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Image

RISDM 1991-165-2.tif
  • RISDM 1991-165-2.tif

Josef Breitenbach

Academie de Sculpture, Paris

Description

Maker

Josef Breitenbach (American, 1896-1984)

Title

Academie de Sculpture, Paris

Year

1935

Medium

  • gelatin silver print

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • gelatin silver print

Materials

silver print

Dimensions

16.5 x 15.9 cm (6 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches) (sheet)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Artist's notes, copyright and estate stamp on verso.

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Peter C. Jones, RISD 1974

Object Number

1991.165.2

Type

  • Photographs

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Changing Poses
The Artist's Model
Nov 12, 2010 – Jun 06, 2011

Label copy

Working in Paris from 1934 to 1939, Joseph Breitenbach created photographs that document the rich arts scene of the French capital on the eve of the Second World War. In this view of a large studio in a sculpture academy, a nude male model poses while a female sculptor in the foreground fashions a small clay likeness. Breitenbach’s attention to this space may be more than documentary: it has been suggested that he found the sculpture studio a provocative photographic subject owing to the presence of the large, ghostly figures. Swathed in drapery (to keep the clay moist), these statues recall the uncanny motifs found in the work of Man Ray, Max Ernst, and other Surrealists with whom the photographer mingled during those years.

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Tombstone

Josef Breitenbach (American, 1896-1984)
Academie de Sculpture, Paris, 1935
Gelatin silver print
16.5 x 15.9 cm (6 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches) (sheet)
Gift of Peter C. Jones, RISD 1974 1991.165.2

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