Strand’s small yard on West Eighty-Third Street was nothing much: a fenced-in plot with a few trees. When he first photographed it in 1913, he had shown it in springtime, softening his focus on trees in full flower. Four years later, the yard’s simple configuration of dirt, fence, and flora was consistent as ever. But Strand’s eye had evolved. Awakened to Cubist paintings and Japanese prints, he apprehended the familiar space as a field of light, shadow, and sublime geometry. His earlier picture was cloying, with only an errant streak of empty clothesline anticipating the composition to come. Returning in 1917, he observes from above, finding instead a bright white sheet expectant with possibilities.
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Inscription: Inscribed in pencil, verso UR; "1917 // T - 30"; inscribed in pencil, verso LL: "PS 79672"; inscribed in pencil, verso LR: "M";
Paul Strand Foundation; [Zabriskie Gallery, New York]; John C. Waddell, New York (April 6, 1983)
X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry, a non-invasive method for elemental analysis, confirmed that the image material for this print is platinum. (See also Barro in References)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 23–December 31, 1989.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 28–April 22, 1990.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 10–July 15, 1990.
High Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 5–April 28, 1991.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 8–August 4, 1991.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Johnson Gallery, Selections from the Collection 5," June 14–August 28, 1994.
IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia. "The New Vision, IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia," January 20, 1995–March 26, 1995.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "Paul Strand: Circa 1916," June 19, 1998–September 15, 1998.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Johnson Gallery, Selections from the Collection 30," September 24, 2001–January 20, 2002.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Charles Sheeler's Contemporaries," June 3–August 17, 2003.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand," November 8, 2010–April 10, 2011.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Paul Strand: Master of Modern Photography," October 11, 2014–January 4, 2015.
Hambourg, Maria Morris. The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars, Ford Motor Company Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989. no. 104.
Hambourg, Maria Morris. Paul Strand: Circa 1916. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998. no. 53.
Barro, Lisa. "The Deterioration of Paul Strand's Satista Prints." Topics in Photographic Preservation 10 (2003). pp. 37–54.
Barberie, Peter, and Amanda N. Bock, ed. Paul Strand: Master of Modern Photography. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2014. no. 32.
Paul Strand (American, New York 1890–1976 Orgeval, France)
1933, printed 1940
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