JOHAN HAGEMEYER (1884-1962)

Prison, 1923

Details

JOHAN HAGEMEYER (1884-1962)
Prison, 1923
gelatin silver print
signed, titled and dated in pencil (on the secondary mount); signed, titled, dated, numbered '#5' and annotation 'Carmel by the Sea, Cal' in pencil (on the reverse of the secondary mount)
image/sheet: 7 1/8 x 7½in. (18 x 19cm.)
mount: 7¼ x 7 5/8in. (18.5 x 19.3cm.)
secondary mount: 18 x 14in. (45.7 x 35.5cm.)

Literature

'Johan Hagemeyer', The Archive, Center for Creative Photography, Number 16, June 1982, no. 76:005:013, p. 28

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Lot Essay

This powerful study of Alcatraz by Hagemeyer is an interesting example of his hybrid aesthetic. The image, a mere arrangement of architectural and natural elements, can be regarded as a modernist masterpiece. Hagemeyer, however, could not reject altogether his Pictorialist sensibility. His low viewpoint of the prison's massive walls and watch towers, perched on a rocky promontory, is carefully crafted to engender a mood of extreme foreboding.

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