Mainbocher Corset
45.1 cms x 33.7 cms (17.75 ins x 13.25 ins)
Signed and on verso signed, titled, editioned 33/50, dated 1939 and inscribed "paris"
printed in 1939
Lot offered for sale by Heffel, Vancouver at the auction event "April 2016 - HO2 HO2 Online auction" held on Wed, Apr 20, 2016.
Lot 110
Lot 110
Estimate: CAD $20,000 - $30,000
Realised: CAD $21,240
Realised: CAD $21,240
Lot description - from the online catalogue*
Provenance:
Jane Corkin Gallery, Toronto, 1991
Private Collection, Vancouver
Exhibitions:
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Shots of Style: Great Fashion Photographs Chosen by David Bailey, 1985 - 1986, same image, catalogue #71
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Chorus of Light: Photographs from the Sir Elton John Collection, 2000 - 2001, same image
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Selling Dreams: One Hundred Years of Fashion Photography, traveling to Light House, Wolverhampton; The Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, Exeter; Royal West of England Academy, Bristol; The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery and Museum; Aberdeen Art Gallery; The State Library, New South Wales; and Auckland War Memorial Museum, 2011 - 2014, same image
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Horst: Photographer of Style, traveling to the Netherlands Photo Museum, Rotterdam, and NRW-Forum, Düsseldorf, 2014 - 2016, same image
National Portrait Gallery, London, Vogue 100: A Century of Style, 2016, same image
Literature:
"Paris Openings II," American Vogue, September, 1939
"C'était hier," French Vogue, December 1939, pages 34 - 35
Polly Devlin, Vogue Book of Fashion Photography, 1979, reproduced page 46
Nancy Hall-Duncan, The History of Fashion Photography, 1979, reproduced page 65
Valentine Lawford, Horst: His Work and His World, 1984, reproduced page 184
Horst Photographs, 1931 - 1968, 1985, unpaginated
Martin Kazmaier, Horst: Sixty Years of Photography, 1991, plate 8
Kennedy Fraser, On the Edge: Images from 100 Years of Vogue, 1992, reproduced page 25
Hans-Michael Koetzle, Photo Icons: Volume II, 2002, pages 38 - 45
Norberto Angeletti and Alberto Oliva, In Vogue: The Illustrated History of the World's Most Famous Fashion Magazine, 2006, reproduced page 18
Notes:
First published in the December 1939 issue of French Vogue, Mainbocher Corset is one of fashion's most iconic photographs, taken by Horst P. Horst (whose real name was Horst Bohrmann) on the day he left France for New York, a few weeks before the Second World War broke out. The model (known as Madame Bernon) poses with her arms elegantly stretched out to the sides, accentuating her sinuous contrapposto, and with her hair tied up, revealing the nape of her neck. Influences from Surrealists Salvador Dalí and Man Ray are manifest in this photograph. Interestingly, the published version of Mainbocher Corset was retouched, proving that photographic manipulation was in use at that time. One would leaf through the pages of the magazine and find the model wearing a tightly bound corset, rather than the original slackened one, which was deemed too provocative. When discussing this image, Horst wrote, ''It was created by emotion...It was the last photo I took in Paris before the war. I left the studio at 4:00 a.m., went back to the house, picked up my bags and caught the 7:00 a.m. train to Le Havre to board the Normandie...This photograph is peculiar - for me, it is the essence of the moment. While I was taking it, I was thinking of all that I was leaving behind.'' Please note this work was printed later.
Jane Corkin Gallery, Toronto, 1991
Private Collection, Vancouver
Exhibitions:
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Shots of Style: Great Fashion Photographs Chosen by David Bailey, 1985 - 1986, same image, catalogue #71
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Chorus of Light: Photographs from the Sir Elton John Collection, 2000 - 2001, same image
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Selling Dreams: One Hundred Years of Fashion Photography, traveling to Light House, Wolverhampton; The Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, Exeter; Royal West of England Academy, Bristol; The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery and Museum; Aberdeen Art Gallery; The State Library, New South Wales; and Auckland War Memorial Museum, 2011 - 2014, same image
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Horst: Photographer of Style, traveling to the Netherlands Photo Museum, Rotterdam, and NRW-Forum, Düsseldorf, 2014 - 2016, same image
National Portrait Gallery, London, Vogue 100: A Century of Style, 2016, same image
Literature:
"Paris Openings II," American Vogue, September, 1939
"C'était hier," French Vogue, December 1939, pages 34 - 35
Polly Devlin, Vogue Book of Fashion Photography, 1979, reproduced page 46
Nancy Hall-Duncan, The History of Fashion Photography, 1979, reproduced page 65
Valentine Lawford, Horst: His Work and His World, 1984, reproduced page 184
Horst Photographs, 1931 - 1968, 1985, unpaginated
Martin Kazmaier, Horst: Sixty Years of Photography, 1991, plate 8
Kennedy Fraser, On the Edge: Images from 100 Years of Vogue, 1992, reproduced page 25
Hans-Michael Koetzle, Photo Icons: Volume II, 2002, pages 38 - 45
Norberto Angeletti and Alberto Oliva, In Vogue: The Illustrated History of the World's Most Famous Fashion Magazine, 2006, reproduced page 18
Notes:
First published in the December 1939 issue of French Vogue, Mainbocher Corset is one of fashion's most iconic photographs, taken by Horst P. Horst (whose real name was Horst Bohrmann) on the day he left France for New York, a few weeks before the Second World War broke out. The model (known as Madame Bernon) poses with her arms elegantly stretched out to the sides, accentuating her sinuous contrapposto, and with her hair tied up, revealing the nape of her neck. Influences from Surrealists Salvador Dalí and Man Ray are manifest in this photograph. Interestingly, the published version of Mainbocher Corset was retouched, proving that photographic manipulation was in use at that time. One would leaf through the pages of the magazine and find the model wearing a tightly bound corset, rather than the original slackened one, which was deemed too provocative. When discussing this image, Horst wrote, ''It was created by emotion...It was the last photo I took in Paris before the war. I left the studio at 4:00 a.m., went back to the house, picked up my bags and caught the 7:00 a.m. train to Le Havre to board the Normandie...This photograph is peculiar - for me, it is the essence of the moment. While I was taking it, I was thinking of all that I was leaving behind.'' Please note this work was printed later.
Most realised prices include the Buyer's Premium of 18-25%, but not the HST/GST Tax.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Heffel auction house for permission to use.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Heffel auction house for permission to use.