Film

Front / Recto

• Title Film (Maquette for Die neue Welt, with a filmstrip from Lotte Reiniger's Prinz Achmed [1926]) (Der Film)
• Negative Date 1926
• Print Date 1926
• Medium Two gelatin silver prints mounted on white cardboard
• Dimensions Image 8 1/4 × 1 5/16" (20.9 × 3.4 cm)
  Mount 11 5/8 × 8 1/4" (29.6 × 21 cm)
  
• Place Taken Basel
• Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of Thomas Walther
• MoMA Accession Number 1817.2001
• Copyright © Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin

Back / Verso

• Mount Type Mount (original)
• Marks and Inscriptions

  White label affixed to mount recto, bottom left, with text printed in black ink: aus einem x=beliebigen film. naturalistisch!/LOTTE REINIGER: aus dem trickfilm "prinz achmed"/symbolisch! [1]. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, bottom left: 81.2.14.2. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, bottom right: TW 770705.

  [1] "from an arbitrary film. naturalistic! . . . from the animated film Prinz Achmed symbolic!"
• Provenance The artist, Basel; to the Meyer estate (Léna Meyer-Bergner), Basel [1]; purchased by Egidio Marzona, Berlin/Bielefeld, 1975-76 [2]; purchased by Prakapas Gallery, Bronxville, N.Y., c. February 14, 1981 [3]; sold through Swann Galleries, New York (sale 1510, lot 399), to Thomas Walther, October 29, 1989 [4]; given to The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
  [1] Eugene Prakapas, letter to Simon Bieling, April 2005.
  [2] Ibid.
  [3] Ibid.; and Prakapas Gallery inventory no. 81.2.14.2 on mount verso. The inventory number indicates that the work was purchased on or shortly prior to February 14, 1981.
  [4] Swann Galleries Inc. invoice no. 6608, October 29, 1989

Surface

• Surface Sheen Semireflective
• Techniques Mount
  Contact print
  Film frame
  
• 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: P, S, Cl, Ca, Zn, Sr, Ag, Ba
  • Verso: Al, Si, P, S, Ca, 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, Cl, Ca, Ag, Ba

  

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

In Context

Historic Videos

Historical Publications

• Meyer, Hannes. "Die neue Welt." Das Werk 13, no. 7 (1926): 220 (as Der Film).

Related People

• Artist

  • Hannes Meyer
    

• Associated Artist

  • Lotte Reiniger