Ed van der Elsken Photograph - July 29: UPDATE

The van der Elsken photograph previously announced did not sell. The opening price was $750; there were no bidders.

Ed van der Elsken Photograph - July 22: UPDATE

The van der Elsken photograph previously announced sold for $1025. There were 3 bidders.

Ed van der Elsken Photograph - July 29

Description

This is a photograph taken by Ed van der Elsken in 1969 in Amsterdam. The image measures approximately 11 1/2" by 8". This is a private auction, and bidding will complete on July 29. The opening bid is $750. You can find full auction details here and search for additional van der Elsken listings here.

Bio, Books, and Sales

A brief biography of van der Elsken, a list of photo books, links to additional images, and known information on sales can be found in an earlier post.

Ed van der Elsken Photograph - July 22

Description

This is a photograph by Dutch photographer Ed van der Elsken, taken in 1951 and printed in 1989. It is a 10 1/2" x 10 1/2" image. This is a private auction, and bidding will complete on July 22. The opening bid is $760. You can find full auction details here and search for additional van der Elsken listings here.

Brief Bio

Van der Elsken was born in Amsterdam in 1925 and died in 1990. He was both a photographer and "filmer" (as it says on his official website). His style predated artists such as Nan Goldin, in that most of his work primarily documents his own life and people he knew or met. Nearly all of his photos, photo books, and films (made for television) focus on his encounters with individuals who are striking or interesting in some manner.

He moved to Paris in 1950, and lived there with Hungarian photographer Ata Kando (and her 3 children) until 1954. They were married for roughly a year. The photograph presently at auction is from this period. This new family of his became the subject of his photographs, along with people he encountered in the course of living in Paris. For the most part, these people were drunkards, the homeless, and unemployed youth (he was heavily influenced by American photographer WeeGee) .

Van der Elsken became a sensation after he published the photographs from his life in Paris in the form of a photo book, "Love on the Left Bank." Several of his photographs from this time were also used in Edward Steichen's post-WWII photo show "The Family of Man."

Despite his rising popularity, however, he seemed to consistently undercut opportunities for commercial success in both photography and film, as this Guardian article documents. He was apparently quite difficult to work with when he was bored, and seems to have been bored whenever he was on an assignment not of his own making. He was unable or unwilling to keep the fashion photography jobs or the TV commercial assignments he was given.

In 1954, he moved back to Amsterdam, and married his 2nd wife, Gerda van der Veen. He began taking long trips around the world, documenting his travels. With commissions from two magazines and Netherlands Television, he set out in 1959 with his wife for a trip around the world, which lasted nearly a year. His work appeared in magazines and short TV programs, and culminated in the release of the photo book "Sweet Life" in 1966. When he returned from his travels, he documented both his family life and also the Jazz community that existed in this time in Amsterdam. In 1971, he left Amsterdam to live in Holland's countryside. He continued to travel widely (especially to Japan) and began working in color as well. He married a third time, to Anneke van der Elsken-Hilhorst. He was diagnosed with cancer in 1988 and, with his wife's assistance, documented the final 27 months of his life in a film entitled "Bye." It is remarkably unsentimental.

He has had a large number of shows, many after his death. A list of art shows featuring his work can be found here.

Further biographical information can be found here and in this article. The Netherlands "Fotomuseum" also has a biography of van der Elsken and a substantial on-line archive of his photographs. The site can be found here. They appear to have a comprehensive collection of his negatives as well, which were donated to the museum by his third wife Anneke in 1991.

Books

Van der Elsken published over 20 photo books.

Love on the Left Bank (1956)
Bagara (1958)
Jazz (1959)
Dans Theater (Dance Theater) (1960)
Nederlands Dans Theater (Dutch Dance Theater) (1960)
Sweet Life (1966)
Wereldreis in fotoís (world-tour in photos) four volumes (1967-1968)
Eye Love You (1977) - also available here
Zomaar in een sloot ergens bij Edam (Just somewhere in a ditch near Edam) (1977)
Hallo! (Hello!) (1978)
Amsterdam! Oude foto's (Old photos) 1947-1970 (1979)
Avonturen op het land (Adventures on the countryside) (1980)
Parijs! Foto's (Paris! Photos) 1950-1954 (1981)
Amsterdam? (1984)
Are you famous? (1985)
Elsken: PARIS 1950-1954 (1985)
San-jeruman-de-pure no koi LíAmour à Saint Germain des Prés (1986)
Jong Nederland: 'Adorabele rotzakken' 1947-1987 (Young Holland: Adorable bastards) (1987)
Elsken: JAPAN 1959-1960 Nippon data (1987)
De ontdekking van Japan (The discovery of Japan) (1988)
JAZZ Ed van der Elsken (1988)
Natlab (1989)
Africa Ed van der Elsken 1957 (1990)
Once upon a time (1993)
L'amour! (1995)
Hong Kong (1997)
Leve ik! (Long live me!) (1997)

You can find used copies of his books here.

Sales

Artprice.com has 66 entries listed, dating from 1999 to the present year. Artnet has 67 listings. A gallery has a similar sized print currently listed for $1300 (different subject however). Find completed van der Elsken auction listings here (requires log-in, but sign-up is trivial).