Aaron Siskind: The Fragmentation of Language

Sheryl Conkelton

Hardcover | 23 x 1.2 x 26 cm | 52 pp

Robert Mann Gallery | 1997 

A rare limited edition of 1,500

Aaron Siskind's (1903-1991) photography is best known for its consistent search for form in articulated surfaces. Like Leonardo da Vinci, who, in a famous passage described his process of discovering meaningful shapes in the aged veneer of stuccoed walls, Siskind explored, discovered, and inventoried significant forms embedded in walls, signage, worn wood, beach detritus, and even tar pavements.

In 1943 Siskind, who had been a documentary photographer, discovered a new motivation to photograph in the shapes and lines he found in seaweed scattered along the beach at Martha's Vineyard. In this now-legendary episode, he plumbed a new depth of meaning in a subject that seemed beneath contemplation until he saw its
forms realised in a photograph. Siskind's method resembled one that was also developing elsewhere among his contemporaries, including the American abstract expressionist painters, who were beginning to evolve personal mythologies from surrealist automatism, and a very few other photographers, such as Frederick
Sommer. The gestural line, often meaningless in itself yet suggestive of meaningful possibilities captured Siskind's imagination. At the same time, the natural entropy and
decomposition that characterised these subjects satisfied a need to express his sentiments.

Including an essay by Shery Conkelton, former associate curator of photography at the Museum of  Modern Art, New York. Published on the occasion of the exhibition Aaron Siskind: The Fragmentation of Language at Robert Mann Gallery, New York, 1997