This 1950 color photograph predates the earliest dated Ben Laposky Oscillon prints from 1952, placing Hirsh’s work at the very beginning of oscilloscope-based art.
Provenance
Helen Walker; mother of Joseph C. Wemple [friend of Walkers]; Joseph C. Wemple, San Francisco, CA.; Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc., acquired in 2002; Collection of Dennis Reed, Glendale, CA, acquired in 2016.
Photographer's credit or printer's rubber stamps on reverse of the photograph. Estate inventory 4845.
References
Hy Hirsh / Color Photographs [Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc, San Francisco] 2008, p. 11.
Red oscillating waves travel across the composition in parallel bands, passing through a repeated sequence of blue-violet arches. These superimposed oscilloscope patterns establish two contrasting rhythms: the lateral pulse of the red waves and the slower rise and fall of the arching forms.