The Sentinels
date: label: date made
content: before 1937
name: label: maker
content: Fassbender, Adolf
notes: label: Description
content: From <i>Pictorial Artistry: The Dramatization of the Beautiful in Photography</i>
label: Description
content: "The stability and strength of these old poplars is forcefully impressed upon our consciousness, as they tower in all their majesty above the quaint little white-walled farmhouse. How protecting these great trees seem… verdant sentries guarding the humble little farmer’s abode at the end of the road. But these great poplars are veterans of many a campaign… of nature’s wrath… of wind and storm, through the many years that they have valiantly stood at their posts. Now age is beginning to creep up their stems. See how silver threads are beginning to show in the husky leafy tresses. Yet, they sway and bend before the gentle breeze with the grace of youth. Live on, brave poplars! Guard with your strength, and charm with your grace… the double service of your magnificent creation!
label: Description
content: Composition:
label: Description
content: By placing the house well below the esthetic center of the picture field, greater height and power dramatize the interest of the trees. The light tone of the branches showing through the sparse areas of the dark mass of foliage is welcome contrast. Below the trees the S-curve of the road gracefully leads to the delightful little house. The converging lines of the fence on both sides of the road emphasize the directional lines already suggested, and prevents the interest from straying away from the motive.
label: Description
content: Technical Problems:
label: Description
content: A great deal of careful darkroom manipulation was required to make the most of the essentially fine pictorial elements of the picture. For example, there was a road in the original print running from left to right across the bottom of the picture area and leading out. The light tone and distracting directional line had to be corrected. So, the fence was “broken through” to permit the roadway to be turned into the picture. The continuing line of the original roadway to the right was eliminated by retouching, which completely unified the directional forces toward the house. High shrubs, which obscured too much of the house, were removed by retouching. The framing heights of the great trees completed the focusing of attention on the house. Part of the fence to the right of the roadway, including the gate, was introduced by retouching magic, so as to gracefully enclose the foreground.
label: Description
content: Data:
label: Description
content: Camera: Makina, 2 ¼ x 3 ¼
label: Description
content: Lens: Anticomar
label: Description
content: Stop: f.8
label: Description
content: Filter: Dark Yellow
label: Description
content: Film: Agfa Super Plenachrome
label: Description
content: Exposure: 1/25, in hand
label: Description
content: Transparency: 8x10 Eastman Commercial
label: Description
content: Paper Negative: 14x17 charcoal black, F
label: Description
content: Print: Defender Veltura, P"
label: Description
content: by Adolf Fassbender, 1937
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Photographic History
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content: Adolf Fassbender, Pictorial Artistry
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content: Photography
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PG.004116.14
label: catalog number
content: 4116.14
label: accession number
content: 146001
objectType: label: Object Name
content: photograph
label: Object Name
content: photogravure
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 11 in x 7 7/8 in; 27.94 cm x 20.0025 cm