John Gutmann
Looking at the Game

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Images(3)

Artist John Gutmann (American, born Germany, 1905–1998)American, born Germany, 1905–1998

CultureAmerican

Titles

Looking at the Game

Date1935

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 9 7/8 × 6 1/2 in. (25.1 × 16.5 cm)
Sheet: 9 7/8 × 6 1/2 in. (25.1 × 16.5 cm)
Mount: 14 × 14 in. (35.6 × 35.5 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund, The Manfred Heiting Collection

Object number2002.1244

Not on view

Explore Further

Department

Photography

Special Collections

Manfred Heiting Collection of Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

Description

John Gutmann took up photography shortly before he fled
Nazi Germany. Once settled in America, he photographed his new home from every
possible angle. Gutmann’s dynamic, often humorous pictures animate the people,
places, and things seen in everyday life, from advertisements to children playing
in the street, to a man watching a sports match. Shot from a bird’s-eye view, Gutmannn’s
closely cropped Looking at a Game
gives no clues as to what kind of game is being watched, and instead
finds all the action in the crossed arms and legs of the man seated in front of
him.

ProvenanceThe artist; [Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco]; purchased by Manfred Heiting, July 11, 1985; purchased by MFAH, 2002.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Signed in pencil, recto, lower right below image on mount: John Gutman

Inscribed in pencil and erased, recto, lower left below image on mount: Looking at the Game

Inscribed in black ink, verso, top left: Looking at the game . // Rolleiflex
Printed in black on applied label with additions, verso, upper left: MILLS COLLEGE ART GALLERY // MILLS COLLEGE, CALIFORNIA // NUMBER 181 // EXHIBITOR // JOHN GUTMAN

Inscribed in black ink, verso, top right: John Gutman // 1074 Union Street // San Francisco Calif.

Printed in purple on applied label with stamp addition, verso, upper right: EXHIBITED AT // THE // California Camera Club // SAN FRANCISCO // AUG 36

Inscribed in pencil, verso, bottom right upside down: 146,10

Signed in pencil, recto, lower right below image: John Gutman

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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