The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

Lathe, Akeley Shop, New York

Lathe, Akeley Shop, New York

1923
(American, 1890–1976)
America, 20th century
gelatin silver print
Image: 24.4 x 19.3 cm (9 5/8 x 7 5/8 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1984.34
© Aperture Foundation, Inc., Paul Strand Archive
Location: not on view

Description

For a brief period during the first half of the 1920s, Strand created a remarkable group of precisionist photographs, close-up portraits of the Akeley Motion Picture Camera, machine gears, and in this picture, the lathe in the Akeley machine shop. All are studies of the modern machine, not just as a mechanical object, but as a form with dynamic aesthetic qualities. Relating to the European avant-garde of the 1910s, this photograph eloquently expresses Strand’s preoccupation with the surface, form, and volume of mechanical objects. Precisely cropped and lit, the energetic composition is a cavalcade of different geometric shapes, all pristinely rendered.
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 341
    Sims, Lowery Stokes. The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 71, no. 67
  • Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24-September 16, 2007).
    The Cleveland Museum of Art (6/24/07 - 9/16/07); "Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art", no exhibition catalogue.
    The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).
    MOCA Cleveland (6/9/2006 - 8/20/2006): "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art", no. 67, p. 119, repr. p. 71.
    Industry and Photography: Selections from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1997-March 1, 1998).
    Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; 11/16/97 - 3/1/98. "Industry and Photography: Selections from the Permanent Collection."
    CMA, November 20,1996 - February 2, 1997: "Legacy of Light: Seven Masters in Depth."
    Legacy of Light: Seven Masters in Depth. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 20-February 2, 1996).
    The Precisionist Aesthetic in American Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 24-April 9, 1989).
    CMA, January 24 - April 9, 1989: The Precisionist Aesthetic in American Art."
  • {{cite web|title=Lathe, Akeley Shop, New York|url=false|author=Paul Strand|year=1923|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1984.34