Justine Joseph (1971-) - False Start – The Silence Before the Splash
04
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07
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59
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49
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Selected by Elena Vaninetti
Has over ten years of experience in art, specialising in post-war photography and contemporary art.
Estimate € 300 - € 400
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Description from the seller
Michael Joseph (1941– )
False Start
Pool Ladies for Playboy, London, 1987
Unique Handmade Cyanotype
Created from an original Michael Joseph negative.
Hand printed in the Dordogne sunshine by his daughter, Justine Joseph, 2026.
"The quiet moment before the splash."
From Michael Joseph's celebrated Pool Ladies series comes this beautifully restrained cyanotype, reimagining one of the defining images from the celebrated 1987 swimming-pool photo-shoot organised to accompany Playboy magazine's interview with the photographer.
Unlike the vibrant exuberance of the original session, this interpretation embraces softness, stillness and suspense. Six swimmers gather on the starting blocks, poised in perfect anticipation, while a solitary diver has already committed to flight. It is a composition built upon rhythm and release, symmetry and surprise—the precise instant where expectation gives way to action.
Joseph possessed an extraordinary instinct for organising complex groups into effortless visual harmony. Every figure occupies exactly the right place, every gesture contributes to the choreography. The result is playful yet precise, theatrical yet timeless.
Lovingly reimagined nearly four decades later by the photographer's daughter, Justine Joseph, this one-of-a-kind cyanotype allows the original negative to breathe in an entirely new way. The traditional nineteenth-century printing process replaces enlarger light with sunlight, transforming the image into a gentle symphony of soft blue-greys, silvery shadows and delicate tonal transitions. Rather than overwhelming the eye, it quietly invites contemplation.
The subtle palette lends the photograph an almost ethereal quality. Figures seem to emerge like memories through mist, while the water itself becomes luminous and painterly. The scene feels less like a sporting event than a dream suspended between movement and meditation.
Every brushstroke, feathered edge and gentle variation in tone bears witness to paper, pigment and sunlight. These are not imperfections but the unmistakable signatures of a handmade artwork. No two cyanotypes can ever be identical, and no digital reproduction can recreate their tactile beauty or quiet depth.
More than a photograph, this is a conversation across two generations of photographers: Michael Joseph's original analogue vision interpreted through his daughter's contemporary cyanotype practice. The result is both homage and reinvention—a singular artwork where memory, material and light converge.
No edition exists.
No second print can ever exist.
Details
Created from an original Michael Joseph negative
Original photograph taken during the Pool Ladies photo-shoot, Clapham, London (1987)
Unique cyanotype hand printed by Justine Joseph, the photographer's daughter
Handmade on fine archival watercolour paper
Printed entirely using natural sunlight in the Dordogne, France
One-of-a-kind artwork — no edition
Mount dimensions: 30 × 24 cm
Carefully packed using archival materials and dispatched flat with tracked delivery
#MichaelJoseph
#JustineJoseph
#PoolLadies
#FalseStart
#Cyanotype
#AlternativePhotography
#OneOfAKindArt
#FineArtPhotography
#BritishPhotography
#AnaloguePhotography
#PhotographicAlchemy
#Playboy1987
#SunPrinted
#CollectorsPhotography
#HandmadePrint
Seller's Story
My father, Michael Joseph, was a London-based advertising photographer from the mid-1960s to the early 1990s. Over those decades, he produced an extraordinary body of work—his most widely recognised image being the iconic Beggars Banquet gatefold for the Rolling Stones.
My ongoing mission is to share and celebrate what we call “the other photos”: the lesser-known but no less compelling images from his archive. These are the works that lived beyond the headlines—test prints, alternative frames from major shoots, and quieter, more personal photographs, all made with his characteristic intensity, discipline, and devotion to craft.
Much of their atmosphere comes from the darkroom itself. These are photographs shaped by light, timing, and handwork: intricate group compositions, sculptural still lifes, and moments that invite the viewer to linger and look again. Variety is central to the archive, and I frequently offer unique, one-off pieces that exist nowhere else.
I hope you enjoy discovering my father’s work as much as I enjoy sharing it, and that you find here not just an image, but a genuine piece of photographic history.
All works are dispatched carefully protected, and packed with devotion and care, appropriate to a one-off historical photographic print.
US purchasers please note: Customs and excise charges are paid at source and included in the postage fee. No further charges should be due on delivery, unless regulations change.
Michael Joseph (1941– )
False Start
Pool Ladies for Playboy, London, 1987
Unique Handmade Cyanotype
Created from an original Michael Joseph negative.
Hand printed in the Dordogne sunshine by his daughter, Justine Joseph, 2026.
"The quiet moment before the splash."
From Michael Joseph's celebrated Pool Ladies series comes this beautifully restrained cyanotype, reimagining one of the defining images from the celebrated 1987 swimming-pool photo-shoot organised to accompany Playboy magazine's interview with the photographer.
Unlike the vibrant exuberance of the original session, this interpretation embraces softness, stillness and suspense. Six swimmers gather on the starting blocks, poised in perfect anticipation, while a solitary diver has already committed to flight. It is a composition built upon rhythm and release, symmetry and surprise—the precise instant where expectation gives way to action.
Joseph possessed an extraordinary instinct for organising complex groups into effortless visual harmony. Every figure occupies exactly the right place, every gesture contributes to the choreography. The result is playful yet precise, theatrical yet timeless.
Lovingly reimagined nearly four decades later by the photographer's daughter, Justine Joseph, this one-of-a-kind cyanotype allows the original negative to breathe in an entirely new way. The traditional nineteenth-century printing process replaces enlarger light with sunlight, transforming the image into a gentle symphony of soft blue-greys, silvery shadows and delicate tonal transitions. Rather than overwhelming the eye, it quietly invites contemplation.
The subtle palette lends the photograph an almost ethereal quality. Figures seem to emerge like memories through mist, while the water itself becomes luminous and painterly. The scene feels less like a sporting event than a dream suspended between movement and meditation.
Every brushstroke, feathered edge and gentle variation in tone bears witness to paper, pigment and sunlight. These are not imperfections but the unmistakable signatures of a handmade artwork. No two cyanotypes can ever be identical, and no digital reproduction can recreate their tactile beauty or quiet depth.
More than a photograph, this is a conversation across two generations of photographers: Michael Joseph's original analogue vision interpreted through his daughter's contemporary cyanotype practice. The result is both homage and reinvention—a singular artwork where memory, material and light converge.
No edition exists.
No second print can ever exist.
Details
Created from an original Michael Joseph negative
Original photograph taken during the Pool Ladies photo-shoot, Clapham, London (1987)
Unique cyanotype hand printed by Justine Joseph, the photographer's daughter
Handmade on fine archival watercolour paper
Printed entirely using natural sunlight in the Dordogne, France
One-of-a-kind artwork — no edition
Mount dimensions: 30 × 24 cm
Carefully packed using archival materials and dispatched flat with tracked delivery
#MichaelJoseph
#JustineJoseph
#PoolLadies
#FalseStart
#Cyanotype
#AlternativePhotography
#OneOfAKindArt
#FineArtPhotography
#BritishPhotography
#AnaloguePhotography
#PhotographicAlchemy
#Playboy1987
#SunPrinted
#CollectorsPhotography
#HandmadePrint
Seller's Story
My father, Michael Joseph, was a London-based advertising photographer from the mid-1960s to the early 1990s. Over those decades, he produced an extraordinary body of work—his most widely recognised image being the iconic Beggars Banquet gatefold for the Rolling Stones.
My ongoing mission is to share and celebrate what we call “the other photos”: the lesser-known but no less compelling images from his archive. These are the works that lived beyond the headlines—test prints, alternative frames from major shoots, and quieter, more personal photographs, all made with his characteristic intensity, discipline, and devotion to craft.
Much of their atmosphere comes from the darkroom itself. These are photographs shaped by light, timing, and handwork: intricate group compositions, sculptural still lifes, and moments that invite the viewer to linger and look again. Variety is central to the archive, and I frequently offer unique, one-off pieces that exist nowhere else.
I hope you enjoy discovering my father’s work as much as I enjoy sharing it, and that you find here not just an image, but a genuine piece of photographic history.
All works are dispatched carefully protected, and packed with devotion and care, appropriate to a one-off historical photographic print.
US purchasers please note: Customs and excise charges are paid at source and included in the postage fee. No further charges should be due on delivery, unless regulations change.
Details
Date of print
2026
Artist
Justine Joseph (1971-)
Sold by
Direct from the artist
Title of artwork
False Start – The Silence Before the Splash
Condition
Fine
Technique
Other
Height
21 cm
Edition
Created from original negative by Michael Joseph
Width
20 cm
Signature
Hand signed
Genre
Fine art photography
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