Front / Recto

  • Title Girl with a Leica (Devushka s Leikoi)
  • Negative Date 1932–33
  • Print Date 1932–39
  • Medium Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions Image 11 13/16 x 8" (30 x 20.3 cm)
  • Place Taken Moscow
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of Shirley C. Burden, by exchange
  • MoMA Accession Number 1828.2001

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type No mount
  • Marks and Inscriptions

    Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, top left: 2). Stamped in black ink on sheet verso, top right: фото Родченко [1]. Signed in pencil on sheet verso, center: А. М. Родченко/Москва/1933 [2]. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, center: девушка с/лейкой [3].

    [1] “Photo Rodchenko.”

    [2] “A. M. Rodchenko Moscow 1933.”

    [3] “Girl with a Leica.”
  • Provenance The artist, Moscow; to John Heartfield (1891–1968); by inheritance to the estate of John Heartfield, 1968 [1]; to Kicken-Pauseback Galerie, Cologne, c. early 1987 [2]; purchased by Thomas Walther, March 1987 [3]; purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 18; and Rudolf Kicken, conversation with Simon Bieling, Kicken Berlin, February 17, 2005.
    [2] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 18; and Ina Schmidt-Runke (Kicken Berlin), e-mail to Maria Morris Hambourg, November 13, 2013.
    [3] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 18; and Kicken-Pauseback Galerie invoice no. 1026, March 18, 1987.

Surface

  • Surface Sheen Glossy
  • Techniques Retouching (additive)
    Enlargement
    Ferrotyping
  • PTM
    Detail 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
  • Weight Double weight
  • Thickness (mm) 0.26
  • UV Fluorescence Recto negative
    Verso negative
  • Fiber Analysis Softwood bleached sulfite 57%
    Grass 40%
    Rag 2%
    Softwood bleached kraft/soda 1%
  • 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: S, K, Ca, Zn, Rb, Sr, Ag, Ba
    • Verso: Al, Si, S, K, Ca, Fe, Zn, Rb, 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, S, K, Ca, Ag, Ba
    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Fe, Zn, Rb, Sr, Pb

In Context

Related Images

Aleksandr Rodchenko. Nikolai Assev. 1928. Gelatin silver print, 6 7/16 x 8 7/8" (16.3 x 22.5 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the photographer

Historical Exhibitions

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

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