Photographs
Photographs
Horst P. Horst
Barefoot Beauty, N. Y.
Lot Closed
June 13, 02:02 PM GMT
Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Horst P. Horst
1906 - 1999
Barefoot Beauty, N. Y.
gelatin silver print, the photographer's facsimile signature embossed in the margin, signed and with title and date in pencil on the reverse, framed, 1941, printed later
image: 55.7 by 43.1 cm (22 by 17 in.)
frame: 88 by 74.9 cm (34⅝ by 29½ in.)
Acquired by the present owner circa 1998
Horst: Photographs 1931-1986 (London and Milan, 1985), unpaginated
Martin Kazmaier, Horst: Sixty Years of Photography (New York, 1991), pl. 79
Reinhold Misselbeck, ed., Horst. Magier des Lichts – Magician of Light (Cologne, 1997), p. 44
Susanna Brown, ed., Horst: Photographer of Style (London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2014), pl. 35
The present image embodies two of Horst P. Horst’s most important influences: classical form and surrealism. The eroticization and fetishization of the deconstructed body was a topic common among the Surrealists, who often 'removed' parts of the body to decontextualize the female form. In Horst’s clever composition, one can barely tell the difference between the model’s feet and those belonging to the statue beneath her.