San Luis Potosi 11

© Aaron Siskind/Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

San Luis Potosi 11

Currently not on view

San Luis Potosi 11,

1961

Aaron Siskind, 1903–1991; born New York, NY; died Providence, RI; active New York, Chicago, and Providence
x1978-58
Active from the 1940s until his death in 1991, Aaron Siskind was a New York-based photographer engaged with many of the ideas and developments asso ciated with Abstract Expressionism. A former teacher at the progressive, arts oriented Black Mountain College in North Carolina, Siskind used black-and-white photography to transform banal objects and scenes, such as the walls and surfaces featured here, into striking compositions. Using close-ups and cropping, Siskind’s photographs defamiliarize their subject matter, making the three-dimensional, phenomenal world flat and abstract.

Information

Title
San Luis Potosi 11
Dates

1961

Maker
Aaron Siskind
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 19 x 24.3 cm. (7 1/2 x 9 9/16 in.) sheet: 20.2 x 25.3 cm. (7 15/16 x 9 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Robert Menschel
Object Number
x1978-58
Place Made

North America, Mexico, San Luis Potosi

Inscription
In graphite, upper verso: SLP 61-11 / 4 / San Luis Potosi 11 1961 / Aaron Siskind
Culture
American
Type
black-and-white photographs, photographs, gelatin silver prints
Techniques
gelatin silver process
Subject
deterioration, deterioration, walls

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