$314,500 Moroccan dancers lead Irving Penn photography sale

Christie's auctioned the largest collection of photographs by Irving Penn (1917-2009) ever come to auction, earlier this week (on April 14).

Among the variety of stark and absorbing Penn images was a photograph entitled 2 Guedras, 1972.

The photo depicts two Guedra dancers of Goulimine, Morroco whose dance, it is said, has its roots in a very ancient cultural ceremony and symbolism that has been lost in time.


Irving Penn's 2 Guedras, 1972, sold for $314,500

"Those chosen sat, eyes fixed on the lens, enjoying the camera's scrutiny yet themselves impenetrable, unhurried during the considerable time we spent together," said Penn himself of the image.

Measuring 21 1/8 x 17 1/8 inches, the platinum-palladium print, flush-mounted on aluminum image (printed in 1977) emerged as the top lot in the Christie's auction.

It realised a final hammer price of $314,500.

Meanwhile, a definitive retrospective book of the works of renowned Canadian-Armen photographer Yousuf Karsh is available on the collectors' market.

The signed copy of Karsh a Fifty-Year Retrospective has been autographed by Karsh himself and is up for sale priced £595 ($980).

 

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