Aaron Siskind. Photographer
Rochester, NY: George Eastman House, 1965. 1st Edition. Quarto, publisher's carmine cloth, spine and upper board stamped in black, crimson endpapers, original illustrated dust jacket.
Monograph on abstract photographer Aaron Siskind, published in conjunction with an exhibition of his work held at the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY in 1965. Raised on the Lower East Side, Siskind joined the Workers Film and Photo League, where he spearheaded the seminal Harlem Document series, considered one of the most significant records of Black urban America during the Great Depression. His work grew increasingly abstract, influenced by the work of painter-peers Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, and Willem de Kooning. Capturing close-range shots of surfaces and objects such as graffiti, peeling paint, posters, debris, refuse, and woodgrain, his avant-garde ambiguity made him a pivotal figure in the ongoing evolution of photography as an artform rather than solely a form of documentation. This volume comprises photos from over the course of 30 years taken in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Martha’s Vineyard, and Mexico selected by Nathan Lyons, with essays by photographer Henry Holmes Smith and ARTNews editor Thomas B. Hess. Illustrated with black-and-white plates; with an exhibition checklist, bibliography, and chronology. Issued as George Eastman House Monograph Number 5. Unclipped dust jacket with light soiling and edgewear. Very good. Item #10532
$65.00