Front / Recto

  • Title Untitled
  • Negative Date 1924
  • Print Date 1924
  • Medium Pigment print
  • Dimensions Image 9 1/16 × 9 1/16" (23 × 23 cm)
  • Place Taken Prague
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Horace W. Goldsmith Fund through Robert B. Menschel
  • MoMA Accession Number 1843.2001
  • Copyright © 2015 Sylva Vitove-Rösslerova
  • Description

    This oil Pigment print, depicting a radio tube and receiver, belongs to a family of images based on the light sensitivity of bichromates. When bichromate salts suspended in gelatin are brushed onto paper and exposed to light, the colloid hardens onto the support and becomes receptive to the application of oil paint. Areas protected from light, on the other hand, remain water-soluble and resist oil-based mediums. When oil paint is stippled onto the exposed paper with a special brush, it preferentially adheres to hardened areas. The resulting images, such as this one, are both high in contrast and characteristically grainy. 

    From 1917 to 1921 Rössler apprenticed with and worked as a studio retoucher for František Drtikol, a well-known master of pigment processes. To make this print he carried out a number of precise and time-consuming steps. Using a negative from a 9 by 9 centimeter (3 9/16 by 3 9/16 inch) camera, he produced a standard gelatin silver print of the desired size, on thin paper. By placing this print in direct contact with gelatin silver paper and exposing it to light, he created a paper negative. This paper negative is also in the Thomas Walther Collection (MoMA 1844.2001). It is one of the five thinnest prints in the collection, but to increase its transparency, Rössler saturated it with oil, now darkened with age. Then he placed the paper negative in direct contact with bichromate-sensitized paper and exposed it to sunlight. Finally, after wetting the exposed paper, he stippled it with black oil paint. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis confirms the presence of chromium and the absence of silver, hallmarks of all pigment prints. Also detected were elements not usually associated with photographic materials, such as copper, probably from the pigment.

    —Lee Ann Daffner

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type No mount
  • Marks and Inscriptions Signed in pencil on sheet verso, center: [illegible character(s), possibly 24]/Rossler [underlined]. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, bottom center: P 9607018. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, bottom right: 253.
  • Provenance The artist, Prague; to Galerie Rudolf Kicken (Wilhelm Schürmann), Cologne, 1982 [1]; purchased by Thomas Walther, February 1997 [2]; purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 19; and Rudolf Kicken, conversation with Simon Bieling, Kicken Berlin, February 17, 2004. Kicken told Bieling that his former partner Wilhelm Schürmann was responsible for all acquisitions in the Czech Republic. The print was exhibited in Seen & Unseen, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, January 8–February 8, 1997.
    [2] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 19; and Galerie Rudolf Kicken invoice, February 27, 1997.

Surface

  • Surface Sheen Matte
  • Techniques Contact 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 Unknown
  • UV Fluorescence Recto negative
    Verso negative
  • Fiber Analysis Softwood bleached sulfite 96%
    Hardwood bleached sulfite 1%
    Rag 2%
    Bast 1%
  • Material Techniques Pigment print
  • XRF

    This work was determined to be a pigment (chromium-based) 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, Si, P, S, K, Ca, Cr, Fe, Zn, Br, Sr, Ba, Pb
    • Verso: Al, Si, P, S, Ca, Cr, 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, Si, P, S, K, Ca, Cr, Ba
    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Fe, Cu, Zn, Br, Sr, Pb

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