Baptism
Artist
Doris Ulmann
(American, 1882 - 1934)
Date1929-1931
MediumPlatinum print
DimensionsImage and sheet: 8 1/16 × 6 1/16 inches (20.48 × 15.4 cm)
Mount: 14 1/4 × 11 1/4 inches (36.2 × 28.58 cm)
Mount: 14 1/4 × 11 1/4 inches (36.2 × 28.58 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation
Object number2017.61.42
SignedPer note on packing materials, photograph is signed, titled, and dated on sheet verso, top: “DORIS ULMANN BAPTISM, C.1929” [could not confirm]
Inscribednone
MarkingsOn mount verso, bottom, in pencil: “Pay720-3”
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionImage of three individuals wearing white garments standing in water up to their knees. Two men stand on either side of a woman; their hands holding hers, which are clasped at her waist as she bows her head. A forest surrounds the narrow body of water.Gallery LabelDoris Ulmann’s best-known work was produced after she visited the South Carolina plantation of novelist Julia Peterkin. The plantation employed a large community of Gullah workers—descendants of West African slaves with a distinctive language and culture. This photograph was published in Ulmann and Peterkin’s book Roll Jordan Roll. Baptism combines the soft-focused aesthetic of the Pictorialist style with the photographer’s keen eye for social observation.
with Houk Friedman Gallery, New York, NY by 1995;
Purchased from them by Howard Stein (1926-2011) , New York, NY, 1995;
His gift to The Joy of Giving Foundation, New York, NY;
Purchased at their sale The Odyssey of Collecting: Photographs from Joy of Giving Something, Phillips, New York, NY, April 4, 2017, lot 67 by The Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2017;
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2017.
Purchased from them by Howard Stein (1926-2011) , New York, NY, 1995;
His gift to The Joy of Giving Foundation, New York, NY;
Purchased at their sale The Odyssey of Collecting: Photographs from Joy of Giving Something, Phillips, New York, NY, April 4, 2017, lot 67 by The Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2017;
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2017.
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