Front / Recto

  • Title Untitled (The Defeated Goalkeeper) (Der besiegte Torwart)
  • Negative Date 1925–28
  • Print Date 1925–35
  • Medium Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions Image 11 3/4 × 15 11/16" (29.8 × 39.8 cm)
  • Place Taken Budapest
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Abbott-Levy Collection funds, by exchange
  • MoMA Accession Number 1796.2001
  • Copyright © Estate of Joan Munkacsi, courtesy International Center of Photography

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type No mount - evidence previous mounting
  • Marks and Inscriptions Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, top left: 99 [circled]. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, top center: [1 or x] [circled]. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, top right: 82. Inscribed in blue pencil across sheet verso, left: ←9 1/8"→/p.8/Please be careful to shoot in/correct light so that retouch/will not show. Stamped in black ink on sheet verso, center: Aufnahme/Martin Munkácsy/Berlin-Wilmersdorf/Kaiserplatz 14/Telefon: Uhland 7565. Stamped in red ink on sheet verso, center and right: PHOTOGRAPH BY/MARTIN MUNKÁCSI/5 PROSPECT PLACE/NEW YORK CITY/MURRAY HILL 4-2443. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, center right: 24279/F12. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, bottom center: 17 [illegible] !!. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, bottom right: TW 900201.
  • Provenance The artist, New York; by inheritance to Joan Munkácsi, New York, 1963 [1]; to Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, 1985 [2]; to Laurence Miller Gallery, New York, 1990 [3]; purchased by Thomas Walther, February 1990 [4]; purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] Howard Greenberg, conversation with Simon Bieling, New York, April 10, 2005.
    [2] MacGill/Walther 2000, p. 26; and Alicia Colen (Howard Greenberg Gallery), e-mail to Maria Morris Hambourg, October 25, 2013.
    [3] Laurence Miller Gallery Inc. invoice, February 28, 1990, accession no. MM90001.
    [4] Ibid., annotated with Thomas Walther archival no. TW 900201; and Walther archival no. TW 900201 on sheet verso.

Surface

  • Retouch Detail
    Detail showing etching and aqueous retouching applied with a brush. The area of detail is 14.5 x 22 mm. Department of Conservation, MoMA
    Detail showing aqueous retouching applied with a brush. The area of detail is 12 x 18 mm. Department of Conservation, MoMA
  • Surface Sheen Semireflective
  • Techniques Retouching (additive)
    Retouching in negative
    Enlargement via lateral projection
  • 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
  • Weight Double weight
  • Thickness (mm) 0.35
  • UV Fluorescence Recto negative
    Verso negative
  • Fiber Analysis Softwood bleached sulfite 96%
    Hardwood bleached sulfite 4%
  • 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: Si, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Cr, Fe, Zn, Sr, Ag, Ba
    • Verso: Al, Si, S, K, Ca, Fe, Zn, Sr, Ba

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

In Context

Related Images

Martin Munkácsi. Photographs reproduced in Dr. Willy Meisl. “Der Tormann: die letzte Stütze seiner Mannschaft” ("The Goalie: The last support of his team"). Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung 37 no. 42 (October 14, 1928). © Estate of Martin Munkàcsi, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

Historical Publications

  • Meisl, Dr. Willy. “Der Tormann: die letzte Stütze seiner Mannschaft,” Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung 37, no. 42 (October 14, 1928): 1,804 (as untitled photograph, with the caption “Auch das kommt vor. Der durch irgendein gegnerisches Manöver oder eine Bodenunebenheir gerade im kritischsten Augenblicke auf den Rücken gefallene Tormann ist keine wehrlose Schildkröte. Auch in dieser unbequemen Lage faustet er geistesgegenwärtig noch den Ball vom Tore fort.”).

    Photographie, p. 111 (as untitled photograph). Paris: Arts et Métiers Graphiques, 1931.

    Das Deutsche Lichtbild: Jahresschau 1933, p. 82 (as gestürzter Torwart). Berlin: Robert & Bruno Schultz, 1933.

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