Richard Learoyd

unique Ilfochrome print, flush-mounted to aluminum, framed, signed in ink and a McKee Gallery label, with typed title and date, on the reverse, 2012

McKee Gallery, New York, 2012

While this unique Ilfochrome print, flush-mounted to aluminum, has not been examined out of its frame, it appears to be in generally excellent condition. The colors remain saturated with no apparent fading. Upon close inspection and in high raking light the following are visible: a few deposits along the left edge; a few minor linear scratches along the left and right edges, some of which may have broken the emulsion; and 2 tiny abrasions to the emulsion in the upper left quadrant. None of the aforementioned affects the overall fine appearance of the print in any way.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

‘One thing that this process, at best, can do is to translate weight, density, and mass—not only in a physical sense, but in a more psychological way. When a picture is successful, the mental state of the sitter seems to radiate from that person’s physicality. . . . For me, in my work, the implication or meaning of this shift between extreme sharpness and blur is an emerging and submerging of a person’s consciousness, and emphasis of their immediate presence’ (Richard Learoyd, Aperture, No. 199, 2010, retrieved from http://aperture.org/blog/interview-richard-learoyd-archives/).

This luminous portrait exemplifies Richard Learoyd’s inimitable ability to render both his sitter’s physicality and emotions in ethereal, crystalline detail.  At a distance, Learoyd’s photographs could easily be mistaken for photorealist paintings.  He selects his subjects for their timelessness and they often exhibit radiant Victorian-era beauty.  Unlike in paintings or in modern digital photography, however, Learoyd’s intense focus and narrow depth of field render images that do not become pixilated upon close inspection.

Learoyd creates his unique larger-than-life photographs by employing the pre-photographic technology of the camera obscura.  Two rooms in Learoyd’s London studio are transformed into a camera: he seals one room from light completely, except for the aperture of his lens which, when opened, admits an inverted and laterally-reversed image of his sitter posed in the adjacent room onto an oversized sheet of cibachrome or ilfocrome paper tacked to the wall. The print is then immediately chemically treated and dried, a process which takes approximately 18 minutes.  The resulting photographs, unique direct-camera images, show tremendous detail on a monumental scale.

Learoyd’s photographs were the subject of Richard Learoyd: Dark Mirror at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2015–16) and Richard Learoyd: In the Studio at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, and at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (2016-17).  In addition to the aforementioned institutions, his photographs are in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Tate, London; and Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid.