Front / Recto

  • Title Dessau
  • Negative Date 1931
  • Print Date 1931–39
  • Medium Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions Image 10 7/16 × 8 3/8" (26.5 × 21.3 cm)
  • Place Taken Dessau
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of Thomas Walther
  • MoMA Accession Number 1915.2001
  • Copyright © 2015 Makoto Yamawaki

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type No mount
  • Marks and Inscriptions Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, top right: dessau [illegible]. Stamped in black ink on sheet verso, bottom center: IWAO YAMAWAKI, ARCHITECT/&/ASSOCIATES/4-3-24 KOMABA MEGUROKU TOKYO/JAPAN · TELEPHONE 03-467-1341 [with rectangular outline].
  • 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]; given to The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] MacGill/Walther 2001(4), p. 15; and Alicia Colen (Howard Greenberg Gallery), e-mail to Maria Morris Hambourg, October 25, 2013.
    [2] MacGill/Walther 2001(4), p. 15; and Colen, e-mail to Hambourg. The gallery acquired the print for a Yamawaki exhibition.
    [3] MacGill/Walther 2001(4), p. 15; and 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) 0.16
  • UV Fluorescence Recto negative
    Verso negative
  • Fiber Analysis Softwood bleached sulfite 45%
    Rag 41%
    Bast 13%
  • 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, Zn, Sr, Ag, Ba
    • Verso: Al, 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, 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

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