Aaron Siskind
No. 59

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Images(5)

Artist Aaron Siskind American, 1903–1991

CultureAmerican

Titles

No. 59
from the series Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation

Date1956, printed 1972

PlaceUnited States

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 10 1/16 × 9 9/16 in. (25.6 × 24.3 cm)
Sheet: 10 1/16 × 9 9/16 in. (25.6 × 24.3 cm)
Mount: 20 1/16 × 16 1/16 in. (51 × 40.8 cm)

Credit LineBequest of Morgan Garwood

Object number2014.168.6

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionKnown 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, 7/3/04 - 9/26/04

“A Critical Eye: Mid-Century American Photographs from the Morgan Garwood Collection,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 23–November 2, 2014.
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 / #59, 1956

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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