For the next Photographs sale at Artcurial, Arnaud Adida and Christophe Lunn selected 22 prints from the 170 lots offered for auction on June 29th in Paris. Christophe Lunn is a collector, expert for Photographs at Artcurial and President of Photo Saint Germain 2015.
Christophe : Creating a sales catalogue is an alchemy one does not control completely. Finding links between the lots provided by different sources is sometimes impossible. To hell with boring chronological constructions. With Arnaud Adida we shook up this old rule from the first catalogue we put together for Artcurial. The fact that we worked in photo agencies reflects in our choices : portraits, celebrities, nudes, and opening up to photojournalism as a collectible object. The idea is to offer a large choice, not necessarily the iconic image of such or such a photographer (like one sees in other sales catalogues).
Photography is an invitation on a journey, a visual reflection of reality, which opens up the imagination. Here are a few prints which take me on that ride : Mapplethorpe was very methodical and created his editionned prints at the same time, shortly after taking the picture. He only signed prints when they left the studio to be sold. Today, many prints on the market are signed by his executor, Michael Ward Stout. This does not diminish their artistic value or the quality of the print. Mapplethorpe represents, to my eyes, one of the first “artist/photographers”. He understood the beauty of the image, but also recognized that of the object : the print. Another splendid print is “Winnie on the Deck”, one the first photographs Helmut Newton exhibited. This image, both classic and precursory to “sexy chic” is the link between all the photographs in the catalogue which precede it in time, and all those shot after. I really enjoy the humour of Martin Parr and Robert Doisneau. Both photographers really express their point of vue and have a capacity to observe and reveal human beings in their ordinary daily lives, in an extraordinary manner.
Picasso continues to fascinate worldwide, generation after generation. This portrait by Denise Colomb, all in shadows, is very enigmatic. One can only distinguish the curve of the artist’s skull, but we recognize him immediately. Hervé Bruhat is a photographer who knows how to manipulate light, old school style. There are no special effects in this photograph. His lighting, using “gobos”, was created during the shoot and restitutes the mood of the Crazy Horse Saloon. When I discoverd this hand-colored print by Jan Saudek “On the Road” or when my eyes met those of Nick Brandt’s Leopard, I was completely taken in.
François Fontaine is a young photographer whose work I have admired since I discovered his series “Silenzio” (shown at A. Galerie), a tribute to cinema and its imprint on our memory. The print in this sale is of an Indian landscape at dusk, reflected in water. It reminds me of a book on Georges Sand’s pigment paintings. A marvel.
The photograph by Philippe Ramette does not need commentary. The execution is perfect, the idea full of humor and self-ridicule. I have to pay tribute to the first French academician photographer. One can have a favorable opinion or not about his work, but Lucien Clergue remains one of the most influential photographers when it comes to spreading and sharing the knowledge of photography in the 20th century. For France and the rest of the world, the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles, which he created, remains one of the essential yearly pilgrimages. And his naiads also have an effect on me
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AUCTION
Photographies
Monday 29th June, 2015 at 7:00pm
Exhibition
26 June, 11pm-7pm
27 June, 11pm-6pm
28 June, 2pm-6pm
29 June, by appointment
Artcurial
7 rond-point des Champs-Élysées
75008 Paris
Consultez le catalogue en ligne :
http://issuu.com/artcurialbpt/docs/2749?e=6268161/12789934
