When he made this picture in 1917, Strand was living in his family's townhouse on West 83rd Street in New York. For twenty-four years he had seen the view from the back window. But it was only after the summer of 1916, when he had made abstractions from porch shadows in Connecticut, that he could see the backyards, sheets, and shadows this way. Once he had discovered the picture under his nose, Strand might have said, as did the sculptor Archipenko, "New York is a visible abstraction."
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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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![[Geometric Backyards, New York], Paul Strand (American, New York 1890–1976 Orgeval, France), Platinum print](https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ph/web-additional/DP233027.jpg)
![[Geometric Backyards, New York], Paul Strand (American, New York 1890–1976 Orgeval, France), Platinum print](/Rodan/dist/img/1x1-d7dcde.gif)
![[Geometric Backyards, New York], Paul Strand (American, New York 1890–1976 Orgeval, France), Platinum print](/Rodan/dist/svg/rolling-0.9s-30px.svg)
