Aaron Siskind (1903-1991) had no equal within the photography world of his era, standing as the only photographer of the American Abstract Expressionist movement and consequently one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century. No other photographer has matched his innovations, his creativity, or his subtle innuendos. Siskind took photographs of recognizable people, places, and things, but in ways that produced a new means of communicating ideas, feelings, and perspectives on life and history.

Rather than simply recording actual images, Siskind produced pictures that reflected his own state of mind. He worked by coming in close to his subjects, then framing out any superfluous or distracting elements in order to enhance the emotional element or allusive quality he found most compelling. His signature close-up photographs of weathered walls, torn posters, peeling paint, graffiti, and other overlooked urban surfaces transformed the ordinary detritus of American cities into images of extraordinary formal beauty and emotional resonance.

Siskind's early abstract work was not immediately accepted by his fellow photographers, but it was widely admired by such painters as Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Franz Kline, who were friends of Siskind and central figures within the Abstract Expressionist movement. Siskind often exhibited his abstract photographs alongside their paintings, and his work became one of the essential photographic complements to the great achievement of the New York School. He taught for many years at the Institute of Design in Chicago and later at the Rhode Island School of Design, mentoring generations of American photographers. As a result of his innovations, Siskind holds a special place within the history of photography.