Ways of Seeing: South African and International Photography
Live Virtual Auction, 18 September 2024
Ways of Seeing: South African and International Photography
About the SessionWays of Seeing: South African and International Photography showcases a collection of works that take a critical approach to photography, layered with themes of personhood, subjectivity and community.
The sale features works from distinct collections by passionate collectors with a discerning eye and deep engagement with art – featuring The Gary Eisenberg Collection, part of the Linda Givon Collection, works from The Photographic Archival and Preservation Association as well as a group of contemporary African artists who have made a significant mark within the medium of photography including, Zanele Muholi, Mary Sibande, Kudzanai Chiurai, Pieter Hugo and Nandipha Mntambo, among others.
With a title that pays homage to a great thinker, John Berger, Ways of Seeing: South African and International Photography challenges traditional notions of the gaze, inviting us to engage the human experience through images of nude physical forms, intimate portraits, landscapes and depictions of the environment. The sale is a meditation on the ethics of seeing, often fraught with complexity and contestation.
It highlights the diversity within both local and global photographic traditions through an array of works, with significant contributions from African photographers alongside globally renowned artists such as Bill Brandt (British), Nan Goldin (American), Bettina Rheims (French), Sebastião Salgado (Brazilian), Viviane Sassen (Dutch), Wolfgang Tillmans (German), Joel-Peter Witkin (American), André Kertész (Hungarian), Roman Vishniac (Russian-American), and Youssef Nabil (Egyptian).
A significant portion of Ways of Seeing: South African and International Photography is drawn from The Gary Eisenberg Collection following the tragic and untimely passing of Gary earlier this year. This inclusion comes with immense gratitude from Gary’s wife, Dominique Eisenberg.
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About this Item
signed, dated 1997, numbered 4/15 and inscribed with the title on the reverse; inscribed with the artist's name, the date, number, title and medium on a Yvon Lambert gallery label adhered to the reverse
Provenance
Christie's, Paris, 12 December 2007, lot 323.
The Gary Eisenberg Collection.
Exhibited
Yvon Lambert Gallery, Paris, Love Streams, 31 September to 31 October 1997.
Notes
"For me taking a picture is a way of touching somebody — it's a caress. I'm looking with a warm eye, not a cold eye. I'm not analyzing what's going on — I just get inspired to take a picture by the beauty and vulnerability of my friends."—Nan Goldin1
1. Fotomuseum Winterthur (no date) Nan Goldin - I'll Be your Mirror, online, https://www.fotomuseum.ch/en/exhibitions-post/nan-goldin-ill-be-your-mirror/, accessed 19 August 2024.