First day of school, Pilis, Austria, 1948

Not on View

Medium

gelatin silver print

Dimensions

image/

sheet: 23.9 × 18.9 cm (9 7/16 × 7 7/16 in.)

Credit Line

Corcoran Collection (Gift of Ben Shneiderman)

Accession Number

2015.19.4972

Artists / Makers

David Seymour (artist) American, born Poland, 1911 - 1956

Magnum Photos (publisher)

Image Use

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Inscription

on verso, by unknown hand, across top in graphite: [underlined in black ink: Hungary]: Seym. children; top right stamped in blue ink: #37; upper left stamped in black ink: HISTORICAL / CHILDREN; vertical along upper left edge in graphite: LB47695; upper center stamped in blue ink inside rectangle: PLEASE CREDIT / [line] / DAVID SEYMOUR-MAGNUM / [line] / MAGNUM PHOTOS INC. / 55 West [annotation in blue ink: 45]th Street / New York [11 crossed out in blue ink with 9], N.Y.; upper right in graphite, reversed: 22031; upper right stamped in faded black ink, reversed: MAGNUM / PHOTO LIBRARY PRINT / [NEW YORK.] / [line] / LOG REF: [line] / [TO BE RETURNED]; center left in red pencil: 183; center in black ink: Y-278; lower center, typed in black ink on white paper: EUROPE'S CHILDREN/Hungary FIRST DAY IN SCHOOL / 4-278: the first day in school is the same everywhere, / and the child's fear of this new step is universal. / The first day in school in Pilis, a Hungarian village / about 40 km. from Budapest was an informal affair, / with the mothers proud, the children scared, and a / general air of festivity in the school. The emotions / raised by theis [sic] first step in education, photographed / here in a Hungarian village in the first week in / September, were doubtless duplicated in schools all / over Europe where a fresh crop of children reached / school-age. Primary eduction is compulsory in / Hungary. / Most of the children were all dressed up in / their Sunday best for this important occasion, and / accompanied by their mothers. This little boy / has a fresh exercise book and a new pencil and a / worried little face.; by Corcoran Gallery of Art, bottom right in graphite: 2003.44.17

Provenance

David Seymour/Magnum Photos Inc., New York; Eileen Shneiderman, sister of the artist, 1956; Ben Shneiderman, Washington, DC; gift to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 2003; acquired by NGA, 2015.

Associated Names

Corcoran Gallery of Art
Shneiderman, Ben

Exhibition History

2006: Reflections from the Heart: Photographs by David Seymour, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, March 18 – June 4, 2006; Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, September 11 – December 10, 2006; George Eastman House, Rochester, NY, January 20 – April 22, 2007