Ida Nappelbaum
The Knot of Arms

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Images(3)

Artist Ida NappelbaumRussian, 1900–1992

CultureRussian

Titles

The Knot of Arms

Datec. 1919

MediumBromoil print

DimensionsImage: 13 × 10 1/4 in. (33 × 26 cm)
Sheet: 13 × 10 1/4 in. (33 × 26 cm)

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

Object number2002.1708

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Special Collections

Manfred Heiting Collection of Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionNappelbaum was an accomplished portrait photographer in pre-revolutionary Russia and the early Soviet period, based in Saint Petersburg; his subjects included cultural, scientific, and political figures as notable as Vladimir Lenin. Characteristic of Pictorialist photography throughout Europe and America as well, Nappelbaum’s portraits often show handwork on the negatives in imitation of painting or drawing, and his choice of print process here—bromoil—was also calculated to give the appearance of a hand-drawn image, rather than one made mechanically. Little is known about this image, likely made in collaboration with his daughter Ida, an accomplished photographer in her own right, but the heavy makeup, dramatic lighting, and exaggerated poses all suggest a connection to cinema or theater of the period.
Provenanceartist family estate, Moscow; Howard Schickler, Topanga.

Bought by Manfred Heiting from Howard Schickler Fine Art, 7/22/1989.
Exhibition History“A History of Photography II: Selections from the Museum's Collection,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 17–July 19, 2015.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

nothing on recto and verso;

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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