The Court, New York

Photography and Media

1924

Paul Strand
American, 1890–1976

Here Paul Strand reacted against an earlier trend in photography to imitate painting so photography would be more readily recognized as a fine art. Strand promoted what came to be known as straight photography, made (as he put it) “without tricks of process or manipulation.” In the years shortly before he made this image, Strand began experimenting with abstraction; acquired an 8 × 10–inch camera, and produced a film, Manhatta (1920–21); with artist Charles Sheeler. Such activities are reflected in this photograph, in which Strand angled his large-format camera downward to capture the geometric forms of the rooftops in striking detail. The angle echoes a scene from his own film that depicted the urban bustle of lower Manhattan.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Photography and Media

Artist: Paul Strand
Title: The Court, New York
Place: United States (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Made 1924
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Inscriptions: Unmarked recto; unchecked verso
Dimensions: Image/paper: 24.5 × 19.4 cm (9 11/16 × 7 11/16 in.); Mount: 45.4 × 35.2 cm (17 7/8 × 13 7/8 in.)
Credit Line: Ada Turnbull Hertle Fund
Reference Number: 1980.66

Osaka, Japan, National Museum of Art, October–December, 1984.
Monclair, New Jersey, Montclair Art Museum, “Reordering Reality: Precisionist Directions in American Art, 1915–1941,” November 20, 1994–January 22, 1995; traveled to West Palm Beach, Florida, Norton Gallery and School of Art, February 4–April 2, 1995; Columbus, Ohio, Columbus Museum of Art, June–July, 1995; Lincoln, Nebraska, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, September–October, 1995.
Art Institute of Chicago, February, 2001. (Gallery 245)
Art Institute of Chicago, “Film and Photo in New York,” July 21–November 25, 2012. (Katherine A. Bussard)
Art Institute of Chicago, Photography and Media rotation, Gallery 10, November 13, 2019-October 1, 2020. (Extended due to COVID-19 closure)

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