silver print
Dimensions Image 3 1/16 × 3 1/4" (7.7 × 8.2 cm)
Place Taken Paris
Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of Thomas Walther
MoMA Accession Number 1716.2001
Copyright © Estate of André Kertész

Back / Verso

Mount Type No mount
Marks and Inscriptions Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, top: 1925. XI. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, top right: 24 [circled]. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, center: My friend/G. Blattner/A Kertész. Signed in pencil on sheet verso, bottom right: A Kertész. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, bottom left: TW 840901.
Provenance The artist, New York. Deborah Stokes Hammer, New York [1]; to Allan Frumkin Gallery Photographs Inc. (Carol Ehlers), Chicago [2]; to Thomas Walther, September 1984 [3]; given to The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
[1] Carol Ehlers, e-mail to Simon Bieling, April 19, 2005; and Ehlers, letter to Audrey Sands, October 18, 2013.
[2] Ehlers, e-mail to Bieling; and Ehlers, letter to Sands.
[3] Thomas Walther archival no.TW 840901 on sheet verso.

Back Printing

Detail showing Guilleminot manufacturer logo (horse’s head in horseshoe/star) with postal type printed in ink on the verso of the photograph. In image processing, contrast was adjusted to enhance the readability of the logo. The area of detail is 2 x 2 cm. Department of Conservation, MoMA

Surface

Surface Sheen Semireflective
Techniques Retouching (additive)
Contact print
PTM

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 Double weight
Thickness (mm) 0.28
UV Fluorescence Recto negative
Verso negative
Fiber Analysis Hardwood bleached sulfite 2%
Softwood bleached sulfite 98%
Softwood bleached sulfite
Material Techniques Developing-out paper
Back printing
Photographic postcard
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, Cl, K, Ca, Fe, Zn, Sr, Ag, Ba, Pb
- Verso: Al, Si, P, S, K, Ca, Fe, Zn, Sr, Ba, Pb
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, Cl, K, Ca, Ag, Ba

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