Front / Recto

  • Title Untitled (The Strange Encounter)
  • Negative Date 1929–32
  • Print Date 1929–32
  • Medium Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions Image 9 x 11 1/2" (22.9 x 29.2 cm)
    Mount 10 1/16 × 12 13/16" (25.6 × 32.6 cm)
  • Place Taken Paris
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of Walker Evans, by exchange
  • MoMA Accession Number 1785.2001
  • Copyright © 2015 Lee Miller Archives, England

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type Mount (original)
  • Marks and Inscriptions Signed in pencil on mount recto, bottom right: Lee Miller. Stamped in black ink on mount verso, center: LEE MILLER/12, RUE VICTOR/CONSIDERANT/PARIS XIV. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, bottom right: TW 811101.
  • Provenance The artist, Paris. Possibly Julien Levy Gallery, New York. Purchased by Allan Frumkin Gallery Photographs Inc. (Carol Ehlers), Chicago [1]; purchased by Thomas Walther, November 1981 [2];purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] MacGill/Walther 2000, p. 24.
    [2] Thomas Walther archival no. TW 81101 on mount verso; MacGill/Walther 2000(2), p. 19; and Allan Frumkin Gallery Photographs Inc. invoice, November 6, 1981.

Surface

  • Surface Sheen Matte
  • Techniques Mount
    Retouching (additive)
    Enlargement
  • 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 Metric
  • 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, Cl, Ca, Zn, Rb, Sr, Ag, Ba, Pb
    • Mount: Al, Si, Ca, Fe, Zn, 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, Cl, Ca, 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

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