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134

Alma Lavenson

Composition

Estimate
$10,000 - 15,000
$23,750
Lot Details
Gelatin silver print.
1933
9 3/4 x 7 3/4 in. (24.8 x 19.7 cm)
Signed in pencil on the mount; titled and dated in ink on an artist’s label affixed to the reverse of the mount.
Catalogue Essay
Another print of this image, in the collection of the Oakland Museum of Art, was titled Composition f.64 by Alma Lavenson. This alternate title refers to Group f.64, the organization of California photographers—among them Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Imogen Cunningham—who were united in promoting a “straight” approach to photography in direct response to the excesses of Pictorialism. A print of this image was included in the historic Group f.64 exhibition at the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, in 1932. With its clean lines and highly detailed account of its subject, Lavenson’s photograph perfectly embodies Group f.64’s ideals. As of this writing, it is believed that the photograph offered here is one of only three extant early prints of the image.

Alma Lavenson

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