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
    Detail showing pencil retouching, possibly graphite, pressed into the emulsion. The area of detail is 7.5 x 12 mm. Department of Conservation, MoMA
  • Surface Sheen Semireflective
  • Techniques Retouching (additive)
    Enlargement
    Retouching in negative
    Retouching (reductive)
    Copy print
  • 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
  • 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).

    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ba, Ag
    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Fe, Zn, Br, Sr, Ag, Pb

In Context

Related Images

Spread from Sovetskoe Foto 11 (November 1927). Right: Semyon Fridlyand. GUM (GUM [State department store, Moscow]
Page from Sovetskoe Foto 4 (April 1928). “Illustrated Letter to the Publisher: Ours and Theirs.” Productive Arts, Bratenahl, Ohio. Photographs on the right are by Aleksandr Rodchenko; photographs on the left are by, top to bottom, Ira W. Martin, Albert Renger- Patzsch, and László Moholy-Nagy
Semyon Fridlyand. Durch die Galerie (Through the gallery). Reproduced in Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung 37, no. 48 (November 25, 1928). Courtesy Ullstein Bild. © 2014 Axel Springer SE

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

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