Front / Recto

  • Title Dive (Pryzhok v vodu)
  • Negative Date 1934
  • Print Date 1934–39
  • Medium Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions Image 11 11/16 x 9 3/8" (29.7 x 23.8 cm)
  • Place Taken Moscow
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of Shirley C. Burden, by exchange
  • MoMA Accession Number 1827.2001

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type No mount
  • Marks and Inscriptions Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, center: N. 42 [illegible]/[illegible].
  • Provenance The artist, Moscow; to Sovetskoe Foto, Moscow, 1930s [1]; to a private collection [2]; to Priska Pasquer, Photographic Art Consulting, Cologne, 1998 [3]; purchased by Thomas Walther, June 22, 1998 [4]; purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 18; and Priska Pasquer, Photographic Art Consulting invoice, June 22, 1998.
    [2] Pasquer invoice.
    [3] Ibid.; and Pasquer, letter to Maria Morris Hambourg, October 28, 2013.
    [4] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 18; and Pasquer invoice.

Surface

  • Retouch Detail
    Detail showing aqueous retouching, applied with a brush, and etching. The area of detail is 14 x 22 mm. Department of Conservation, MoMA
    Detail showing aqueous retouching applied with a brush. The area of detail is 4.5 x 6 mm. Department of Conservation, MoMA
  • Surface Sheen Glossy
  • Techniques Retouching (additive)
    Coating
    Enlargement
    Retouching (reductive)
  • 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 negative
  • Fiber Analysis Softwood bleached sulfite 100%
  • 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: Al, P, S, Ca, Zn, Sr, Ag, Ba
    • Verso: Al, 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, P, S, K, Ca, Ba, Ag
    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Fe, Zn, Sr, Ag

In Context

Historic Videos

Rodchenko's Dive: A Closer Look: An in-depth look at the surface of Aleksandr Rodchenko's Dive photograph, using polynomial texture mapping (PTM).

Historical Exhibitions

  • Moscow. Vystavka rabot masterov sovetskogo fotoiskusstva (Exhibition of the Work of the Masters of Soviet Photography). 1935.

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