Scope and Contents

This series includes photographs taken by David Wojnarowicz, photographs taken by other artists, photographs of Wojnarowicz' artwork, and source photographs Wojnarowicz was inspired by or incorporated into larger works. The majority of the contact sheets and negatives correspond to each other, and comprehensive indexing exists between the two subseries. Negatives can be found for most of the Wojnarowicz prints in this series, but have not been indexed in this way. A large numbered run of slides of completed artwork is accompanied by a list of each artwork's date and media; these seem to be pieces represented by Gracie Mansion Gallery.

The provenance of Subseries A: Contact Sheets and Subseries B: Negatives is complex, and needs to be understood in order to understand the two subseries. In 1994, Aperture acquired many negatives and contact sheets from Wojnarowicz in order to use some of them in the production of the book David Wojnarowicz: Brush Fires in the Social Landscape. Aperture received 58 manila envelopes containing negatives and contact sheets, which they numbered. Other contact sheets or negatives arrived in "box 108," "box 109," "paper bag 111" etc. This original housing forms the basis for Aperture's system of organization. They organized and rehoused all the negatives, leaving contact sheets in the original envelope or box housing. Aperture also created a list of what they received, transcribing Wojnarowicz' notes, and listing the numbers of contact sheets and negatives in each folder. An abridged version of this list appears in the Container listing. All other contact sheets and negatives arrived at Fales Library also in manila envelopes. About half of these were numbered in red pen with numbers ranging from 2 - 41. The remaining envelopes were not numbered, but, as do all the envelopes, contain Wojnarowicz's notes about the negatives inside. A list similar to that created by Aperture was generated for these envelopes, and much of it also appears in the Container listing.

All contact sheets are currently housed in Boxes 30 - 44, in numerical order following photocopies of any notes on the original housing. Negatives are housed correspondingly in Boxes 45 - 55, and are labeled with the number or title of the envelope in which they originated. In this way, negatives can be found based on the number of the envelope in front of the contact sheet. There are some gaps in the contact sheet-negative match. For example, Aperture's "Box 108" has no batch of corresponding negatives; negatives to these contact sheets mainly occur in the "unnumbered envelopes." In order to make these discrepancies less complex, each contact sheet is marked with the Box number in which the corresponding negative appears. Aperture-numbered envelopes are marked as such. The non-numbered envelopes are titled based on Wojnarowicz' notes and ordered as they were originally in the box in which they arrived at Fales. "Order" of these photographs, however, matters little, as Wojnarowicz himself did not order or number any of the envelopes. Original housings or notations are housed at the end of the series.

Box 44 contains an almost complete set of what appear to be original Rimbaud series contact sheets. However, the negatives for these photos were in disarray when Aperture acquired them, and new contact sheets were created. These appear in Box 37. They contain strips of negatives from different rolls of film printed onto the same contact sheet. The majority of the Rimbaud negatives appear in Box 49, with others scattered throughout the collection.

Subseries C: Prints of Wojnarowicz Art Photographs are organized into known photographic series (such as Arthur Rimbaud in New York and the Sex Series) and then loosely by the subjects "Animals and Insects," "People," and "Things." The oversize prints are grouped together by series when known, or by photograph (including multiples from the same negative), and are described at the item level. The multiple versions reflect different contrast and exposure choices made while printing, and some of the photographs have been printed with alternative processes such as solarization or by painting directly on the print surface with chemistry. The oversize prints include the photographic series of Peter Hujar on his deathbed.

Subseries D: Prints of Source Photographs contains Wojnarowicz' collection of mid-20th century pornographic cards. Also included are Wojnarowicz photographs which were later used in larger collages, or were not used as part of any artwork. These are organized loosely by subjects as in Subseries C: "Animals and Insects," "People," and "Things," as well as by more specific subjects, such as "Statues," "Sex Pics," and "Paris."

Subseries E: Other People's Photographs is composed of a 16 x 20 in. Nan Goldin photographic print (of Nan Goldin).

Subseries F: Slides. As with the contact sheets and negatives, many of these slides were acquired by Aperture in 1994 and organized and described based on letters or numbers given to the original boxes. Many of these works are reprints of photographs, some are entire rolls of color film (many of Mexico) which do not exist in print form in this collection. The majority of the slides have been housed according to this lettering and numbering system given by Aperture (A-Z, AA-ZZ, 1 - 106). These groups of slides are housed following photocopies of the notation on their original boxes, much as the contact sheets above.

A numbered list of over 300 completed artworks accompanied the slides; many of the corresponding numbered slides are scattered throughout the groupings by original slide boxes. In general, however, slides of completed Wojnarowicz artwork can be found in Boxes 80 - 86.

Slides not grouped or numbered in this way include documentation of Wojnarowicz installation pieces, photographs of Mexican mummies, additional numbered slides of Wojnarowicz artwork, as well as loose slides found throughout the collection. These are housed following any information which was attached to them, such as their original location or dates taken. Original housings or notations are housed at the end of the series.