Aaron Siskind
1903–1991 · United States
Reading walls as images.
The story
Aaron Siskind moved from a documentary practice associated particularly with New York towards photography in which surfaces, signs and textures became increasingly important. Torn posters, walls and urban fragments form a vocabulary of their own. His work has affinities with abstract painting while retaining traces of real objects. His teaching also helped pass these explorations on within American photography.
Understanding the work
Identify the material photographed, then forget its purpose. Cracks and marks become graphic gestures whose relationships, tensions and rhythm are determined by the framing.
Key works and series
Harlem Document; urban surfaces; Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation.
Sources & further exploration
Works in collections.
10 recordsPhotographs to explore on museum and library websites, with titles, dates and processes. Each link opens the collection record and its image where one is available.
