Aaron Siskind

(American, 1903–1991)

Aaron Siskind was an American photographer best known for his black-and-white, close range, and aerial photos of surfaces and objects. With the transformative properties of monochromes and their lack of scale or context, Siskind’s photos can seem both sculptural and vast or diminutive and painterly. Their ambiguity has caused spectators to “muse (sometimes in print) in front of a Siskind photograph like analysands in front of ink blots,” wrote art critic Thomas B. Hess. Born on December 4, 1903 in New York, NY, Siskind didn’t begin photographing until he received a camera as a wedding gift and soon after joined the New York Photo League. His work follows in the lineage of Bauhaus photographer László Moholy-Nagy and American photographer Harry Callahan, inspired by their formal and technical approaches to the medium. His works—which range in subject matter from volcanic lava to graffitied walls—are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C., among others. Siskind died on February 8, 1991 in Providence, RI.

Aaron Siskind Artworks

Aaron Siskind (1,918 results)
Pleasures and terrors of levitation, 1956

Aaron Siskind

Pleasures and terrors of levitation, 1956

Sale Date: April 28, 2005

Auction Closed

Martha's Vineyard 4, 1950

Aaron Siskind

Martha's Vineyard 4, 1950

Sale Date: April 28, 2005

Auction Closed

Untitled (3 works from Pleasures and Terrors , 1956

Aaron Siskind

Untitled (3 works from Pleasures and Terrors , 1956

Sale Date: April 28, 2005

Auction Closed

Gloucester, 1944

Aaron Siskind

Gloucester, 1944

Sale Date: April 28, 2005

Auction Closed

Gloucester, 1944

Aaron Siskind

Gloucester, 1944

Sale Date: April 28, 2005

Auction Closed

Spring house, Bucks County, 1938

Aaron Siskind

Spring house, Bucks County, 1938

Sale Date: April 28, 2005

Auction Closed

Chicago 22, 1949

Aaron Siskind

Chicago 22, 1949

Sale Date: April 26, 2005

Auction Closed

Jerome, Arizona, 1949

Aaron Siskind

Jerome, Arizona, 1949

Sale Date: April 26, 2005

Auction Closed

Kentucky 7, 1951

Aaron Siskind

Kentucky 7, 1951

Sale Date: April 26, 2005

Auction Closed

Gloucester, MA, 1944

Aaron Siskind

Gloucester, MA, 1944

Sale Date: April 26, 2005

Auction Closed

Selected images (9 works), 1951–1975

Aaron Siskind

Selected images (9 works), 1951–1975

Sale Date: April 26, 2005

Auction Closed

Martha's Vineyard, 1954

Aaron Siskind

Martha's Vineyard, 1954

Sale Date: April 26, 2005

Auction Closed

Leaf 14, 1970

Aaron Siskind

Leaf 14, 1970

Sale Date: April 26, 2005

Auction Closed

Martha's Vineyard 9, 1974

Aaron Siskind

Martha's Vineyard 9, 1974

Sale Date: April 26, 2005

Auction Closed

Pleasures and terrors of levitation 56, 1956

Aaron Siskind

Pleasures and terrors of levitation 56, 1956

Sale Date: April 27, 2005

Auction Closed

Peru 191; 229; 237; 384 (4 works), 1977

Aaron Siskind

Peru 191; 229; 237; 384 (4 works), 1977

Sale Date: April 19, 2005

Auction Closed

Rome 83, 1973

Aaron Siskind

Rome 83, 1973

Sale Date: April 19, 2005

Auction Closed

Martha's Vineyard F12, 1969

Aaron Siskind

Martha's Vineyard F12, 1969

Sale Date: April 19, 2005

Auction Closed

Chicago 220, 1954

Aaron Siskind

Chicago 220, 1954

Sale Date: April 19, 2005

Auction Closed

Robie house, 1951

Aaron Siskind

Robie house, 1951

Sale Date: March 20, 2005

Auction Closed

Coaczacoalcos 32, 1973

Aaron Siskind

Coaczacoalcos 32, 1973

Sale Date: May 9, 2003

Auction Closed

Apollo Theatre, Harlem, 1937

Aaron Siskind

Apollo Theatre, Harlem, 1937

Sale Date: February 15, 2005

Auction Closed

Harlem, 1940

Aaron Siskind

Harlem, 1940

Sale Date: February 15, 2005

Auction Closed

Selected images of Harlem (3 works,..., 1935–1937

Aaron Siskind

Selected images of Harlem (3 works,..., 1935–1937

Sale Date: February 15, 2005

Auction Closed