JEANLOUP SIEFF 1933-2000 - Lot 66

JEANLOUP SIEFF 1933-2000 Jeune Suédoise de Dos, Paris, 1992. Photograph. Vintage silver print, author's stamp on back. Image: 29.7 x 19.6 cm; sheet: 39.6 x 29.7 cm "Making a portrait consists, most often, in representing a face or a bust in a familiar or neutral environment. Yet the face is the most exposed, the most visible, the most used part of social life. It has become the hypocritical mask that can be used to express whatever you want, to laugh when you're sad, to appear interested when you're dying of boredom, to be marbled when you're seething with passion. That's one of the reasons why I became interested in behinds. It's the most protected part, the most secret, the one that retains that childlike innocence that the eyes or hands have long since lost. It's also, plastically, the most moving part of the body, made of roundness and promise...". "There are the rare, elegant, aristocratic derrières, which go beyond their function, sublimating it, becoming objets d'art, masterpieces, miracles of nature. These are the Romanesque vaults of body architecture, which allow us to rediscover our original faith in a woman in the image of God. These are the ones I like to photograph, to preserve their miraculous curves forever...". Jeanloup Sieff