Aaron Siskind
No. 474

No. 474

© Courtesy of the Aaron Siskind Foundation

No. 474
No. 474
ArtistAmerican, 1903–1991
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • No. 474
  • from the series Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation
Date1954, printed 1972
PlaceUnited States
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 10 × 9 1/2 in. (25.4 × 24.1 cm)
Sheet: 10 × 9 1/2 in. (25.4 × 24.1 cm)
Mount: 20 1/8 × 16 1/8 in. (51.1 × 41 cm)
Credit LineBequest of Morgan Garwood
Object number2014.168.2
Not on view

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Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

Known for pushing the boundaries of photographic abstraction, Aaron Siskind made this striking series of divers at Lake Michigan in Chicago from 1953 to 1961. His early work was social documentary, but in the 1940s be began to shift towards abstract images that were metaphorically oriented, closing in on recognizable subjects like graffiti or sea grass on sand to isolate expressive forms. Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation, too, focuses tightly on the subject, cropping out any identifying background so that the figures float against a white expanse. Like Siskind’s abstractions, the series is psychologically expressive; as some bodies appear relaxed and others contorted in their efforts, the figures balance on the pinnacle between a human desire for flight and fear of falling.


ProvenanceMorgan Garwood, New York; bequeathed to MFAH, 2014.
Exhibition History"Aaron Siskind: Centennial Celebration," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 2–September 26, 2004.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Signed in pencil on the mount lower right below image: Aaron Siskind
Printed gallery label verso with additional text typed:
LIGHT / 1018 MADISON AVENUE / NEW YORK, N.Y. 10021 / AARON SISIKIND / Terrors and Pleasures of / Levitation / No. 474, 1954

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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