Title
Thames Street #4
Object Type
Creator
Date
1974
Notes
In 1974, Malcolm Grear, Hugh Townley and Richard Fleischner became involved in an art event in Newport, Rhode Island, called Monumenta: Sculpture in Environment, originated by William Crimmins. Siskind was prevailed upon to take some pictures in Newport, which were published in the accompanying catalogue. These photographs of St. Paul's Church and Thames Street are exhibited for the first time in this exhibition at the Newport Art Museum.
Accompanying Siskind's famous Credo in the catalogue, was editor Sam Hunter's critique: "Aaron Siskind's photographic essay on Newport as an environment also established connections with the innovative artistic past. It was Siskind's friend Barnett Newman who introduced the photographer to the dealer Charles Egan in 1947, thus beginning for him a fertile and long-term association with the artists in that gallery of The New York School. With them Siskind shared an aversion for the picturesque subject, and a dominant interest in form. The critic Elaine de Kooning characterized his forms 'as highly personal as any painter could invent.' Siskind's image sequence of Newport life pits the mobility of the street against his familiar, imperturbable wall and an isolated pilaster, half-buried in flaking plaster, timeless witnesses to the action which passes before them. The starkness of his architectural detail ties in with the austerities of much of the sculpture in the exhibition, and the contrapuntal activity of the passing show, captured on film, suggests the inescapable art and life question."
Accompanying Siskind's famous Credo in the catalogue, was editor Sam Hunter's critique: "Aaron Siskind's photographic essay on Newport as an environment also established connections with the innovative artistic past. It was Siskind's friend Barnett Newman who introduced the photographer to the dealer Charles Egan in 1947, thus beginning for him a fertile and long-term association with the artists in that gallery of The New York School. With them Siskind shared an aversion for the picturesque subject, and a dominant interest in form. The critic Elaine de Kooning characterized his forms 'as highly personal as any painter could invent.' Siskind's image sequence of Newport life pits the mobility of the street against his familiar, imperturbable wall and an isolated pilaster, half-buried in flaking plaster, timeless witnesses to the action which passes before them. The starkness of his architectural detail ties in with the austerities of much of the sculpture in the exhibition, and the contrapuntal activity of the passing show, captured on film, suggests the inescapable art and life question."
Cultural Origin
Newport
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Extent
image: 9 5/8 in x 10 1/4 in; mat: 16 in x 20 in; sheet: 14 in x 11 in
Source
Gift of Malcolm and Clarice Grear
Identifier
2011.023.001
For more information about this item, please contact its owning institution.