**Originally Listed At $600**

John F. Collins (American, 1888-1990). "Spools and Film No. 4" gelatin silver photograph, 1934. A striking photograph entitled "Spools and Film No. 4" by John F. Collins, an American photographer who used avant-garde photographic techniques to zoom in on modern tools of technology - in this case objects related to his own field of photography - with a studio camera of his own design that he called Big Bertha, oftentimes creating a visual aura to elevate his subjects. This piece was created in 1934, the year that Collins was hired by Kodak, hence the "Eastman Acetate" stamp at the lower left. In addition, Collins' creations reflected the Machine Age when modernists paid homage to America's glistening man-made environment and mechanical forms - everything from streamlined automobiles, airplanes and locomotives to skyscrapers and bridges and yes, even seemingly ordinary objects like typewriters and spools of film! Size: 9.875" L x 7.7" W (25.1 cm x 19.6 cm) Size of matte: 17" L x 14" W (43.2 cm x 35.6 cm)

John F. Collins was part of the first generation of 20th century American photographers - along with Edward Steichen, Charles Sheeler, and others - who employed avant-garde ideas into their commercial work and saw no distinction between fine and applied photography, much like the Bauhaus and Constructivist photographers in Europe. "Collins's work was usually simple, elegant, refined in conception and highly dramatic. The pictures emphasized Cubist flattened space, overlapping planes of light, vigorous and subtle tones and textures, to accentuate boldly the forms of the objects, which were treated as abstract shapes. Collins's powerful graphic images called attention to the uniqueness of each object, emphasizing 'the thing itself.' This was the core and heart of avant-garde photography of the 1920s." ("John F. Collins Photographs 1904-1946" Photofind Gallery Inc. 1987)

This photograph was in the collection of pioneering patron of the arts, Ginny Williams. Sotheby's hosted a series of auctions featuring art and photography in the Ginny Williams Collection in June and July of 2020. Their press release began as follows, "Born in rural Virginia in 1927, Ginny moved to Denver, Colorado in the late 1950s with her husband, Carl Williams. An avid photographer herself, who studied with Austrian-American photojournalist and photographer Ernst Haas, her collecting journey began with classical figurative photography. Her passion and keen eye eventually prompted her to open her namesake gallery in Denver in the 1980s. While her passion for photography never waned, remaining a primary focus of both her gallery and private collection, her voracious curiosity quickly widened her curatorial focus. Over time, Ginny became increasingly courageous and experimental in her selections, venturing into Abstract Expressionism and Contemporary Art and following her artists themselves through gallery shows and museum exhibitions. As the years passed, Ginny became as much of a trailblazer as the artists she collected."

Provenance: private Idledale, Colorado, USA collection; ex-Ginny Williams collection of Denver, Colorado

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#171275

Photo is set floating upon a matte that is stamped "Eastman Acetate" at the left and "J.F. Collins" at the right below the image. A small sticker with "209" is at the lower left. All is set in a folding matte with "p.6 & 45 SPOOLS AND FILM NO 4 1934" handwritten in pencil on the verso. Photo is in very good condition. Slight toning to matte it floats upon. Folding matte is good.