Pictures in the Purest Sense of the Word

Rothman's Pawn Shop, 149 Eighth Avenue. 1938.

Berenice Abbott. Changing New York #297.026

 

Words on Pictures: Romana Javitz and the New York Public Library’s Picture Collection, is an anthology of writings by Romana Javitz(1903-1980) that also includes three interviews in which she expounds on the use of pictures, especially photographs, as a tool for documentation.

When pictures enter the Picture Collection for circulation they are analyzed for their subject content first and foremost. Subsequently, Javitz and her highly trained staff assign a subject heading that most defines the visible content that dominates or best illustrates what is in the image. With this approach, photographs to be used in the Picture Collection are often washed clean of the photographers or the publisher’s intent. Under this rubric a photograph clipped from a magazine or newspaper can have just as much impact as a fine platinum print if its content clearly defines or illustrates a subject or subjects within it.

Here is Javitz in her white paper for the Carnegie Corporation: The Organization of Pictures as Documents (Ch.4):

“Printed pictures include the great mass of pictures in our books, magazines and newspapers. These re-record the appearance of the original artwork, reproduce photographs taken from life, and photographs in the graphic and plastic media. The printed picture shows the superficial aspects of the original and, through the new methods of reproduction, can achieve a high degree of faithful facsimile. However, only the original has a full reality of texture and color. The third dimensional quality in the artist’s handling of the original medium is lost when transposed to the flat surface of a printed page. Printed pictures are products of a highly skilled manipulation of technical processes and are not themselves within the province of the fine arts.

All types of printed pictures may act as a temporary substitute for the study of original artwork or for the original in life. When used for their subject content, they serve as documents. Any picture may be employed in one or all of these ways.”

Excerpt From: Anthony T. Troncale, ed. “Words on Pictures: Romana Javitz and the New York Public Library's Picture Collection. Chapter 4.

Javitz asks the reader to (temporarily) abandon the natural inclination to appreciate the aesthetics of, for example, a beautiful print by Atget (that most documentary of photographers) or a fine composition by Walker Evans or Berenice Abbott and consider the image purely for its imbedded subject content. This of course extends to all manner of printed pictures, not just photographs.

The book is available on Amazon or in the NYPL Gift Shop.

Best,

Anthony

Cattlemen at the chuck wagon. 1905. Library of Congress duplicates collection, Wallach Photography Collection, NYPL

Facade. Charleston, S.C. 1936. Walker Evans. Wallach Photography Collection, NYPL

Intérieur du photographe. Eugene Atget. 

Printed by Berenice Abbott from original negative.

Wallach Photography Collection, NYPL

Romana Javitz at the Picture Collection. ca. 1950. Photography by Michelson. Yampolsky Collection.

Words on Pictures: Romana and the New York Public Library’s Picture Collection. edited by Anthony T. Troncale. New York: PhotoVerso Publications, LLC, 2020.   ISBN 978-1-7346409-0-8 (hardcover)  Identifiers ISBN  978-1-7346409-1-5 (ebook)

#photography, #visual arts, #photographers, #visualresources, #librarians, #documentation, art libraries, art history, theater, #NewYorkCity, #FarmSecurityAdministration, #LibraryofCongress, #visualliteracy, Sol Libsohn, #illustration, #advertising, #Troncale, publishing, children's, art, photo, #WPA, #FederalArtProject, #circulation, #NewYorkPublicLibrary
#wordsonpictures, #RomanaJavitz #newyorkpubliclibrary, picture collection, #photography, #visual arts, #fphototgraphs, visual resources, #branchlibraries, #librarians, #documentaryphotography, art libraries, circulating pictures, theater, performing arts, television, New York Public Library, New York City, Farm Security Administration, Library of Congress, visual literacy, American Model: Origins of the Index of American Design, a Federal Art Project, Ruth Reeves, Holger Cahill, WPAWords on Pictures, #wordsonpictures, Romana Javitz, picture collection, #photography, #visual arts, #photographers, visual resources, #librarians, #documentation, art libraries, art history, theater, New York City, Farm Security Administration, Library of Congress, visual literacy, Sol Libsohn, illustration, advertising, Anthony Troncale, publishing, children's, art, photo, WPA, Federal Art Project, #archives, #specialcollections, #subjectsmatter, #subjective, #photohistory, #historyofphotography, #images, #visual, #visualresources, #WorthBeyondWords, #graphicarts, #posters