Piet Zwart
Camera Lensescirca 1930

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 1

Sepia-toned photograph of six camera lenses of varying sizes arranged on a sandy surface, with long shadows cast by strong directional sunlight

Artist or Maker: Piet Zwart
Netherlands, 1885-1977
Title: Camera Lenses
Place Made: Germany
Date Made: circa 1930
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Dimensions: Image (not including white border): 6 3/4 × 4 7/8 in. (17.2 × 12.38 cm) Primary support: 7 1/16 × 5 3/16 in. (18 × 13.1 cm) Secondary support: 9 × 8 in. (22.86 × 20.32 cm) Mat: 19 15/16 × 16 in. (50.64 × 40.64 cm)
Credit Line: The Marjorie and Leonard Vernon Collection, gift of The Annenberg Foundation, acquired from Carol Vernon and Robert Turbin
Accession Number: M.2008.40.2681
Classification: Photographs
Collecting Area: Photography
Curatorial Notes: Piet Zwart, who trained as an architect, was highly influential in many fields such as graphic design, typography, photography, and industrial design in the Netherlands during the 1920s and 1930s. Having no formal training in graphic design or typography, and self-taught as a photographer, Zwart was not bound by the rules typically applied by traditional design studios of the time. In this photograph, intended as an advertisement for new camera lenses, we see in his use of an oblique angle, clean lines, and dramatic shadowing an embrace of elements of the Bauhaus style. Zwart taught there and also at the Rotterdam Academy of Visual Arts. His teaching methodology and politics were considered radical for the Academy, and he lost his position in 1933. Like many nontraditional artists and designers in Europe during World War II, Zwart was interned by occupying German forces from 1942 to 1945. The school that previously fired him for his progressive approach to education was later renamed the Piet Zwart Institute.

Eve Schillo

2024
Selected Bibliography: Benson, Timothy O. Hans Richter: Encounters. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2013.
Salvesen, Britt. See the Light: Photography, Perception, Cognition: the Marjorie and Leonard Vernon Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books/Prestel, 2013.
Copyright: © Piet Zwart / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / PICTORIGHT, Amsterdam

Piet Zwart
Camera Lensescirca 1930

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 1

Artist or Maker: Piet Zwart
Netherlands, 1885-1977
Title: Camera Lenses
Place Made: Germany
Date Made: circa 1930
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Dimensions: Image (not including white border): 6 3/4 × 4 7/8 in. (17.2 × 12.38 cm) Primary support: 7 1/16 × 5 3/16 in. (18 × 13.1 cm) Secondary support: 9 × 8 in. (22.86 × 20.32 cm) Mat: 19 15/16 × 16 in. (50.64 × 40.64 cm)
Credit Line: The Marjorie and Leonard Vernon Collection, gift of The Annenberg Foundation, acquired from Carol Vernon and Robert Turbin
Accession Number: M.2008.40.2681
Classification: Photographs
Collecting Area: Photography
Curatorial Notes: Piet Zwart, who trained as an architect, was highly influential in many fields such as graphic design, typography, photography, and industrial design in the Netherlands during the 1920s and 1930s. Having no formal training in graphic design or typography, and self-taught as a photographer, Zwart was not bound by the rules typically applied by traditional design studios of the time. In this photograph, intended as an advertisement for new camera lenses, we see in his use of an oblique angle, clean lines, and dramatic shadowing an embrace of elements of the Bauhaus style. Zwart taught there and also at the Rotterdam Academy of Visual Arts. His teaching methodology and politics were considered radical for the Academy, and he lost his position in 1933. Like many nontraditional artists and designers in Europe during World War II, Zwart was interned by occupying German forces from 1942 to 1945. The school that previously fired him for his progressive approach to education was later renamed the Piet Zwart Institute.

Eve Schillo

2024
Selected Bibliography: Benson, Timothy O. Hans Richter: Encounters. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2013.
Salvesen, Britt. See the Light: Photography, Perception, Cognition: the Marjorie and Leonard Vernon Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books/Prestel, 2013.