John Albok

The Four Seasons, Conservatory Garden, NYC, Suite of Four Prints.

Listing No: 11237

Other Images

  • SUMMER_detail.jpg
  • SUMMER_mount 20x 15.75 inches.jpg
  • SUMMER_verso.jpg
  • WINTER_detail.jpg
  • WINTER_mount 20x15.75 inches.jpg
  • WINTER_verso.jpg
  • AUTUMN_detail.jpg
  • AUTUMN_mount 20x15.75 inches.jpg
  • AUTUMN_verso.jpg
  • SPRING_detail.jpg
  • SPRING_mount 20x15.75 inches.jpg
  • SPRING_verso.jpg
  • Albok_dining_display.jpg
  • Verso_dining_display.jpg

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Offered By

Photographic Archives Gallery

Wimberley, TX

Photographic Archives Gallery

P.O. Box 920

Wimberley, TX 78676

214-437-6272
[email protected]

Please have the item listing number on hand when you call. This artwork's listing number is: 11237

Artwork Info

FAE Listing No:
11237
Artist:
John Albok (1894-1982)
Title:
The Four Seasons, Conservatory Garden, NYC, Suite of Four Prints.
Date of Work:
1939
Signature:
All prints signed in pencil on mount at low right below image.
Where Produced:
New York City, New York, USA.
Presentation:
Unmatted

Artwork Medium

Type:
Photography
Sub Type:
B&W
Medium:
Gelatin Silver
Support:
on Photo Paper

Artwork Size & Weight

Primary:
11.25 x 10.25 in. (Sight Size)
Outer Dimensions:
20 x 15.75 in. (Mat Outer Dimension)

Artwork Surface

Texture:
Flat
Surface Reflectivity:
Even - Matte

Artwork Condition

Condition:
The photographs display silvering-out at the margins.The vintage mounts are chipped at the corners, but otherwise intact and stable.

Artwork Provenance

Collection:
Andy and Beckie Reisberg
Provenance:
Acquired directly from Artist’s daughter, executor of the Estate of John Albok.

About this Piece

These four sculptures were created in 1937 by the well known American sculptor, Sylvia Shaw Judson for the Conservatory Garden in Central Park, New York City. The setting was a memorial planting for T.A. Havemeyer (1868-1936) who was a highly respected and knowledgable amateur horticulturalist and garden writer.

The sculptures, representing the four seasons, measure roughly 24 inches tall. John Albok's angle of view exaggerates their diminutive size.

Two of the prints; "Summer" and "Winter" bear lengthy inscriptions on the verso written in Hungarian, Albok's native tongue.

These four prints were framed and displayed in the Albok family dining room on Madison Avenue through the 1960's (see his 1962 photograph of this grouping under "Other Images" in this listing).

About the Artist

John Albok, a Hungarian immigrant, maintained a livelihood as a master tailor on Madison Avenue in New York City for nearly sixty years while pursuing avocations of photography, cinematography, music and painting. In his lifetime, Albok created over 16,000 photographs in the confines of his tailor shop, and was the subject of hundreds of reviews, tributes publications and awards.

John Albok was a self-taught photographer and print maker whose prolific career spanned the years of the Depression through the recovery years of the Roosevelt administration. Albok’s mastery of photography was his ability to capture on film the character and feeling of a place, the essence of a moment, and the dignity and humility of a person no matter how impoverished or downtrodden. He is acknowledged as a preeminent chronicler of his time, and his work is found in the permanent collections of major museums worldwide.

ARTIST STATEMENT

"I carry a camera on every off moment. The people of the city, young or old, rich or poor, are my subjects. The flowers, the trees, the ever-changing beauties that dwell in the sky, lovers in the park… the dream of my childhood. My images of the people are unaffected, many times laced with a tragic sense of life that speaks for itself. I like the freedom of selecting my subject matter at will and then to create them in the manner of the artist. Living life is a great art. The more we cultivate it, the better it will be for ourselves and our children." John Albok, 1979

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    1934
    Gelatin Silver on Photo Paper
    10.5 x 10.75 in.
    Listing no. 11493
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    November, 1933
    1933
    Gelatin Silver on Photo Paper
    11.25 x 10.5 in.
    Listing no. 11495
    NOW: $2,175.00
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    Great Blizzard, Central Park, New York
    1947
    Gelatin Silver on Photo Paper
    8.25 x 7.5 in.
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    Untitled
    1929
    Gelatin Silver on Photo Paper
    5.25 x 5 in.
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    Brooklyn Botanical Garden, NYC
    1938
    Gelatin Silver on Photo Paper
    8 x 7.75 in.
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    1971
    Gelatin Silver on Photo Paper
    9.5 x 7.5 in.
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    1950
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    9.5 x 7.5 in.
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