Claude-Joseph-Désiré Charnay

Lot 4: CHARNAY, DÉSIRÉ (1828-1915)

Name: CHARNAY, DÉSIRÉ (1828-1915)
Brand: Swann Auction Galleries
SKU: tyx4dxvl0i

Est: $10,000 USD - $15,000 USD

Swann Auction GalleriesNew York, NY, USFebruary 14, 2005

Item Overview

Description

"Maison du Curé, á Mitla, Extérieur (Mitla: Exterior of the Priest's House)." Oversize albumen print, 10 3/4x15 3/4 inches (27.3x40 cm.), with Charnay's credit and title label adhered to mount recto. 1859

Artist or Maker

Claude-Joseph-Désiré Charnay

Notes

a bright clean print in pristine condition by Charnay, a Frenchman who made the first successful photographs of ancient Mayan ruins in Mitla, Palenque, Izmal, Chichentza, and Uxmal. The photographer worked under laborious conditions, utilizing cumbersome and heavy glass-plate negatives, and hiring large crews simply to cut and burn brush so as to make the facades of the monuments visible. And, like photojournalists working today in southern Mexico, Charnay's efforts were thwarted by local rebels, who threatened and detained him.

This image is reproduced in desire charnay, exepditionary photographer (University of New Mexico Press, 1981 ), p. 40, where author Keith Davis writes: "It is clear that Charnay's most signficant work was done in his first Mexican expedition of 1857-60. His photographs were large, descriptive documents that successfully conveyed both the mystery of the structures and the romance of adventure."

Auction Details

100 FINE PHOTOGRAPHS

Swann Auction Galleries

February 14, 2005, 12:00 AM EST

104 East 25th Street, New York, NY, 10010, US

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