claim that a photograph may only be beautiful if it is
of a beautiful thing. Siskind, however, accomplished
the mediation of the ugly into the aesthetic.
It would be a mistake, however, to consider Sis-
kind as only an intellectual photographer. What
Siskind did was combine the emotional with the
cerebral by on the one hand creating formal order
from a disordered world, while at the same time
creating a new, photographic world in which fan-
tasy and imagination were able to flourish. The pho-
tograph transposed reality in such a way that the
photograph took on a life of its own.
Siskind enjoyed an energetic and at times uproar-
ious social life. His family life was less successful,
however. He was married three times: first in 1929
to Sidonie (Sonia) Glatter, who became mentally ill,
and who was hospitalized from 1937; the marriage
was annulled in 1945. Second, he married Cathy
Spencer in 1952, but they divorced in 1957. Finally,
in 1960, he married Carolyn Brandt, who suffered
ill health and died in 1976. He suffered a stroke and
died on February 8, 1991, at the age of 87. Today,
the Aaron Siskind Foundation, which he had estab-
lished in 1984, uses income from his vintage prints
to provide financial support for contemporary
photography and photographers.
RichardHowellsSeealso:Abstraction; Institute of Design; Photogra-
phy in the United States: the Midwest; Harry Callahan
Biography
Born in New York City, 4 December 1903. Attended Dewitt
Clinton High School, graduated City College of New
York in 1926; English teacher in New York City school
system 1926–1949; joined Workers Film and Photo Lea-
gue (later The Photo League) 1933, resigned 1935,
rejoined 1936, resigned again 1941; taught photography
at Trenton Junior College, Trenton, New Jersey, 1947–
1949; first exhibition at the Charles Egan Gallery, New
York, 1947; taught with Harry Callahan at Black Moun-
tain College Summer School 1951; instructor at the Insti-
tute of Design (ID), Illinois Institute of Technology,
Chicago, 1951–1961; travels and photographs extensively
in Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Morocco, Greece, Italy and Tur-
key, 1955–1986; Head of Photography at ID 1961–1971;
Professor of Photography at the Rhode Island School of
Design (RISD) 1971–1976;Homage to Franz Klineexhibi-
tion, 1975; retired from teaching photography 1976; estab-
lished the Aaron Siskind Foundation, 1984. Died in
Providence, Rhode Island, 8 February, 1991.
Selected Individual Exhibitions
1941 Tabernacle City; The Photo League; New York, New
York
1948 Bucks County: Photographs of Early Architecture;
Delaware Gallery; New Hope, Pennsylvania
1948, 1951 Black Mountain College; Black Mountain,
North Carolina
1951 The Photographs of Aaron Siskind; Charles Egan Gal-
lery; New York, New York
1955 Photographs by Aaron Siskind; Art Institute of Chi-
cago, Chicago, Illinois
1963 Aaron Siskind; George Eastman House; Rochester,
New York and traveling
1964 Photographys by Aaron Siskind; Art Institute of Chi-
cago, Chicago, Illinois
1965 The Photographs of Aaron Siskind; George Eastman
House; Rochester, New York
1970 Saidye Bronfman Centre; Montreal, Quebec, Canada
1971 Aaron Siskind Photographs; Milwaukee Art Center;
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1975 Photographs of Aaron Siskin in Homage to Franz Kline;
David and Alfred Smart Gallery; University of Chicago,
Chicago, Illinois
1975 Aaron Siskind: An Exhibition of his Photography from
the 1930s to the Present, with a view to his Documentary
and Architectural Work; Art Institute of Chicago; Chi-
cago, Illinois
197875 thBirthday Exhibition; Light Gallery; New York,
New York
1979 Aaron Siskind: Photographs 1932–1978; Museum of
Modern Art; Oxford, England
1980 Recent Work, 1973–1978; Centro Internacional de
Photografia; Barcelona, Spain
1981 Aaron Siskind; Statens Museum der Kunst; Copenha-
gen, Denmark
1981 Aaron Siskind: New Work: Mexico, Peru, Hawai;
Light Gallery; New York, New York
1982 Aaron Siskind: Fifty Years; Center for Creative Photo-
graphy; University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona (traveled
to Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio; Dallas
Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas; Des Moines Art Center,
Des Moines, Iowa; International Center of Photography,
New York; International Museum of Photography and
Film, George Eastman House, Rochester, New York;
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota;
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts; New
Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana; SanAaron Siskind, Gloucester 1, 1944.
[Copyright Aaron Siskind Estate. Courtesy Robert Mann
Gallery]SISKIND, AARON