The Court, New York, 1924

In the early 1920s, Paul Strand photographed machines, New York City shipyards, and skyscrapers, and employed new picturing strategies, such as the close-up and unusual angles of view. In The Court, Strand transforms a rather ordinary scene of a city building by photographing from a high vantage point, revealing dynamic abstract patterns of mass, light, and shade. Of all the great photographers of the twentieth century, Strand most truly embodies the aspirations and spirit of his age. For more than sixty years, he created photographs that continue to increase in value and historical significance. Their impact is a result of the concentration of essentials, purity, passion, and precision in a form that sustains these qualities as a lasting inheritance. Paul Strand's work has been exhibited worldwide and is represented in major collections including the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia Museum of Art; and Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art, New York, among others.

Hand-Pulled Dust-Grain Photogravure
Image Size: 10 x 8 inches
Paper Size: 20 1/4 x 16 inches
Edition of 400 + 40 AP
Authorizing seal of Paul Strand Archive

Paul Strand (b. 1890, New York; d. 1976, Orgeval, France) was one of the great photographers of the twentieth century. As a youth, he studied under Lewis Hine at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, going on to draw acclaim from such illustrious sources as Alfred Stieglitz and David Alfaro Siqueiros. After World War II, Strand traveled around the world—from New England to Ghana, France to the Outer Hebrides—to photograph, and in the process created a dynamic and significant body of work.