{
"data": {
"id": 159037,
"accession_number": "1995.242",
"share_license_status": "Copyrighted",
"tombstone": "Photogram #9, c. 1946. Arthur Siegel (American, 1913\u20131978). Gelatin silver print, photogram; image: 35.2 x 27.9 cm (13 7/8 x 11 in.); matted: 55.9 x 45.7 cm (22 x 18 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1995.242",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Photogram #9",
"creation_date": "c. 1946",
"creation_date_earliest": 1941,
"creation_date_latest": 1951,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"America"
],
"technique": "gelatin silver print, photogram",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Photography",
"collection": "PH - American 1900-1950",
"type": "Photograph",
"measurements": "Image: 35.2 x 27.9 cm (13 7/8 x 11 in.); Matted: 55.9 x 45.7 cm (22 x 18 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"image": {
"height": 0.352,
"height_inch": 13,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.875,
"width": 0.279,
"width_inch": 11,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0
},
"matted": {
"height": 0.559,
"height_inch": 22,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"width": 0.457,
"width_inch": 18,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "Written in pencil on verso: \"#9\"",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 311875,
"title": "Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997).",
"opening_date": "1996-11-24T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 181802,
"title": "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).",
"opening_date": "2006-06-09T00:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "CMA, November 20,1996 - February 2, 1997: \"Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art.\"",
"opening_date": "1997-02-02T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "MOCA Cleveland (6/9/2006 - 8/20/2006): \"The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art\", no. 82, p. 120, repr. p. 95.",
"opening_date": "2006-06-09T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": null,
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Arthur Siegel's 50-year involvement in photography took him into almost every branch of the profession. Although he began his career as a photojournalist and commercial photographer, it was as a teacher and experimenter with creative uses of 35 mm color film and the photogram (a cameraless technique) that he achieved the most recognition. Siegel's interest in photograms came from his early student work at the New Bauhaus in Chicago with L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Moholy-Nagy. In this dynamic print filled with bold patterns of light and dark, Siegel inventively explored his passion for experimental, abstract photography.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79978024"
],
"internet_archive": []
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: P. 319",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1995.242",
"images": {},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 159037,
"creators": [
{
"id": 898,
"description": "Arthur Siegel (American, 1913\u20131978)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": "Arthur Siegel American, 1913-1978\r\n\r\nArthur Siegel is best known for his influential role as a teacher at the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology, in Chicago, and for his experimental approach to photography. Born in Detroit, he became interested in photography in 1927 and, after studies at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University, worked as a freelance photographer. In 1937 Siegel received a scholarship to study at L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Moholy-Nagy's New Bauhaus in Chicago, where he created his first abstract photographs and established a longstanding relationship with the school. The following year he returned to Detroit and resumed his career as a commercial photographer.\r\n\tIn 1942 Siegel was hired as a photographer for the Office of War Information by Roy Stryker, for whom he had worked briefly earlier at the Farm Security Administration. After two years of war service as a photographer at an air corps base in Illinois (1944-46), Siegel was invited by Moholy-Nagy to establish and direct the photography department at the New Bauhaus, now called the Institute of Design. Over the years he worked with Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind to develop one of the most influential photography programs in the country.\r\n\tIn the mid-1950s and early 1960s, Siegel focused on photojournalism, producing pictures for Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated. He also became known for his skill as an architectural photographer and for his experiments with color photography. In the mid-1960s he returned to teaching full-time at the Institute of Design, becoming head of the photography program again in 1971. M.M.",
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1913",
"death_year": "1978",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1995-12-04T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1941,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1946",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-01 06:52:00.447000"
}
}