Guide to the Aaron Siskind photographs M2582

Siskind (Aaron) photographs

Processed by Peter Blank; finding aid created by Alyssa Tou

Department of Special Collections and University Archives

2022

Green Library

557 Escondido Mall

Stanford 94305-6064

specialcollections@stanford.edu

URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc

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

Preferred Citation

[identification of item], Aaron Siskind photographs (M2582). Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, California.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Materials must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.

Conditions Governing 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.

Biographical / Historical

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.

Scope and Contents

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

box 1, folder 1

Tabernacle City (5 prints)

box 1, folder 2

Tabernacle City (4 prints)

box 1, folder 3

Gloucester 13; San Francisco 2; Martha's Vineyard 7

box 1, folder 4

Seaweed (5 prints)

box 1, folder 5

Seaweed (5 prints)

box 1, folder 6

Seaweed (6 prints)

box 1, folder 7

Iron Work (N.Y.) (5 prints)

box 1, folder 8

Vera Cruz (4 prints)

box 1, folder 9

Viterbo Broom (3 prints)

box 2, folder 1

Tabernacle City 1; Maine Auction; Bowery: Dead End

box 2, folder 2

Harlem (5 prints)

box 2, folder 3

Harlem (5 prints)

box 2, folder 4

End of Civic Repertory Theatre 7; Harlem; Joe Gould (4 prints)

box 2, folder 5

Martha's Vineyard; Seaweed (5 prints)

box 2, folder 6

Vineyard Tree; The Tree (2 prints)

box 2, folder 7

Gloucester (5 prints)

box 2, folder 8

Gloucester (3 prints)

box 2, folder 9

Gloucester Rocks (3 prints)

box 2, folder 10

Aquarium; New York South Street (5 prints)

box 2, folder 11

New York Windows 7

box 2, folder 12

Chicago (5 prints)

box 2, folder 13

Chicago (5 prints)

box 2, folder 14

Chicago (5 prints)

box 2, folder 15

Chicago (5 prints)

box 2, folder 16

Chicago Auto Graveyard; Lithuania Store (4 prints)

box 3, folder 1

San Francisco (3 prints)

box 3, folder 2

Maine; Kentucky

box 3, folder 3

North Carolina 4; Davenport 16; St. Louis 4

box 3, folder 4

Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation; Feet (5 prints)

box 3, folder 5

Child at play; Alice Beck; Louise (4 prints)

box 3, folder 6

Acolman; Dolores Hidalgo; Manzanillo; Tehuantepec (5 prints)

box 3, folder 7

Durango; San Luis Potosi (4 prints)

box 3, folder 8

Coatzacoalcos; Jalapa (Homage to Franz Kline) (4 prints)

box 3, folder 9

Villahermosa Olmec (2 prints)

box 3, folder 10

Vera Cruz (5 prints)

box 3, folder 11

Vera Cruz; Mexico; Jalapa (4 prints)

box 3, folder 12

Rome (4 prints)

box 3, folder 13

Rome Hieroglyph; Rome (Homage to Franz Kline) (5 prints)

box 3, folder 14

Rome; Rome Studio; Senegallia (6 prints)

box 3, folder 15

Olive Tree Corfu (3 prints)

box 3, folder 16

Olive Tree Corfu (4 prints)

box 3, folder 17

Providence; Woonsocket; Boston (Homage to Franz Kline) (5 prints)

box 4, folder 1

Peru (5 prints)

box 4, folder 2

Peru (6 prints)

box 4, folder 3

Peru (4 prints)

box 4, folder 4

Peru (3 prints)

box 4, folder 5

Arequipa; Barranco (3 prints)

box 4, folder 6

Chosica; Iquitos (4 prints)

box 4, folder 7

Lima (Homage to Franz Kline) (4 prints)

box 4, folder 8

Lima (4 prints)

box 4, folder 9

Lima; Puruchuco (4 prints)

box 4, folder 10

California; Utah; Paris; Volcano (5 prints)

box 4, folder 11

Morocco (2 prints)

box 4, folder 12

Sicily (5 prints)

box 4, folder 13

Sicily (3 prints)

box 4, folder 14

Turkey (5 prints)

box 4, folder 15

Vermont (5 prints)

box 5, folder 1

Harlem; Tabernacle City 3

box 5, folder 2

Gloucester Rocks 1; Gloucester 1H

box 5, folder 3

Granite Dells 9; Maine 1

box 5, folder 4

Martha's Vineyard (5 prints)

box 5, folder 5

Martha's Vineyard "The Tree" (2 prints)

box 5, folder 6

Chilmark 2

box 5, folder 7

New York, New Jersey (5 prints)

box 5, folder 8

Chicago (5 prints)

box 5, folder 9

Chicago (5 prints)

box 5, folder 10

Chicago; Auto Graveyard (3 prints)

box 5, folder 11

Morton Arboretum (4 prints)

box 5, folder 12

Terracotta 7

box 5, folder 13

Feet 19

box 5, folder 14

Old Horse 46

box 5, folder 15

Bahia (2 prints)

box 6, folder 1

Acolman; Las Casas; Yucatan (Mexico); La Tule (5 prints)

box 6, folder 2

Irapuato 4; Villahermosa Olmec 5; Remembering Joseph Cornell in Merida 20; Mexico 85; Vera Cruz 9

box 6, Folder 3

Rome: The Arch of Constantine 4; Rome 50; Rome 65; Appia Antica 9; Rome 63 (Homage to Franz Kline)

box 6, Folder 4

Rome (2 prints)

box 6, Folder 5

Games Theater (5 prints)

box 6, Folder 6

Games Theater; Badlands (4 prints)

box 6, Folder 7

Providence (5 prints)

box 6, Folder 8

Providence; Louise; Cusco (4 prints)

box 6, Folder 9

Utah (6 prints)

box 6, Folder 10

Bisbee; Volcano; Morocco (5 prints)

box 6, Folder 11

Sicily; Salvador Bahia; Recife-Olinda (5 prints)

box 6, Folder 12

Vermont; Westport (6 prints)

Box 7, Folder 1

Martha's Vineyard; New York; Bronx (5 prints)

Box 7, Folder 2

Chicago (2 prints)

Box 7, Folder 3

Pleasures & Terrors of Levitation (6 prints)

Box 7, Folder 4

Arizpe; Peru; Volcano (5 prints)

Box 7, Folder 5

Morocco (3 prints)

Box 8, Folder 1

Terracotta (2 prints)

Box 8, Folder 2

Rome: Appia Antica; Rome: Arch of Constantine (3 prints)