Siskind, Aaron. (1903–1991). Harlem Night Club. Harlem Night Club, from Harlem Document. Gelatin silver print, the image measuring 10 x 7 1/2 inches (25.4x19.1 cm.), the sheet 13 7/8x10 7/8 inches (35.2x27.6 cm.), with Siskind's signature, title, and negative date, in pencil, on verso. Circa 1936; printed circa 1970. Provenance: Alan Klotz Gallery, NYC. In very fine condition.
From the celebrated “Harlem Document”portfolio of photographs by Aaron Siskind that reveals Harlem in the 1930s when the country was in the middle of the Great Depression and the Harlem Renaissance, with its community of intellectuals and artists who celebrated the black experience in literature, visual art and music, was in decline. At that time, Siskind was part of the Photo League, a group committed to documenting social issues and created several consciousness-raising portfolios, of which “Harlem Document” is the most famous. Siskind was white and his subjects were almost all black but he managed over several years to become an accepted presence in the area. The photographs were exhibited as a group at least once during the period, but didn’t receive much attention and soon Siskind moved from documentary photography to a more aesthetic style in which he created abstract images from natural forms. It was that later work made him famous and furthered the argument for photography as an art form.
Siskind, Aaron. (1903–1991). Harlem Night Club. Harlem Night Club, from Harlem Document. Gelatin silver print, the image measuring 10 x 7 1/2 inches (25.4x19.1 cm.), the sheet 13 7/8x10 7/8 inches (35.2x27.6 cm.), with Siskind's signature, title, and negative date, in pencil, on verso. Circa 1936; printed circa 1970. Provenance: Alan Klotz Gallery, NYC. In very fine condition.
From the celebrated “Harlem Document”portfolio of photographs by Aaron Siskind that reveals Harlem in the 1930s when the country was in the middle of the Great Depression and the Harlem Renaissance, with its community of intellectuals and artists who celebrated the black experience in literature, visual art and music, was in decline. At that time, Siskind was part of the Photo League, a group committed to documenting social issues and created several consciousness-raising portfolios, of which “Harlem Document” is the most famous. Siskind was white and his subjects were almost all black but he managed over several years to become an accepted presence in the area. The photographs were exhibited as a group at least once during the period, but didn’t receive much attention and soon Siskind moved from documentary photography to a more aesthetic style in which he created abstract images from natural forms. It was that later work made him famous and furthered the argument for photography as an art form.