Front / Recto

  • Title Moscow Illuminations Celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of the Russian Revolution (Moskva noch’iu v oktiabr’ skie dni)
  • Negative Date 1927
  • Print Date 1927–39
  • Medium Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions Image 9 1/8 × 11 7/16" (23.2 × 29 cm)
  • Place Taken Moscow
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Abbott-Levy Collection funds, by exchange
  • MoMA Accession Number 1712.2001

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type No mount - evidence previous mounting
  • Marks and Inscriptions Signed in pencil on sheet verso, top left: PK.
  • Provenance The artist; to El Lissitzky (1890–1941), Moscow [1]; by inheritance to the estate of El Lissitzky (the artist’s son, Jen Lissitzky), 1941 [2]; to Priska Pasquer, Photographic Art Consulting, Cologne, 1996 [3]; purchased by Thomas Walther, July 10, 1996 [4]; purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] Priska Pasquer, letter to Maria Morris Hambourg, October 28, 2013. According to Priska Pasquer, "[El] Lissitzky received the print during his lifetime. When Lissitzky was sick he worked a lot with prints by other photographers, for example for USSR in Construction [magazine]. It is said that he was lying in his bed covered with photographs from other photographers, producing montages and collages."
    [2] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 10.
    [3] Ibid.; and Pasquer, letter to Hambourg.
    [4] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 10; MacGill/Walther 2000(2), p. 51; and Priska Pasquer, Photographic Art Consulting invoice, July 12, 1996.

Surface

  • Retouch Detail
    Detail showing pencil retouching, possibly graphite. The area of detail is 10 x 17 mm. Department of Conservation, MoMA
    Detail showing pencil retouching, possibly graphite. The area of detail is 10 x 17 mm. Department of Conservation, MoMA
  • Surface Sheen Semireflective
  • Techniques Retouching (additive)
    Enlargement
    Double exposure
  • 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
  • UV Fluorescence Recto negative
    Verso negative
  • Fiber Analysis Rag 72%
    Bast 28%
  • Material Techniques Developing-out paper
    Baryta-less 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, Si, P, S, Ca, Fe, Zn, Ag
    • Verso: Al, Si, P, Ca, Cr, Fe, Zn, Ag

    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, Cr, Fe, Ag
    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Fe, Zn, Ag

In Context

Related Images

Spread from Novyi Lef: Zhurnal levogo fronta iskusstv (New left: Journal of the left front of the arts) 10. 1927. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of The Judith Rothschild Foundation. Left: Roman Karmen. Moscow at Night in the October Days (Moskva noch’iu v oktiabp’skie dni)
Knud Lönberg-Holm. New York: Broadway at Night(New York: Broadway bei Nacht). Page 150 in Erich Mendelsohn. Amerika: Bilderbuch eines Architekten (America: An architect’s picture book). Berlin: Rudolf Mosse Buchverlag, 1926. The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York. © The Knud Lonberg-Holm Archive from the Marc Dessauce Collection

Historical Publications

  • Novy Lef 1, no. 10 (1927): insert facing p. 9 (as Moskva noch’iu v oktiabr’ skie dni).

Historical Exhibitions

  • Städtische Ausstellungshallen, Stuttgart. Internationale Ausstellung des Deutschen Werkbunds Film und Foto (Fifo). Organized by Deutscher Werkbund. May 18–July 7, 1929. (traveling exhibition)

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