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Lot Essay
In the 1920s, while she was living in Paris, Berenice Abbott met French poet and playwright Jean Cocteau and the two began working collaboratively, leading to some of Abbott’s most successful and inspired portraits. Abbott, who described Cocteau’s hands as ‘extremely expressive’ (as quoted in Hank O’Neal, Berenice Abbott: American Photography, p. 51) uses a tight cropping and emphasis on line and geometry in this celebrated image, to render his hands with the elegance and emotion.
Alongside Man Ray, Abbott took memorable portraits of the artists, writers, and high society of Paris in the 1920s and 1930s. When her portraits were exhibited in 1926 at the Au Sacre du Printemps gallery, Cocteau wrote a poem for the occasion that appeared on the show’s invitation, demonstrating their closeness during this period.
A print of this image was included in the important and influential Film und Foto exhibition in Stuttgart in 1929. In 1988, when the exhibition was recreated in Berlin, the present lot was included. Vintage prints, as this, are extremely rare to market. The present lot, which is both signed and stamped by the artist, was purchased from the auction of masterworks from the Quillan Collection in 2008.
Alongside Man Ray, Abbott took memorable portraits of the artists, writers, and high society of Paris in the 1920s and 1930s. When her portraits were exhibited in 1926 at the Au Sacre du Printemps gallery, Cocteau wrote a poem for the occasion that appeared on the show’s invitation, demonstrating their closeness during this period.
A print of this image was included in the important and influential Film und Foto exhibition in Stuttgart in 1929. In 1988, when the exhibition was recreated in Berlin, the present lot was included. Vintage prints, as this, are extremely rare to market. The present lot, which is both signed and stamped by the artist, was purchased from the auction of masterworks from the Quillan Collection in 2008.