Michael Joseph (1941-) - Nivea Reverie – Blue Impression
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Selected by Kai Brückner
Over 35 years' experience; former gallery owner and Museum Folkwang curator.
Estimate € 900 - € 1,100
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Description from the seller
Michael Joseph
Nivea Lady (Blue Reverie), London
Photographed in the 1980s
Unique blue-toned print of a darkroom adventure created from the photographer's original negative.
Hand-signed and titled by the photographer
Best known for exuberant, theatrical group scenes, Michael Joseph reveals a very different side of his photographic vision here. The clamour falls away. A single face slowly emerges from shifting veils of luminous blue.
Drawn from one of Joseph's celebrated Nivea advertising photographs, this unique darkroom revisitation transforms a commercial portrait into something altogether more contemplative. The familiar language of beauty advertising dissolves into an atmospheric study of memory, light and abstraction, where the sitter appears to materialise before quietly receding once more.
The rich blue tonality softens the image into something almost painterly. Layers of texture, subtle chemical blooms and fluid tonal transitions lend the work an ethereal presence, hovering between photography and dream. Rather than recording a likeness, it evokes one.
Michael Joseph had this unique print made on glossy paper from an original negative and then he individually signed it, this is not a reproduction but a one-off photographic object - an experimental darkroom interpretation that demonstrates the photographer's enduring fascination with the expressive possibilities of the medium.
Within Joseph's wider body of work, Nivea Lady (Blue Reverie) stands as a reminder that even within the world of commercial photography there remained room for quiet experimentation, poetic reinvention and personal expression.
Presented mounted and unframed.
Mount dimensions: 50 × 40 cm.
A unique print from the Michael Joseph Archive, carefully preserved and offered with genuine devotion. Will be carefully packed and dispatched with the care due to a one-of-a-kind photographic artwork.
#MichaelJoseph
#BlueReverie
#DarkroomPrint
#OriginalPhotograph
#FineArtPhotography
#ExperimentalPhotography
#VintagePhotography
#AdvertisingPhotography
#NiveaNowinBlue
#1980sPhotography
#AnaloguePhotography
#PhotographicArchive
#OneOfAKind
#SignedPhotography
#CollectorsPhotography
#Blueimpression
#Lavieenbleu
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
Nivea Lady (Blue Reverie), London
Photographed in the 1980s
Unique blue-toned print of a darkroom adventure created from the photographer's original negative.
Hand-signed and titled by the photographer
Best known for exuberant, theatrical group scenes, Michael Joseph reveals a very different side of his photographic vision here. The clamour falls away. A single face slowly emerges from shifting veils of luminous blue.
Drawn from one of Joseph's celebrated Nivea advertising photographs, this unique darkroom revisitation transforms a commercial portrait into something altogether more contemplative. The familiar language of beauty advertising dissolves into an atmospheric study of memory, light and abstraction, where the sitter appears to materialise before quietly receding once more.
The rich blue tonality softens the image into something almost painterly. Layers of texture, subtle chemical blooms and fluid tonal transitions lend the work an ethereal presence, hovering between photography and dream. Rather than recording a likeness, it evokes one.
Michael Joseph had this unique print made on glossy paper from an original negative and then he individually signed it, this is not a reproduction but a one-off photographic object - an experimental darkroom interpretation that demonstrates the photographer's enduring fascination with the expressive possibilities of the medium.
Within Joseph's wider body of work, Nivea Lady (Blue Reverie) stands as a reminder that even within the world of commercial photography there remained room for quiet experimentation, poetic reinvention and personal expression.
Presented mounted and unframed.
Mount dimensions: 50 × 40 cm.
A unique print from the Michael Joseph Archive, carefully preserved and offered with genuine devotion. Will be carefully packed and dispatched with the care due to a one-of-a-kind photographic artwork.
#MichaelJoseph
#BlueReverie
#DarkroomPrint
#OriginalPhotograph
#FineArtPhotography
#ExperimentalPhotography
#VintagePhotography
#AdvertisingPhotography
#NiveaNowinBlue
#1980sPhotography
#AnaloguePhotography
#PhotographicArchive
#OneOfAKind
#SignedPhotography
#CollectorsPhotography
#Blueimpression
#Lavieenbleu
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
1986
Artist
Michael Joseph (1941-)
Sold by
Owner or reseller
Title of artwork
Nivea Reverie – Blue Impression
Condition
Original State
Technique
Gelatin-silver print
Height
38 cm
Edition
Unique brown-toned darkroom edition
Width
30 cm
Signature
Hand signed
Genre
Portrait
Sold by
