The Face of the Water
Photograph
1959-1964 (made)
1959-1964 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
David Kronig was born in Erith, Kent as David William Newton King. He spent his childhood living in the UK, after which he studied in St Gallen, Zurich and Lausanne, Switzerland. During the Second World War he settled in Geneva, where he became acquainted with Alberto Giacometti. After the war and the death of his father he returned to the UK and changed his name to David Christian Kronig, reverting to the original family name which had been Anglicised during WW1. From 1953 to1964 he worked for various publishers in Geneva and London, among them Albert Skira. He did a number of portraits and reportages about notable figures from the art world, among them Alberto Giocometti and Marc Chagall. Wanting 'to make those still images move', he joined the BBC art features department in 1965. In the 1980s Kronig moved from London to Sussex, where he died in 1993.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | The Face of the Water (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | gelatin silver prints glued on paper |
| Brief description | David Kronig, 'The Face of the Water'. Book dummy with 82 black and white prints of water surfaces, 1959-1964. |
| Physical description | Book dummy with 82 black and white photographs of water surfaces and numbered pages. Pages are loose, or attached in pairs of 2, 3 or 4 pages which unfold like a leperello |
| Dimensions |
|
| Marks and inscriptions | Pages are numbered in pencil |
| Gallery label | Photo London: Benath the Surface
Somerset House 20 May - 24 August 2015
David Kronig (1923–93)
The Face of the Water, 1959–64
Kronig tested his book design for The Face of the Water by creating a full-scale dummy. Although the book was never published, the dummy provides an insight into his creative process. Kronig’s desire to ‘make still images move’ is reflected in his studies of the water surface. Meandering across the pages, his photographs suggest fluidity through careful sequencing. They were taken where the river Arve joins the Rhône near Geneva, where Kronig lived from 1959 to 1964.
Gelatin silver prints
V&A Museum no. Ph.751-1987
(20-5-2015) |
| Object history | Purchased from the photographer |
| Places depicted | |
| Association | |
| Summary | David Kronig was born in Erith, Kent as David William Newton King. He spent his childhood living in the UK, after which he studied in St Gallen, Zurich and Lausanne, Switzerland. During the Second World War he settled in Geneva, where he became acquainted with Alberto Giacometti. After the war and the death of his father he returned to the UK and changed his name to David Christian Kronig, reverting to the original family name which had been Anglicised during WW1. From 1953 to1964 he worked for various publishers in Geneva and London, among them Albert Skira. He did a number of portraits and reportages about notable figures from the art world, among them Alberto Giocometti and Marc Chagall. Wanting 'to make those still images move', he joined the BBC art features department in 1965. In the 1980s Kronig moved from London to Sussex, where he died in 1993. |
| Bibliographic reference | David Kronig, 'Jeux d'eau' in: Réalités, No 207, April 1936. Similar studies of the water surface appear in this French monthly.
David Kronig, 'Alberto Giocometti' in: Radio TV, No 14, 2 april 1964
David Kronig, 'Henri Noverraz' in: Radio TV, 23 May 1965
Henri Presset Sculptures 1959-1988, exhbition catalogue with text by John Berger, includes 5 photographs by Kronig |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | PH.751-1987 |
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| Record created | June 30, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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