Paul Strand
Ceramic and Fruit

Ceramic and Fruit

© Aperture Foundation, Inc., Paul Strand Archive

Ceramic and Fruit
Ceramic and Fruit
ArtistAmerican, 1890–1976
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Ceramic and Fruit
Date1916
PlaceUnited States
MediumPlatinum print
DimensionsImage: 9 5/8 × 12 11/16 in. (24.4 × 32.2 cm)
Sheet: 10 × 13 1/8 in. (25.4 × 33.3 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Brown Foundation Accessions Endowment
Object number94.62
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
DescriptionFrom the moment in 1909 when he graduated from Manhattan’s Ethical Culture School, where he had studied with photographer and sociologist Lewis Hine, Paul Strand was committed to a career in photography. In 1914 or 1915, Strand took his portfolio of soft-focus Pictorialist compositions to Alfred Stieglitz, who praised them but advised him to shift to a more direct, sharply focused approach. Strand took this advice to heart and, in 1916, produced a body of work that bordered on abstraction and more closely related to the work of Cézanne and Picasso that he had seen at Stieglitz’s gallery, 291, than to any photography that had come before. Strand’s pictures from 1916 to 1917 were the last photographs shown at Stieglitz’s gallery and were published in Stieglitz’s influential journal, “Camera Work,” pointing the way to a new, modern style of photography. This platinum print is the only known print of “Ceramic and Fruit.”
Provenance[Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico]; purchased by MFAH, 1994.
Exhibition History"Paul Strand, Circa 1916," Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, March 10–May 31, 1998; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, June 19–September 15, 1998.

"A Love Affair with Pictures: 25 Years of Collecting Photographs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 14–December 30, 2001.

"Alfred Stieglitz et son circle. Modernity in New York 1905-1930," Musée d'Orsay, Paris, October 18, 2004–January 16, 2005; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Renia Sofia, Madrid, February 10–May 17, 2005.

Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscription: in pencil, upper left edge, verso:
"EW-ABSTR-"
The photograph is neither signed nor dated.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Kurt Baasch
Paul Strand
1913
Platinum print
2004.676
Window, San Antonio, Texas
Paul Strand
May 1918
Platinum print
80.64
Exposition, San Diego
Paul Strand
1915
Platinum print
80.67
Gaspé
Paul Strand
1936
Platinum print
2002.2372
Durham Cathedral: The Font
Frederick H. Evans
1905
Platinum print
94.120
Untitled
Doris Ulmann
c. 1916
Platinum print on original mount
97.84
Town Hall, New Hampshire
Paul Strand
1946
Gelatin silver print
91.2019
The White Fence
Paul Strand
1916, printed 1976–1977
Gelatin silver print
84.195.1
Iris
Paul Strand
1928, printed 1976–1977
Gelatin silver print
84.195.3
Blind Woman
Paul Strand
1916, printed 1976–1977
Gelatin silver print
84.195.2
The River Po
Paul Strand
1953, printed 1976–1977
Gelatin silver print
84.196.1
Oil Refinery
Paul Strand
1963, printed 1976–1977
Gelatin silver print
84.195.10