CATEGORY: PHOTOGRAPHS
A unique museum piece by one of the leading photographers of the 20th century. Before his international establishment as a Vogue photographer, Erwin Blumenfeld was known as a dadaist artist and for his contributions to the French art magazine Verve. The print on sale is from 1937, the early Verve-period, just after Blumenfeld moved from Amsterdam to Paris. Extremely rare and only the true connaisseur will recognize its importance.
Notre Dame de Paris
Provenance: Galerie Fotokabinet, The Hague, 2009 < Rotterdam based conceptual artist (Thomas Hageraats) < Belgian art historian, critic, writer. Seen by the Erwin Blumenfeld Estate in 2009.
Creator:
Erwin Blumenfeld (1897, Berlin, Germany - 1969, Rome, Italy)
Object:
Photograph, gelatin silver print.
Country:
France
Design period:
1937
Production period:
1937 Vintage
Identifying marks:
Title: Notre Dame de Paris (French annotations handwritten on verso by himself). Photographers copyright stamp and signature (extremely rare !) on verso.
Style:
Religious, portrait, artistic
Condition:
In near fine condition, some negative based spots and subtile blends
Material:
Gelatin silver print on baryta photographic paper
Colour:
Black & White
Dimensions:
Image: W 24.1 x H 30.0 cm | Matted: W 40.0 x H 50.0 cm
Biography
Erwin Blumenfeld was born in Berlin in 1897, moved to The Netherlands late 1918, and started a professional career in photography in 1934. In the 1930s, he published collages mocking Adolf Hitler. He emigrated to France in 1936, where his work was published in the fine art magazine Verve. When the Second World War broke out, he was interned in a concentration camp in 1940 because he was Jewish. In 1941, he could escape to the USA.
His more personal work is in black and white; his commercial work in fashion, much for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, is mostly in color. In both media he was a great innovator. In black and white he did all his work personally in the dark room. Vintage gelatin silver prints from his negatives are extremely rare, since almost all of his later work was shot on transparency film.
Together with André Kertesz and Man Ray, Blumenfeld was an important pioneer on creative photography. He experimented with solarization, double exposures, negative-positive combinations and montages. His early photographs of Madonna sculptures can be considered as lessons in composition and moods. Four of them were published in the book "My 100 best photos" (1979).
Recent exhibitions include Galerie Anders Thalman Zurich, Kicken Berlin, ParisGlobe Paris, Fotomuseum Den Haag and Gallery Modernism in San Francisco.
Keywords; Religious, Dutch, German, French, Jewish, Vogue, Historical, Rare, Museum. Top auction result: $ 124.806 (Philips, 08-05-2014)
A unique museum piece by one of the leading photographers of the 20th century. Before his international establishment as a Vogue photographer, Erwin Blumenfeld was known as a dadaist artist and for his contributions to the French art magazine Verve. The print on sale is from 1937, the early Verve-period, just after Blumenfeld moved from Amsterdam to Paris. Extremely rare and only the true connaisseur will recognize its importance.
Notre Dame de Paris
Provenance: Galerie Fotokabinet, The Hague, 2009 < Rotterdam based conceptual artist (Thomas Hageraats) < Belgian art historian, critic, writer. Seen by the Erwin Blumenfeld Estate in 2009.
Creator:
Erwin Blumenfeld (1897, Berlin, Germany - 1969, Rome, Italy)
Object:
Photograph, gelatin silver print.
Country:
France
Design period:
1937
Production period:
1937 Vintage
Identifying marks:
Title: Notre Dame de Paris (French annotations handwritten on verso by himself). Photographers copyright stamp and signature (extremely rare !) on verso.
Style:
Religious, portrait, artistic
Condition:
In near fine condition, some negative based spots and subtile blends
Material:
Gelatin silver print on baryta photographic paper
Colour:
Black & White
Dimensions:
Image: W 24.1 x H 30.0 cm | Matted: W 40.0 x H 50.0 cm
Biography
Erwin Blumenfeld was born in Berlin in 1897, moved to The Netherlands late 1918, and started a professional career in photography in 1934. In the 1930s, he published collages mocking Adolf Hitler. He emigrated to France in 1936, where his work was published in the fine art magazine Verve. When the Second World War broke out, he was interned in a concentration camp in 1940 because he was Jewish. In 1941, he could escape to the USA.
His more personal work is in black and white; his commercial work in fashion, much for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, is mostly in color. In both media he was a great innovator. In black and white he did all his work personally in the dark room. Vintage gelatin silver prints from his negatives are extremely rare, since almost all of his later work was shot on transparency film.
Together with André Kertesz and Man Ray, Blumenfeld was an important pioneer on creative photography. He experimented with solarization, double exposures, negative-positive combinations and montages. His early photographs of Madonna sculptures can be considered as lessons in composition and moods. Four of them were published in the book "My 100 best photos" (1979).
Recent exhibitions include Galerie Anders Thalman Zurich, Kicken Berlin, ParisGlobe Paris, Fotomuseum Den Haag and Gallery Modernism in San Francisco.
Keywords; Religious, Dutch, German, French, Jewish, Vogue, Historical, Rare, Museum. Top auction result: $ 124.806 (Philips, 08-05-2014)
ERWIN BLUMENFELD (1897-1969)
Notre Dame de Paris
signed (!) and stamped vintage photograph, 1937
Notre Dame de Paris
signed (!) and stamped vintage photograph, 1937
Price on request