Re: Pond-moonrise (was: Re: Steichen image in April's 'Vanity Fair'
Joe, I apologize for the incorrect attribution; it was Judy
apparently who voted for MoMA's version of the print. My mistake,
sorry.
The moonrise print you saw in Chicago is the one in the middle on my
page, that now looks very brown (not just on my page but on the Met's
site) although by all accounts it was originally handcolored with
blue-green and yellow pigment over platinum. It puzzles me that it
could have kept its color for 80 some years enough to be richly
colored when you saw it in 1989, but have lost all its color in the
last 20 years. That's why I wish someone could go see for
themselves, if it really has faded to brown. But you wouldn't think
the Met would represent it that way, if that's not how it is.
I can't of course know what you see on your monitor, but on my
monitor the jpeg of the MoMA print looks exactly like the
reproduction in "Steichen, the Master Prints" that I scanned it from,
and also much like other images of that print that I've seen on the
web, except maybe not so dark. Example (oddly, this gov site has
this as belonging to the George Eastman House, but it's definitely
the MoMA print):
http://www.nga.gov/feature/artnation/steichen/painter_4.shtm
It is much less photographic than the other two prints; it looks to
me more like a chalk drawing than a photograph. However, not having
seen the actual print, I can only judge from the reproductions I've
seen.
kt
On Mar 18, 2009, at 5:52 PM, Joseph Smigiel wrote:
Katherine,
You are attributing that quote incorrectly to me. I simply asked
the question about the Chicago exhibition print.
IIRC, the Steichen print I saw was dark and haunting with a deep
teal sky (PBk31?). The first image on your current page (from the
Sotheby catalog) is closest to what I recall. But, it has also
been 20 years and I have seen so many reproductions of it that my
memory may be incorrect. However, my memory seems to match JG's
recollection as well. That said, the third image on your page
looks like a poorly reproduced and posterized copy to me. From the
Steichen prints I've seen in person, I doubt it is representative
of the actual piece.
In any event, Pond-Moonrise remains one of the most gorgeous prints
I've ever seen. I've also seen/held Chicago's copy of his self-
portrait with brush. It too is deep and masterful.
Edouard must have really had that pigment stain testing down...
Joe
On Mar 18, 2009, at 12:22 PM, Katharine Thayer wrote:
On Mar 17, 2009, at 7:02 PM, Joseph Smigiel wrote
On Tue, 17 Mar 2009, Katharine Thayer wrote:
... But the bottom one, the cyanotype over platinum, it seems
pretty certain to me that the cyan is printed with a reversed
negative. I don't know if MOMA has analyzed this print the way
the Met has analyzed theirs, but since I don't know otherwise,
I'm taking on faith that they know for sure that this is
cyanotype over platinum and not hand-applied color over
platinum. I'd be willing to bet big bucks that he simply
colored in the moon (notice that he didn't think to color in a
reflection of it in the water).
Fools rush in... Which is to say, it looks to me from the 3
images on Katharine's site, that the most (only?) truly
beautiful one is the 3rd, that is, with the blue sky and the
possibly hand-colored moon.
Do the others actually look like the small version on my old
monitor from a website grab shot -- in which case, could this be
a case of reputation causing value? Whatever, I'd only bid 1.9
million $ (or was it 2.9 million?) for the last one.
Joe, I agree with your relative assessment of the images that I
put on that page, with the caveat that they might not be accurate
representations of the actual prints. The jpeg I took from the
Sotheby's catalog was especially poor; I later found a more
pleasing image of the same print and replaced it; maybe you'd
like this one better. (Whether it's a better representation of
the actual print, I can't say). The only thing I can vouch for is
that the jpeg of the print from MOMA matches (on my monitor)
pretty well the reproduction in the book I scanned it from, but
whether that's an accurate representation of the actual print, who
knows. Also, I'm troubled by the fact that that one that looks
rather brown and uninteresting in the jpeg is the one that
enthralled you when you saw it in Chicago, so I'd guess that the
Met's electronic reproduction of that print doesn't do it
justice. So, it's hard to tell. But just from what we've got to
work with here, I'd agree that the bottom one is the most
interesting one.
Katharine
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