Jerome, Arizona 21 1949
1949, printed 1975
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 45.2 × 39.7 cm (17 13/16 × 15 5/8 in.) sheet: 50.48 × 40.64 cm (19 7/8 × 16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Patrons' Permanent Fund
Accession Number
2001.67.189
Art Historical Context
Aaron Siskind's *Jerome, Arizona 1949*, a gelatin silver print captured in 1949 and printed 1975, invites visitors into the rugged decay of Jerome, Arizona—a once-thriving copper mining town perched on a steep hillside. By the late 1940s, as the mines declined, the town's weathered walls and abandoned structures became a canvas for Siskind's eye, transforming everyday erosion into profound visual poetry. This image, now housed in the National Gallery Art's collection through the Patrons' Permanent Fund, exemplifies his shift from social documentary photography to abstraction in the postwar er...
About the Artist
Aaron Siskind
Aaron Siskind (1903–1991), born in New York City to Russian Jewish immigrant parents as the fifth of six children, initially pursued literature and poetry before discovering photography. After graduating from City College of New York with a Bachelor of Social Science in Literature in 1926, he taught English in New York public schools for over two decades. A camera received as a wedding gift in 192...