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Untitled (smoke on glass)

Artist Frederick Sommer (American, born Italy, 1905 - 1999)
Date1962
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage and sheet: 13 5/16 × 10 1/4 inches (33.81 × 26.04 cm)
Mount: 20 × 16 inches (50.8 × 40.64 cm)
Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Object number2005.27.4417
InscribedSigned, inscribed and dated Signed Frederick Sommer in artist's hand April 14, 1962 "For Lee / April 14, 1962" "Frederick Sommer 1962" Back of Mount Artist in pencil
On View
Not on view
Collections
DescriptionAn abstract image composed of irregular black lines with white strokes against a black background; shades of gray with a range of rich textures are scattered in patches near the center.Exhibition History
Rotation 25. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, October 19, 2018- March 17, 2019, no cat.
Gallery Label

To make this camera-less image, Frederick Sommer created his own “negatives” by drawing upon cellophane or glass with paint or smoke. He printed directly from these negatives to create abstract, multilayered images.

 

Provenance
Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, NY;
Purchased from Howard Greenberg Gallery by Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 2000; 
Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.
Copyright© Frederick & Frances Sommer Foundation
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