Front / Recto

  • Title Ladder of Ladders (Escala de escalas)
  • Negative Date 1931
  • Print Date 1931–39
  • Medium Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions Image 9 3/8 × 7 5/16" (23.8 × 18.5 cm)
    Mount 10 5/8 × 12 7/8" (27 × 32.7 cm)
  • Place Taken Mexico City
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Grace M. Mayer Fund
  • MoMA Accession Number 1602.2001
  • Copyright © 2015 Estate of Manuel Alvarez Bravo / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type Mount (original)
  • Marks and Inscriptions Signed in pencil on mount recto, bottom right: M. Alvarez Bravo.
  • Provenance The artist, Mexico City; given to a writer (possibly Margaret Hooks), Mexico City, possibly 1931–39 [1]; purchased by Throckmorton Fine Art, New York, October 14, 1995 [2]; purchased by Thomas Walther, June 13, 1996 [3]; purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] Luke Leonard (Throckmorton Fine Art), e-mail to Simon Bieling, June 7, 2005; and Spencer Throckmorton, letter to Audrey Sands, September 27, 2013.
    [2] Leonard, e-mail to Bieling; and Throckmorton, letter to Sands.
    [3] Throckmorton Fine Art Inc. invoice no. 3077, June 13, 1996.

Surface

  • Surface Sheen Matte
  • Techniques Mount
    Retouching (additive)
  • 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 Imperial
  • 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, Ca, Zn, Br, Sr, Ag, Ba, Pb
    • Mount: Al, Si, P, Ca, Ti, Fe, Zn, Br, 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, Ca, Ti, Ag, Ba
    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Fe, Zn, Br, Sr, Ag, Pb

In Context

Historical Publications

  • Breton, André. "Souvenir du Mexique." Minotaure 3, nos. 12–13 (1939): 35.

Historical Exhibitions

  • Third exhibition of the Sociedad de Arte Moderno, Mexico City. Manuel Álvarez Bravo: Fotografías (no. 73, as Escala de escalas). July 1945.

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