Lot 73: PIRKLE JONES

PIRKLE JONES 1914-2009 WATERFALL, YOSEMITE, CALIFORNIA signed and dated in pencil on the reverse and on the mat, 1968 ( Pirkle Jones: California Photographs, p. 92; Octave of Prayer, p. 56) 17¾ by 14 in. (40.1 by 35.6 cm.)

Minor White selected this image by Pirkle Jones for the exhibition Octave of Prayer, held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where White was a professor, in 1972. The invitation for submissions stated that the show's theme would raise 'a number of questions about the power of photography, an outgoing medium, to reveal inwardness and the realm of prayer.' The invitation went on to ask, 'Can photography evoke the sense of prayer directly? Through symbol? Or some combination of both? What is the extent of space or octave of prayer?'

When Jones's waterfall image was chosen, White wrote to Jones to specifically request a large—18 inches tall—print of it, and called it 'one of the handsomest prints in the show.' When the print arrived in April 1972, White wrote that 'it makes the show!' and that 'it sends tingles up the spine.' The book Octave of Prayer, illustrated with many images from the exhibition, including the one offered here, was published by Aperture in 1972.