Collection Guide
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Guide to the Aaron Siskind photographs M2582
M2582
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Aaron Siskind photographs
Creator:
Siskind, Aaron
Identifier/Call Number: M2582
Physical Description:
12 Linear Feet
(8 flat boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1935-1988
[identification of item], Aaron Siskind photographs (M2582). Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford
Libraries, Stanford, California.
Collection is open for research. Materials must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization
to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission or reproduction
beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.
Aaron Siskind (1903-1991) was an American photographer from New York City. As part of the Film and Photo League, he produced
several documentary photographs, most famously those of the Harlem Document (1937-40). After this period, his work took on
a more abstract focus, and he became friends with abstract expressionists such as the painters Mark Rothko, Frank Kline, and
Willem de Kooning. Siskind is perhaps best known for his way of taking the three-dimensional world and turning it into a two-dimensional
space.
Siskind won a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Distinguished Photography Award from the Friends of Photography for his work.
Persuaded by his friend Harry Callahan, he taught at Chicago's Institute of Design and served as its head for ten years between
1961 and 1971 then taught at the Rhode Island School of Design (where that same friend also moved) until retirement.
This collection contains 362 photographic prints spanning Aaron Siskind's career from the 1930s until the 1980s, covering
both his period of social documentation and his period of abstraction.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gifts from Damon Barr (Accession 2020-057), Cason Carter (Accession 2020-058), Daniel Eichholz (Accession 2020-103), and David
Eichholz (Accession 2020-104).
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photography, Artistic