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154
STRAND, PAUL (1890-1976)
Woman, Patzcuaro, Mexico. Silver print, 9 1/2x7 1/2 inches (24.1x19 cm.), signed for Strand by Ann Kennedy on verso and accompanied by a copy of a letter signed by Strand regarding the signature. 1933; printed 1960s-early 70s
- Notes: Paul Strand was an archetypal American photographer. A student of Lewis Hine at the Ethical Culture School, his earliest experimental photographs of 1915-17 were proto-modernist abstract studies of city life that were championed by Alfred Stieglitz. In the 1920s he explored portraiture, a genre that appealed to his humanistic values. In 1932, with his marriage breaking up, he set off for Mexico in his Model A Ford. Strand felt an affinity for the landscape and people of Mexico, where he lived for two years, and began working with a 5x7-inch Graflex view camera fitted with a removable extension that concealed a fine optical prism. With this extension in place, the lens would photograph at a ninety degree angle to what it was pointed. As Calvin Tomkins has remarked: "The portraits Strand took in Patzcuaro and other towns in western Mexico with this device were extraordinarily successful. The subjects were usually shown full-face, looking gravely at the big camera that they do not suspect is focused on them. The subjects are rendered with a beauty and gentle dignity that suggests Strand's feelings." This image appears in the first and second edition of his mexican portfolio.
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