Front / Recto
- Title In the Gallery (GUM, State Department Store, Moscow) (Auf der Galerie [GUM, Staatliches Kaufhaus, Moskau])
- Negative Date 1927
- Print Date 1927–37
- Medium Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions Image 8 9/16 × 6 5/8" (21.7 × 16.8 cm)
- Place Taken Moscow
- Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of Harold Edgerton, by exchange
- MoMA Accession Number 1671.2001
Back / Verso
- Mount Type No mount
- Marks and Inscriptions Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, top left: 4 [circled and erased]. Inscribed in black ink on sheet verso: auf der Galerie/Photo: Fridland (URSS). Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, bottom center: RMG# Fd9701.039-c.
-
Provenance
The artist. Pawel Barchan, Paris, before 1943 [1]; to Raymond Mary, South of France, 1944 [2]; to Serge Kakou, Paris, 1985–92 [3]; to Galerie Alain Paviot, Paris, 1997 [4]; to Robert Miller Gallery, New York, 1997 [5]; purchased by Thomas Walther, January 23, 1997 [6]; purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
[1] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 6; and Serge Kakou, e-mail to Simon Bieling, April 12, 2001. Pawel Barchan was an art critic, editor, photo agent, and collector in Paris. It is rare to find a photograph that was owned by Barchan, as most of his collection was seized by the Nazis, and he later died in a concentration camp. A print of Paris: Place de l’Opera, by Pierre Dubruil, sold by Christie’s New York (sale 8482, lot 202), October 3, 1996, has similar provenance information.
[2] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 6.
[3] Ibid.; and Kakou, e-mail to Bieling.
[4] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 6.
[5] Ibid.; and Robert Miller Gallery archival no. on sheet verso.
[6] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 6; MacGill/Walther 2000(2), p. 46; and Robert Miller Gallery invoice no. 8803P, January 23, 1997, printed with RMG no. Fd9701.039-C.
Surface
- Retouch Detail
- Surface Sheen Semireflective
- Techniques Retouching (additive) Enlargement Retouching in negative Retouching (reductive) Copy print
- PTM
- Micro-raking
Paper Material
- Format Unknown
- Weight Double weight
- Thickness (mm) 0.29
- UV Fluorescence Recto negative Verso negative
- Fiber Analysis Softwood bleached sulfite 94% Hardwood bleached sulfite 2% Rag 2% Softwood bleached kraft/soda 1%
- 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, S, Cl, Ca, Zn, Br, Sr, Ag, Ba, Pb
- Verso: Al, Si, S, K, Ca, Fe, Zn, Br, Sr, Ba, 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).
In Context
Related Images
Historical Publications
-
Sovetskoe Foto, no. 11 (1927).
Rodchenko, Aleksandr. “Polnaia bezgramotnost' ili melkaia gadost',” Novy Lef 2, no. 6 (1928): 45.
Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung 37, no 48 (November 25, 1928): 2,071 (as Durch die Galerie).
Historical Exhibitions
-
Paris. XXIIIe Salon International de Fotografie. 1928.
Related People
-
Artist
Related Links
- Cultural Hubs Moscow
- Publications Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung, 1917–31 Novyi lef, 1927–28