Front / Recto

  • Title Photogram Signet (Fotogramm-Signet)
  • Negative Date 1925–29
  • Print Date 1925–39
  • Medium Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions Image 9 3/8 x 7" (23.8 x 17.8 cm)
    Mount 17 3/8 × 12 13/16" (44.2 × 32.5 cm)
  • Place Taken Berlin
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Abbott-Levy Collection funds, by exchange
  • MoMA Accession Number 1799.2001
  • Copyright © Sigrid Nerlinger

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type Mount (original)
  • Marks and Inscriptions Signed in pencil on mount recto, bottom left: Oscar Nerlinger. White label affixed to mount recto, bottom left, with text printed in black ink: 37. Inscribed in pencil on mount recto, bottom right: NERLINGER. White label affixed to mount verso, center, with text printed in black ink: fotogramm-signet. Stamped in black ink on mount verso, center: OSCAR NERLINGER/BERLIN-CHARLOTTENBURG 5/DERNBURGSTR. 25/TEL.: WESTEND 218. Inscribed in red pencil on mount verso, bottom left: 41.
  • Provenance The artist, Berlin; by inheritance to the artist's estate, Berlin, 1969 [1]; to Galerie Berinson, Berlin [2]; purchased by Thomas Walther; purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] MacGill/Walther 2000, p. 26.
    [2] Ibid.

Surface

  • Surface Sheen Semireflective
  • Techniques Mount
    Retouching (additive)
    Copy print
  • 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, Ba, Pb
    • Mount: Al, Si, S, K, Ca, Fe, Zn, Rb, 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, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ba
    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Fe, Zn, Rb, Ag, Sr, Pb

In Context

Related Images

Spread from Werner Gräff. Es kommt der neue Fotograf! Berlin: H. Reckendorf, 1929. The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York. Left: Sasha Stone, Berlin. Right: Oscar Nerlinger, Berlin. © Sigrid Nerlinger

Historical Publications

  • Gräff, Werner. Es kommt der neue Fotograf, p. 47 (as untitled photograph). Berlin: Verlag Hermann Reckendorf, 1929.

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