Online Auction 19790The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the W.M. Hunt Collection
AARON SISKIND (1903–1991)
Lot 94

AARON SISKIND (1903–1991)

Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation Nos. 37, 48, 60, 1953-1956

Closed14 October 2020

Price Realised

USD 6,000

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AARON SISKIND (1903–1991)
Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation Nos. 37, 48, 60, 1953-1956
Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation #37, 1953
gelatin silver print, printed later
variously inscribed in pencil (verso); credited, titled and dated on affixed exhibition labels (frame backing board)
image: 10 x 9 ½ in. (25.4 x 24.1 cm.)
sheet: 14 x 11 in. (35.5 x 27.9 cm.)

Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation #48, 1954
gelatin silver print, printed 1971
titled, dated and variously inscribed in pencil (verso); credited, titled and dated on affixed exhibition labels (frame backing board)
image: 10 x 9 ½ in. (25.4 x 24.1 cm.)
sheet: 14 x 11 in. (35.5 x 27.9 cm.)

Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation #60, 1956
gelatin silver print, printed 1976
signed, titled, dated and inscribed 'For Vicki, with love Aaron, 2/17/76' in ink (margin); variously inscribed in pencil (verso); credited, titled and dated on affixed exhibition labels (frame backing board)
image: 10 x 9 ½ in. (25.4 x 24.1 cm.)
sheet: 14 x 11 in. (35.5 x 27.9 cm.)

Janet Borden, New York;
acquired from the above by the present owner, 1989.

Specialist note

'Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation is one of the great titles in photography. These behave like Rorschach ink blots, the calligraphy of the unconscious. Siskind, a sort of amazing Abstract Expressionist, printed these with varying degrees of contrast at different times in his career, and is said to have preferred this darker presentation, like Japanese brush strokes.
Whenever I have had a total and immediately positive response to a photograph, it is unequivocally a picture for me. The few times I have talked myself into a purchase I have bought works that now seem less meaningful or strong. In a collection of more than a thousand images, there are refreshingly few of those now disappointing choices.' – W.M. Hunt

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