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Lot 672
Description:
Ernest J. Bellocq (American/New Orleans, 1873-1949), "Untitled, c. 1912, Storyville Woman in an Off Shoulder White Dress", silver gelatin print, printed from glass plate negative by Dan Leyrer in the early 1960s, 10 in. x 8 in.
- Provenance: Provenance: Estate of Al Rose from Larry Borenstein, New Orleans.~ Note: Ernest J. Bellocq's photographs of Storyville prostitutes can be provocative, emotive, and at times, even humorous. What they always are, though, is an honest look into the lives of Storyville's "working girls." Whether posing coquettishly in skimpy lingerie for the camera, dressed in pearls and furs in the guise of a lady, or posing playfully with a puppy, the women in these photographs give the viewer a glimpse into their everyday existence, in which they often go back and forth between playing the part of the respectably dressed lady and the scantily clad prostitute. The most evocative portraits of these women are undoubtedly the ones such as "Storyville Woman in an Off Shoulder Dress," where t e sitter is not engaging the viewer, nor is she subjecting herself to a sexualized gaze. She looks off into the distance, her thoughts known only to herself. Susan Sontag compares Bellocq's images to the works of noted writers Kate Chopin and Theodore Dreiser, saying that "Bellocq's photographs belong to this same world of anti-formulaic, anti-salacious sympathy for the 'fallen' woman, though in his case we can only speculate about the origin of that sympathy." Whatever the reason for Bellocq's compassionate portraits, the photographs create images that are both lovely and haunting.
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October 11, 2008 10:00 AM CDT
New Orleans, LA, US
Neal Auction Company
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