waxed platinum print, matted, 1915

The photographer to Marie Rapp Boursault

By descent✨ to Yvonne Boursault, Marie Rapp's daughter

Other prints of this image:

Greenough 401

Sarah Greenough and Juan Hamilton, Alfred Stieglitz Photographs and Writings (Washington, D. ꦅC.: The National Gallery of Art, 1983, in conjunction with the exhibition🐻), pl. 25

This warm-toned platinum print, on double weight paper, is in generally excellent condition. In raking light, small deposits of the photographer's original retouching are visible in the top portion of the print. There is a small pencil-point-sized impression in the lower right quadrant that slightly breaks the emulsion. The edges of the print are lightly worn and the top and left edges are lightly sunned. There is a very small, less than 1/8-inch loss to the top right corner. The back of the print has faint soiling and a small amount of adhesive residue along the periphery.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The photograph offered here and in Lot 137 come from the family of Marie Rapp, Stieglitz's assistant at 291 from 1911 to its closing in 1917, and lifelong friend.  During her tenure at 291, Rapp assisted Stieglitz with the daily operations of the gallery as well his publication of Camera Work (see Lot 132).  Stieglitz took a series of portraits of Rapp, both during her time at the gallery and into the 1920s, when she visited him at Lake George with her family.  After the gallery clos𒆙ed, Rapp married George K. Boursault, the son of Albert K. Boursault, a member of the Photo-Secession, and had their first child, Yvonne, in 1921.  These photographs were inherited by Yvonne upon her mother's death in 1988.

In Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs, Sarah Greenough locates four other prints of this image, at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles꧙, and in the private collection of Noel and Harriette Levine.