Lot 205: Walter Peterhans , 1897-1960 still life composition

signed by the photographer in pencil in the margin, signed and inscribed 'Bauhaus Dessau' by him in pencil on the reverse, matted, circa 1929-32

measurements note 10 1/8 by 8 1/4 in. (25.7 by 21 cm.)

Sotheby's New York, 5 October 1994, Sale 6599, Lot 41Acquired by the present owner from the above

The founder of the photography course at the Bauhaus in 1929, Walter Peterhans created a series of carefully-arranged still life compositions that illustrated his ideas about photography. The print offered here is an example of this experimental work, which combined natural and artificial elements of varying texture and translucence in order to explore the tonal gradations that photography was capable of producing. Peterhans was represented at Film und Foto in 1929 with several of these compositions. With the closing of the Bauhaus in 1933, Peterhans moved to Chicago, where he joined Mies van der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology.