Front / Recto

  • Title Hamburg, Germany's Gateway to the World (Hamburg, Deutschlands Tor zur Welt)
  • Negative Date 1930
  • Print Date 1930–32
  • Medium Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions Image 15 7/8 × 16 1/2" (40.3 × 41.9 cm)
    Mount 19 1/8 × 19 5/8" (48.5 × 49.9 cm)
  • Place Taken Hamburg
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Abbott-Levy Collection funds, by exchange
  • MoMA Accession Number 1665.2001
  • Copyright © 2015 César Domela/ 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: Cesar Domela-Nieuwenhuis [underlined]. Inscribed in pencil on mount recto, bottom left: Fotomontage [illegible] für [illegible] Hamburg. White label affixed to mount verso, top left, with text printed in black ink: [logo of Pennsylvania Museum of Art] FIRST ANNUAL/PHILADELPHIA/INTERNATIONAL/SALON OF/PHOTOGRAPHY/MARCH 1932/PENNSYLVANIA/MUSEUM OF ART/SIXTY-NINTH/STREET BRANCH. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, center: 2 [circled]. Stamped in black ink on mount verso, center: C. DOMELA-NIEUWENHUIS/Pommersche Straße 12a./BERLIN-WILMERSDORF/Telefon H.2 Uhland 5119. Stamped in black ink on mount verso, bottom right: 0B/69.
  • Provenance The artist, Berlin [1]. Eckhard Neumann (1933–2006), Frankfurt am Main [2]; purchased by Thomas Walther; purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] Artist's stamp on mount verso.
    [2] MacGill/Walther 2000, p. 9.

Surface

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

In Context

Related Images

César Domela-Nieuwenhuis. Hamburg (Continental Europe’s Biggest Importer) (Hamburg [Kontinentaleuropas grösster Importplatz]). 1929. Gelatin silver print, 1981, 11 1/4 x 11 5/8" (28.5 x 29.5 cm). Courtesy Galleria Martini & Ronchetti, Genoa. © 2014 César Domela/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris
César Domela-Nieuwenhuis. Back and front covers of Hamburg, by Albert Renger-Patzsch. Hamburg: Gebrüder Enoch Verlag, 1930. The Manfred Heiting Photo Book Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. © 2014 César Domela/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris

Historical Publications

  • Domela-Nieuwenhuis, César. Fotomontage: Austellung im Lichthof des ehemaligen Kunstgewerbemuseums (as Werbefotomontage). Berlin: Staatliche Kunstbibliothek, 1931.

Historical Exhibitions

  • Ehemaliges Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin. Fotomontage (as Werbefotomontage). Organized by the Staatliche Kunstbibliothek. April 24–May 31, 1931.

    Pennsylvania Museum of Art, Sixty-ninth Street Branch, Philadelphia. First Annual Philadelphia International Salon of Photography. March 1932. (this print)

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