James Cummins Bookseller

v.p: v.d. [chiefly ca. 1940s-1960s].

Price: $15,000.00

About the item

Approx. 500 gelatin silver prints and some color prints, many SIGNED by Kessel and captioned in his or another hand. Contents generally very good or better.

Item #238611

A comprehensive, career-spanning archive of the great Ukrainian-born photojournalist Dimitri Kessel (1902-1995), in all, some 500 unique photographs. During his 60-year career, Kessel worked as an industrial photographer, a war correspondent and combat photographer, and a photo essayist for LIFE. During World War II, he sailed on convoy escorts in the North Atlantic, covered the landing of American troops in the Aleutian Islands and the British landing in Greece. He also photographed the Greek civil war. In later years, Kessel lived on the Yangtze River in China for seven months while producing a photo essay for LIFE. He photographed the Andes Mountains in South America and mining operations in Central Africa. Kessel is world famous for the fidelity of his camera recreations of great art, but was also a tough and adventurous news photographer.
Comprises:

1: Collection of approx. 400 photos from Kessel's personal files, the majority showing Kessel at work or relaxing with his LIFE co-workers, most ca. 1940s-1960s. Many captioned on front or rear, mounting stains. Locations include Guantanamo, Cuba; Birminham, AL (with Joe Scherschel); Maine; Central America; Cairo; Bangcock. Collegues pictured include Frank Capa, Ed Thompson, Gijon Mili, and Alfred Eisenstaedt. A fascinating record of the ever-smiling Kessel at work and play.
2: Three photographs of a nude model for lingerie ad. Gelatin silver prints. 10-3/16 x 7-15/16 inches, New York: [1934]. Very good. Faint creasing at corners. Docketed on verso in pencil. Three photographs, taken by an unknown photographer, of Dimitri Kessel at work on his first commercial assignment.
3: Photograph of John Hersey on the Yangtze River [With:] two photographs, one of Hersey alone, one of Hersey and Kessel. Gelatin silver print. 9-1/2 x 7-11/16 inches, [China]: [1946]. Some faint creasing to top corners. Docketed on verso; date stamped "Mar 12 1946".
Kessel and Hersey were on assignment together in China for LIFE in 1946. Kessel devotes an entire chapter of his memoirs to his time on the Yangtze: "When I checked in, John Hersey, then a contract writer for LIFE, was there. He had been assigned to do a text piece on a farming village called Red Pepper [ ... ] John suggested that I accompany him to the village, only about forty miles outside Peking, to make photographs to illustrate his piece. I said, fine, if he would accompany me to the Yangtze to do the text to go with my pictures. New York thought it was a great idea" (Kessel, On Assignment, p. 149). The previous summer THE NEW YORKER dedicated an entire issue to Hersey's HIROSHIMA. His novel, A SINGLE PEBBLE, about an engineer searching for a dam site on the Yangtze, would be based on his time on the river with Kessel.
4: [KESSEL, Dimitri?]. Portrait of Margaret Bourke-White in top hat, clutching a bottle of tequila and taking aim with a toy gun. Gelatin silver print (7-1/2 x 7-1/2 in.). n.p: ca. 1940s. Mounting stains to verso, image fine.
5: Photograph of Viennese gazing at sweets in shop window. Vintage gelatin silver print, SIGNED and docketed on rear with LIFE stamp. 11 x 9-1/8 in. [Vienna: 1948]. Crease at lower left corner, else near fine.
Reproduced on p. 167 of ON ASSIGNMENT.
6: Portrait of Henri Matisse taking a stroll in front of the Chapelle Matisse in Vence. Gelatin silver print. SIGNED by the photographer lower right, beneath the image, and dated. 12-1/2 x 8-1/2 inches, [Vence, France: 1951]. Printed circa 1984. Very good.
Superb, large portrait of the artist in front of his famous Chapel.
7: Photograph of a Russian Orthodox Church in Uzhgorad, Czechoslovakia. Gelatin silver print. SIGNED , captioned "Uzhgorod, sub-Carpathian Ruthenia," and dated 1937 by the photographer beneath the image. 13-3/8 x 9-5/8 inches, [Uzhgorod, Czechoslovakia: 1937]. Printed circa 1984. Very good. Docketed on the rear with directions to the printer for reduction and placement. Reproduced (evidently from this print) at p. 12 of ON ASSIGNMENT: DMITRI KESSEL LIFE PHOTOGRAPHER (New York, Abrams, 1985).
8: Photograph of an Iranian soldier standing guard on the Russo-Iranian border. Gelatin silver print. SIGNED and captioned "Iran, 1951" beneath the image. 10-3/8 x 10-1/2 inches, [Iran: 1951]. Printed circa 1984. Very good. Docketed on the rear with directions to the printer for reduction and placement; and docketed in pencil. Reproduced (evidently from this print) at p. 64-65 of ON ASSIGNMENT: DMITRI KESSEL LIFE PHOTOGRAPHER (New York, Abrams, 1985).
9: Photograph of a group Iranian orphan boys, heads shaven, in line for inspection. Gelatin silver print. SIGNED and dated beneath the image by Kessel. 13-3/8 x 10-1/2 inches, [Teheran, Iran: 1951]. Printed circa 1984. Very good. Reproduced in ON ASSIGNMENT at pp. 186-87, with the caption: "In Teherran in 1951 orphans who live and work at a rehabilitation center line up for inspection. Their heads have been shaved in an effort to help clear up inspection."
10: Group of 8 large color photographs of Venice. Each SIGNED in ink below the image. Each approximately 13 x 9 inches, [Venice: 1950-1970?]. Printed circa 1984. Fine.
Kessel wrote in ON ASSIGNMENT: "In sun, rain, fog, snow, photographing Venice was, for me, a labor of love."
11: Photograph of a rain-soaked Charles de Gaulle praying in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Nice, 1948. Gelatin silver print. 11-3/8 x 10-3/8 inches, [Nice, France: 1948]. Printed circa 1984. Very good. Docketed on verso with indications to the printer for reduction and placement.
Rare print of this famous image of the French leader, praying on the eve of the elections for the National Assembly of 1948, standing before an altar in his rain-soaked uniform. The image received a full-page reproduction (from this very print) in ON ASSIGNMENT, with the explanation: " ... in Nice in September 1948. He was campaigning for re-election when he was caught in a downpour and refused an umbrella."
12: Portrait photograph of Iranian Prime Minister, Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh. Gelatin silver print. Half-length portrait of a smiling Mossadegh seated with hands outstretched, palms up. 13-3/8 x 10-3/8 inches, [Teheran, Iran: June, 1951]. Printed circa 1984. Very good. Docketed on verso with indications to the printer for reproduction and placement for the book ON ASSIGNMENT, p. 160.
A rare and striking portrait of Mossadegh at the height of his popularity shortly after he was named as the new Prime Minister. Two years later Mossadegh was ousted in a coup orchestrated by British and American intelligence sources, and the Shah was restored to power.
13: Two portrait photographs of Bernard Berenson at the Villa I Tatti in a reclining chair, with wife Mary at his side, reading, and as reflected in in the framed mirror at the foot of his bed. Gelatin silver prints. 13-1/2 x 10-1/2 inches, [Florence, Italy: 1949]. Printed circa 1984. Fine.
Fine portraits of the famous art critic and connoisseur (1865-1959) relaxing at his villa, the second reproduced (from this print) in ON ASSIGNMENT, p. 180.
14: Photograph of Generalissimo Francisco Franco, hunting with a shotgun. Gelatin silver print. 13-1/2 x 10 inches, [Spain: 1949]. Printed circa 1984, and reproduced from this print in ON ASSIGNMENT p. 191. Very good. Docketed on verso with indications to the printer for reduction and placement.
Rare and remarkably intimate image of the Spanish dictator. Kessel writes in ON ASSIGNMENT: "Franco had invited me to photograph him during a private duck and pheasant shoot with some of his friends."
15: Group of 4 large photographs of the marriage of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, and Soraya Esfandiary. Gelatin silver prints. 13-3/8 x 10-1/2 inches, [Teheran, Iran: 1951]. Printed circa 1984, one reproduced in ON ASSIGNMENT, p. 212. Very good. One photo creased at corner; another docketed on verso with indications to the printer for reproduction.
Superb, large images of the Shah's marriage to his second wife, Soraya Esfandiary, the daughter of Khalil Esfandiary, Ambassador of Iran to the Federal Republic of Germany, and his German wife, Eva Karl. The Shah and Princess Soraya married in 1951 and divorced in 1958 when it became apparent that she could not bear children.
16: Numerous large (approx 13 x 11 inch) gelatin silver prints, printed ca. 1984, for reproduction in ON ASSIGNMENT, including funeral of Gustav V of Sweden; Avila, Spain; La Girotte Dam; Igor Sikorsky; Caliph of Spanish Morocco; Aristotle Onassis; President Auriol of France pheasant hunting; Bohemia Moser porcelain plant; Bernini statues; Russian soldier in Vienna, 1948; Bethlehem Steel works.
17: [Portfolio of LIFE appearances of the photography of Dimitri Kessel, 1938-1956)]. Photographs throughout. Unpaginated. Folio, [c. 1956]. Green buckram with gilt "LIFE" in style of magazine title, and "DIMITRI KESSEL." Slight soiling and rubbing to covers. A few leaves loose, some cellotape repairs. Very good. From the photographer's collection, a portfolio of his LIFE appearances from 1938-1956. Includes everything from Kessel's photographs of Marines landing at Guantanamo, Cuba, to photos for a feature story on camisoles.