The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

The Questioner

1930

Anton Stankowski

(German, 1906–1998)
Germany, 20th century
gelatin silver print
Image: 16.9 x 11.9 cm (6 5/8 x 4 11/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2007.152
© Stankowski-Stiftung
Location: Not on view

Description

In what is almost undoubtedly a self-portrait, the artist turns his head to look into the camera, and thus at the viewer. Despite eye contact, the extremes of deep shadow and bright light obscure his face, adding to the sense of intrigue. Stankowski went on to become a major figure in graphic design, applying avant-garde composition and typographic strategies, incorporating photography into advertising, and creating corporate identities and logos for major international companies.
  • (Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York, NY)
    David Raymond [b.1979], New York, NY
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E. Hinson, Ian Walker, and Lisa Kurzner. Forbidden Games: Surrealist and Modernist Photography : the David Raymond Collection in the Cleveland Museum of Art. 2014. Reproduced: p. 187, no. 146; reproduced and mentioned: p. 235.
  • Forbidden Games: Surrealist and Modernist Photography. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 19, 2014-January 11, 2015).
  • {{cite web|title=The Questioner |url=false|author=Anton Stankowski|year=1930|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2007.152