Front / Recto

  • Title Untitled (Young Girl on New York Tenement Steps)
  • Negative Date 1920s–30s
  • Print Date 1920–55
  • Medium Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions Image 8 1/16 × 6 7/8" (20.5 × 17.5 cm)
    Mount 8 1/16 × 6 7/8" (20.5 × 17.5 cm)
  • Place Taken New York
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of Thomas Walther
  • MoMA Accession Number 1801.2001

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type Mount (original)
  • Marks and Inscriptions Stamped in black ink on mount verso, top center: IT WOULD BE GREATLY [stamp partially cut off at edge of mount]/IN PUBLISHING THIS PICTURE YOU WOULD/GIVE CREDIT TO/"PAUL PARKER, NEW YORK"/FOR YOUR USE ONLY. Inscribed in black ink on mount verso, center: 9803. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, left: 4:6/1:6. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, left: make one and 4’-6” and 40” wide/from/this/edge and section 7/C #1. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, right: make one and 1’-6” and section 7/C #2.
  • Provenance The artist. Carol Ehlers Gallery Ltd., Chicago [1]; purchased by Thomas Walther, April 21, 1998 [2]; given to The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] MacGill/Walther 2000, p. 26; Carol Ehlers Gallery Ltd. invoice, April 21, 1998; and Ehlers, letter to Audrey Sands, October 18, 2013. Although Ehlers recognizes the photograph, she has no recollection of its being sold by the gallery or of where it came from.
    [2] Ehlers invoice.

Surface

  • Surface Sheen Glossy
  • Techniques Mount
  • 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 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: Al, P, S, Fe, Zn, Rb, 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: Al, P, S, Ag, Ba
    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Fe, Zn, Rb, Sr, Ag, Pb

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