Lot 223
**Originally Listed At $400**
Dorothy Norman (American, 1905-1997). "Telephone, in front of Alfred Stieglitz 'Equivalent', at An American Place, New York" gelatin silver print, 1940. Edition 59 of 70. Artist's signature in ink and printed label with title, date, and edition on verso of mounting paper. A riveting photograph by Dorothy Norman entitled "Telephone, in front of Alfred Stieglitz 'Equivalent', at An American Place, New York" which displays a candlestick telephone on a desk with a photograph of a cloud by Alfred Stieglitz leaning against the wall in the background. Stieglitz took hundreds of photographs of clouds without any reference points of location or direction known as "Equivalents," these are generally recognized as the first intentionally abstract photographs and remain some of his most powerful. Here, Norman creates a compelling composition by positioning the light to create a clear shadow silhouette of the telephone cast onto the matte of the Stieglitz's photograph. Size of photograph: 2.4" W x 3.4" H (6.1 cm x 8.6 cm) Size of matte: 14" W x 18" H (35.6 cm x 45.7 cm)
In "Reflections in a Glass Eye: Works from the International Center of Photography Collection," Meredith Fisher writes: "Dorothy Norman was born in Philadelphia and educated at briefly Smith College and then at the University of Pennsylvania. She moved with her husband to New York, where during the 1920s and 1930s she dedicated herself to working with organizations such as Planned Parenthood and the New York League of Women Voters. She first met Alfred Stieglitz at his Intimate Gallery in 1927, and the pair became close friends and were lovers until the elder photographer's death in 1946. Norman had developed a strong affection for Stieglitz even before meeting him, on the basis of his photography. By 1928, Norman had completed a series of articles that formed the basis of her memorial book Alfred Stieglitz: An American Seer (1973). With the loan of a Graflex camera from Stieglitz in 1931, she began taking her own photographs, which Stieglitz often inscribed with comments. Norman edited and published 'Twice a Year: A Semi-Annual Journal of Literature, the Arts and Civil Liberties' between 1938 and 1948, and wrote a column, 'A World to Live In,' three times a week for the New York Post from 1942 to 1949. After Stieglitz's death, she became involved with the Indian independence movement, and in the early 1950s she founded and chaired two committees to aid India. By the mid-1950s, Norman ceased taking photographs. Norman was better known for her writing, humanitarianism, and work done on behalf of Alfred Stieglitz and his legacy than her own photography. She worked as a photographer primarily between 1931 and the mid-1950s, and her efforts received little attention. Although she was working at the same time as Margaret Bourke-White and other prominent women photographers in New York, she never identified herself as a photographer, and never took professional assignments. Her work is appreciated best for its personal, intimate qualities which are richly apparent in her still lifes and portraits." (Handy et al. "Reflections in a Glass Eye: Works from the International Center of Photography Collection," New York: Bulfinch Press in association with the International Center of Photography, 1999, p. 223.)
This photograph was in the collection of pioneering patron of the arts, Ginny Williams. Sotheby's hosted a series of auctions featuring art and photography in the Ginny Williams Collection in June and July of 2020. Their press release began as follows, "Born in rural Virginia in 1927, Ginny moved to Denver, Colorado in the late 1950s with her husband, Carl Williams. An avid photographer herself, who studied with Austrian-American photojournalist and photographer Ernst Haas, her collecting journey began with classical figurative photography. Her passion and keen eye eventually prompted her to open her namesake gallery in Denver in the 1980s. While her passion for photography never waned, remaining a primary focus of both her gallery and private collection, her voracious curiosity quickly widened her curatorial focus. Over time, Ginny became increasingly courageous and experimental in her selections, venturing into Abstract Expressionism and Contemporary Art and following her artists themselves through gallery shows and museum exhibitions. As the years passed, Ginny became as much of a trailblazer as the artists she collected."
Provenance: private Idledale, Colorado, USA collection; ex-Ginny Williams collection, Denver, Colorado, USA
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#174100
- Condition: Artist's signature in ink and printed label with title, date, and edition on verso of mounting paper. Mounted on board paper and set in custom matte with Ginny Williams collection label on verso. Board, matte, and photograph are all in excellent overall condition..
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