Lewis Baltz Mill Valley
Lewis Baltz
1945 - 2014
Mill Valley
gelatin silver print, flush-mounted, the edges inked, mounted again, signed, titled, and dated in ink on the reverse, framed
image: 5⅛ by 7¾ in. (13 by 19.7 cm.)
frame: 17⅛ by 15⅛ in. (43.5 by 38.4 cm.)
Executed in 1967.
Condition Report:
Please note the colors and shades in the online catalogue illustration may vary depending on screen settings.
This early print is in generally very good condition. It is trimmed to the image and flush-mounted to another sheet of processed photographic paper as was the artist's practice. The tips of the corners are clipped diagonally and the edges are accentuated in ink. The photograph is gently rippled, most notably at the upper edge, and is lifting slightly from the mount. Upon close examination, there is very faint brown discoloration at the upper edge. The mount is bowed somewhat and there are a few rust-colored deposits of indeterminate nature on the reverse.
This print has recently undergone conservation. Please contact the Photographs Department for a treatment report.
Catalogue Note:
In 1967 while an undergraduate at the San Francisco Art Institute, Lewis Baltz began ‘The Highway Series,’ one of the most influential bodies of work within the history of photography. Later renamed the ‘Prototype Works,’ Baltz trained his camera on what many would regard as generally unremarkable subjects: signage, walls plastered with stucco, boarded windows and doors, motel rooms, and vacant urbanscapes.
Early exhibition prints are rare. The qualities of these prints are highly distinctive: the prints were dry-mounted flush to a second piece of archivally processed photographic paper, edges were blackened with India ink, the corners were diagonally clipped, and then the prints were mounted to board slightly warmer in tone than the print. This presentation method ensures the photograph stands apart from, rather than sinks into, its surroundings.
Provenance:
Acquired from the photographer in the 1970s
By descent to the present owner
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Lewis Baltz
1945 - 2014
Mill Valley
gelatin silver print, flush-mounted, the edges inked, mounted again, signed, titled, and dated in ink on the reverse, framed
image: 5⅛ by 7¾ in. (13 by 19.7 cm.)
frame: 17⅛ by 15⅛ in. (43.5 by 38.4 cm.)
Executed in 1967.
Condition Report:
Please note the colors and shades in the online catalogue illustration may vary depending on screen settings.
This early print is in generally very good condition. It is trimmed to the image and flush-mounted to another sheet of processed photographic paper as was the artist's practice. The tips of the corners are clipped diagonally and the edges are accentuated in ink. The photograph is gently rippled, most notably at the upper edge, and is lifting slightly from the mount. Upon close examination, there is very faint brown discoloration at the upper edge. The mount is bowed somewhat and there are a few rust-colored deposits of indeterminate nature on the reverse.
This print has recently undergone conservation. Please contact the Photographs Department for a treatment report.
Catalogue Note:
In 1967 while an undergraduate at the San Francisco Art Institute, Lewis Baltz began ‘The Highway Series,’ one of the most influential bodies of work within the history of photography. Later renamed the ‘Prototype Works,’ Baltz trained his camera on what many would regard as generally unremarkable subjects: signage, walls plastered with stucco, boarded windows and doors, motel rooms, and vacant urbanscapes.
Early exhibition prints are rare. The qualities of these prints are highly distinctive: the prints were dry-mounted flush to a second piece of archivally processed photographic paper, edges were blackened with India ink, the corners were diagonally clipped, and then the prints were mounted to board slightly warmer in tone than the print. This presentation method ensures the photograph stands apart from, rather than sinks into, its surroundings.
Provenance:
Acquired from the photographer in the 1970s
By descent to the present owner
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
