Paul Strand (American, 1890-1976) Central Park, New York, 1915 Unique platinum print 7-1/4 x 13 inches (18.4 x 33.0 cm) (image/sheet) Initialed in the negative. The Collection of Sarah Warren Hoffman PROVENANCE: From the artist; to Michael Hoffman, first executive director of Aperture and Cofounder (with Hazel Strand) of the Paul Strand Archive; by bequest to his daughter Sarah Warren Hoffman. LITERATURE: Paul Strand: 60 years of Photographs, Aperture, New York, 1976, p. 4, this print reproduced. Paul Strand's delicate, pastoral photograph Central Park, New York is the only known platinum print of this early Pictorialist study. Between 1914-15, Strand traveled the meandering paths of this urban oasis, camera in hand, to make a series of images that capture men, women, and children as they stroll, relax on benches, talk, and read books. Each image was taken from an elevated vantage point so that Strand could capture a bird's-eye view. He used this same strategy in other beloved works from 1915, including Snow, Backyard, New York City; Wall Street; City Hall Park; and From the El. Whereas other platinum prints depicting Central Park are more square in proportion, the present work features an unusual panoramic view, its horizontal format encouraging the viewer's eye to wander from left to right. Given that Strand was a native New Yorker, it is perhaps unsurprising that the city environment was his first significant subject. He had attended the Ethical Culture School, where he studied photography with Lewis Hine from 1904 to 1909. In 1907, when Strand was 17 years old, he encountered Pictorialist photography during a school visit to Alfred Stieglitz's Little Galleries of the Photo-Succession located at 291 Fifth Avenue. This formative visit compelled him to become a photographer. Strand began to execute platinum prints around 1911-12 when he was in his early twenties, and by the time he made his platinum prints of 1915, he had mastered the medium. This print of Central Park bears the artist's seldom-used monogram 'PS' at the lower left corner of the image. At the time of this writing, it is thought that as few as six extant prints incorporate this monogram. Unique platinum prints of Strand's Central Park images can be found in the following public collections: The Museum of Modern Art, New York (200.1976), gifted to the institution by Strand; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2005.100.117), originally in the Gilman Collection before its purchase by the museum. Strand's early platinum prints made before 1916 are rare to market. HID12401132022 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved