Front / Recto

  • Title Demonstration
  • Negative Date 1932
  • Print Date 1932–35
  • Medium Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions Image 11 5/8 × 9" (29.6 × 22.8 cm)
  • Place Taken Moscow
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of Shirley C. Burden, by exchange
  • MoMA Accession Number 1825.2001

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type No mount
  • Marks and Inscriptions

    Stamped in black ink on sheet verso, center: фото РОДЧЕНКО [1].

    [1] “Photo Rodchenko.”
  • 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] Pasquer, letter to Hambourg; MacGill/Walther 2000(2), p. 51; and Pasquer invoice.

Surface

  • Surface Sheen Glossy
  • Techniques 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 Metric
  • Weight Double weight
  • Thickness (mm) 0.28
  • UV Fluorescence Recto negative
    Verso negative
  • Fiber Analysis Softwood bleached sulfite 98%
    Hardwood bleached sulfite 2%
  • 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, Ca, Zn, Br, Sr, Ag, Ba, Pb
    • Verso: Al, S, K, Ca, Fe, Zn, 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, P, S, K, Ca, Ba, Ag
    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Fe, Zn, Br, Sr, Ag, Pb

In Context

Related Images

Aleksandr Rodchenko. Assembling for a Demonstration (Sbor na demonstratsiiu). 1928–30. Gelatin silver print, 19 1/2 × 13 7/8" (49.5 × 35.3 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Mr. and Mrs. John Spencer Fund
Aleksandr Rodchenko. Parade on Red Square (Parad na Krasnoi Plochadi). 1936. Gelatin silver print, 11 5/8 x 19 1/4" (29.5 x 48.9 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. David H. McAlpin Fund
Aleksandr Rodchenko. 1 maia 1928 g. v Moskve (1 May 1928 in Moscow). Reproduced in Novy Lef, no. 6 (June 1928). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of The Judith Rothschild Foundation

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