Boats, Marseille

Front / Recto

• Title Boats, Marseille
• Negative Date 1929
• Print Date 1929–39
• Medium Gelatin silver print
• Dimensions Image 11 × 8 1/4" (27.9 × 21 cm)
  Sheet 11 1/4 × 8 9/16" (28.6 × 21.8 cm)
  Mount 11 5/16 × 8 11/16" (28.7 × 22 cm)
  
• Place Taken Marseille
• Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. The Family of Man Fund
• MoMA Accession Number 1792.2001
• Copyright © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Back / Verso

• Mount Type Mount (original)
• Marks and Inscriptions Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, top left: B 39. Signed in black ink on mount verso, center: L. Moholy-Nagy/Boats, Marseille/1929.
• Provenance The artist; by inheritance to the artist's second wife, Sybil Moholy-Nagy (1903–1971), Chicago [1]; to Dr. and Mrs. Adelson, Detroit [2]; purchased by Edwynn Houk Gallery, Chicago [3]; purchased by Thomas Walther, June 1990 [4]; purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
  [1] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 15; and Edwynn Houk Gallery invoice no. 4569, June 22, 1990.
  [2] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 15; and Houk invoice.
  [3] Houk invoice.
  [4] Ibid.

Surface

• Surface Sheen Glossy
• Techniques Mount
  Retouching (additive)
  Enlargement
  Ferrotyping
  
• 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 Unknown
• UV Fluorescence Recto negative
  Verso no data
• Fiber Analysis Softwood bleached sulfite 99%
  Hardwood bleached sulfite 1%
  Softwood bleached kraft/soda
  
• 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, Br, Sr, Ag, Ba, Pb
  • Mount: Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, Cr, Fe, Zn, Br, Sr, 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, Cr, Ag, Ba

  

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

In Context

Historic Videos

Historical Publications

• Newhall, Beaumont. “Aus dem optischen Notizbuch.” Das Illustrirte Blatt 17, no. 5 (February 2, 1929): 115 (as untitled photograph).

  “Photography of Tomorrow: Moholy-Nagy Creates New Vision.” Minicam Photography 5, no. 5 (January 1942): 52–53 (as untitled photograph).

  
   

Related People

• Artist

  • László Moholy-Nagy
    

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