Front / Recto

  • Title Untitled
  • Negative Date 1926
  • Print Date 1926
  • Medium Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions Image 3 3/4 × 3 1/4" (9.5 × 8.3 cm)
  • Place Taken Budapest
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of Thomas Walther
  • MoMA Accession Number 1805.2001
  • Copyright © 2015 Hungarian Museum of Photography

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type No mount - evidence previous mounting
  • Marks and Inscriptions Embossed stamp on sheet recto, bottom left: PÉCSI/1926. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, top center: 8,3 x 9,5.
  • Provenance The artist, Budapest; to the artist’s wife, Rozika Pécsi, Budapest, probably 1956 [1]; to the Magyar Fotográfiai Múzeum, Kecskemét, Hungary [2]; by trade to Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, 1995 [3]; purchased by Thomas Walther, c. 1995 [4]; given to The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] Alicia Colen (Howard Greenberg Gallery), e-mail to Maria Morris Hambourg, October 25, 2013.
    [2] Ibid.
    [3] Ibid.; MacGill/Walther 2001(4), p. 10; Howard Greenberg, conversation with Simon Bieling, New York, April 10, 2005; and Csaba Morocz, e-mail to Bieling, June 11, 2005.
    [4] MacGill/Walther 2001(4), p. 10.

Back Printing

Detail showing K Ltd brand logotype printed in ink on the verso of the photograph. In image processing, contrast was adjusted to enhance the readability of the logotype. The area of detail is 2.5 x 2.5 cm. Department of Conservation, MoMA

Surface

  • Surface Sheen Semireflective
  • 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
  • Weight Double weight
  • Thickness (mm) 0.32
  • UV Fluorescence Recto negative
    Verso negative
  • Fiber Analysis Softwood bleached sulfite 32%
    Hardwood bleached sulfite 1%
    Rag 25%
    Bast 4%
    Grass 38%
  • Material Techniques Developing-out paper
    Back printing
    Photographic postcard
  • 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
    • Verso: Al, Si, P, 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, Si, S, K, Ca, Ag, Ba
    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Fe, Zn, Sr, Ag

In Context

Related Images

Ödön Palasovsky. Karmazsin (Crimson). Budapest: Új Föld kiadása, 1927. © Hungarian Museum of Photography

Historical Publications

  • Palaszovsky, Ödön. Karmazsin, cover. Budapest: Új Föld, 1927.

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