26 174
315
●
ATGET, EUGÉNE (1857-1927)
“Rignier, homme.” Albumen print, 6x5 inches (15.2x12.7 cm.), with Atget’s title and number, in
pencil, on verso. Circa 1910
[1,500/2,500]
316
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SHERMAN, AUGUSTUS (1865-1925)
Group of 10 photographs of immigrants at Ellis Island. Silver prints, 6
1
/
4
x4
1
/
2
inches (15.9x11.4 cm.),
with a brief typewritten caption on verso. Circa 1905
[5,000/7,500]
From the Estate of Mary Clay, a librarian at the Lexington Public Library, who mounted a show of Sherman’s
and Lewis Hine’s photographs at the Skydome Gallery.
Man in hat and costume * Greek Priest *Wallachian-Austrian children * Religious fanatic * Hungarian-Slovak
woman and children * Servian gypsies * Norwegian Girl * Cossacks * Alsace Lorraine *Women and 3 children.
The amateur photographer Augustus Sherman, whose photographs are in the collection of the NewYork Public
Library, was Chief Registry Clerk at Ellis Island. Apparently, Sherman’s elaborately costumed subjects were
detainees—immigrants who were held at the newly constructed facility and waiting for an escort, or money, or
travel tickets. Many of these subjects posed for Sherman, donning their best holiday finery or national dress.
Sherman’s pictures were published in National Geographic in 1907, and for decades were displayed (uncredited)
at the federal Immigration Service. Correspondence suggests that the Commissioner gave copies of Sherman’s
haunting photographs to official Ellis Island visitors as mementoes.
Augustus F. Sherman: Ellis Island Portraits 1905-1920
(NewYork:Aperture,2005).
315