Front / Recto

  • Title Untitled
  • Negative Date 1930
  • Print Date 1930–55
  • Medium Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions Image 9 1/16 × 6 5/8" (23 × 16.9 cm)
    Mount 12 3/16 x 9 3/8" (31 x 23.8 cm)
  • Place Taken Paris
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of Thomas Walther
  • MoMA Accession Number 1803.2001

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type Mount
  • Marks and Inscriptions Signed in black ink on mount recto, bottom right: R. Parry. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, bottom right: TW 871203.
  • Provenance The artist; by inheritance to the artist’s wife, Madeleine Parry [1]; to Nicholas Callaway, 1980–81 [2]; to Jill Quasha, New York, 1981 [3]; purchased by Thomas Walther, December 19, 1987 [4]; given to The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] MacGill/Walther 2001(4), p. 10.
    [2] Ibid.
    [3] Ibid.; and Jill Quasha, telephone conversation with Maria Morris Hambourg, September 16, 2013.
    [4] Jill Quasha invoice no. 452, December 19, 1987, annotated with Thomas Walther archival no. TW 871203; and Walther archival no. TW 871203 on mount verso.

Surface

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

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