Aaron Siskind

Among Aaron Siskind’s many photographic studies of surface texture and patterns, one finds building walls, tree bark, and, in this case, human skin. Seen at close range, the leg of Siskind’s friend Bill Lipkind appears to be a collection of stacked elements framing the open beach landscape. Like Siskind, Lipkind was a regular vacationer on Martha’s Vineyard, where this photograph was taken. Lipkind first modeled for Siskind in the late 1930s in a series of full-length nude images; this later, more fragmented presentation of the human body coincides with Siskind’s general turn away from representational clarity toward creating metaphors from abstract form.