New Orleans Tire Shop

Max Pollak

Max Pollak did this color intaglio around 1935 when he and his wife Friedl were traveling across the United States, eventually settling in San Francisco, California. While traveling across the U.S., he recorded his personal impressions; sometimes the architecture, the neighborhoods, residents, and the activities of the local populace.

Like the 19th-century etcher Whistler and his followers, Pollak did not necessarily focus on recording the tourist spots and postcard highlights, preferring to find the interesting nooks and crannies in the neighborhoods that compose every city. He discovered this intriguing composition in a New Orleans neighborhood during the Great Depression, a well-used tire shop, with a sign askew on the overhang. The shop displays its wares - large tires that hang from the ceiling, and lean against the building. To the left, a young woman walks nonchalantly down the sidewalk, bringing a sense of scale and life to the scene.

Pollak applied the colors on the buildings and tires a la poupée, using small swabs to apply the colors directly to the plate. By printing in this manner there will be slight variations in the coloring between impressions. Though editioned at 100 there were probably around 10 impressions actually printed.