Michael Joseph (1941-) - Waiting in the aircraft, Vietnam 1964
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€ 105
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Selected by Kai Brückner
Over 35 years' experience; former gallery owner and Museum Folkwang curator.
Estimate € 850 - € 1,050
 | €105 | |
|---|---|---|
| €50 | |
| €45 | |
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Michael Joseph — Waiting in the aircraft, Vietnam 1964, a 1964 C‑Print limited edition 1/20, hand signed, 30 × 40 cm, in extremely fine condition.
AI-assisted summary
Description from the seller
Waiting in the Aircraft — Vietnam, 1964
Michael Joseph (b. 1941)
Black & white photographic print
Original photograph: South Vietnam, October 1964
Signed and dated by Michael Joseph
Limited Edition: 1/20
A wonderfully understated photograph from Michael Joseph’s Vietnam archive, taken in South Vietnam in October 1964, when the photographer was just 23 years old.
Three American servicemen sit together inside a military transport aircraft, caught during one of the long periods of waiting that punctuate military life. There is no combat and no obvious action: instead, Joseph turns his camera towards the men themselves.
Their expressions make the photograph. One looks directly towards Joseph; another sits hunched forward, hand covering his mouth, apparently lost in thought; the third holds a small packet or object between his hands and stares solemnly towards the camera. Behind them, webbed seating hangs against the fuselage, while the rollers of the aircraft's cargo floor dominate the foreground.
It is precisely this absence of action that makes the image so compelling. War is also waiting — sitting in aircraft, travelling between locations, thinking, smoking, talking or simply passing the time before whatever comes next.
Small details reward closer inspection. Names and insignia remain visible on the men's uniforms, including “STINNELL” on the left and “TICS” on the right, while the central serviceman appears to wear captain's bars. These traces of individual identity transform what might otherwise have been an anonymous military scene into a portrait of three particular men at a particular moment.
Photographed in 1964, before the major escalation of US ground involvement in Vietnam in 1965, the image belongs to an important early chapter of American involvement in the conflict. Joseph's archive moves between helicopters and military operations, hospitals, villages and civilians — but also quiet, observational moments such as this.
This contemporary black & white photographic print has been personally signed and inscribed “Vietnam 1964” by Michael Joseph and will additionally be numbered 1/20, making it the first print in an official limited edition of only twenty.
More than sixty years later, its strength lies in its simplicity: three men, a military aircraft and a moment of waiting — photographed without spectacle by a young Michael Joseph.
#MichaelJoseph #Vietnam1964 #VietnamPhotography #VietnamWar #USAirForce #MilitaryPhotography #DocumentaryPhotography #Photojournalism #1960sPhotography #BlackAndWhitePhotography #MilitaryAviation #LimitedEditionPhotography #HistoricalPhotography #PhotographicArchive #CollectiblePhotography
Seller's Story
My father, Michael Joseph, was a London-based advertising photographer, active from the mid-1960s to the early 1990s, and best known for his photographs for the Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet gatefold.
My continuing mission is to share what we affectionately call “the other photographs”: the lesser-known treasures from his extraordinary archive — original darkroom prints, test prints, alternative frames from major shoots, his celebrated group compositions, and more intimate, personal images.
For this special Solo Seller Auction, I am particularly excited to include a selection from Michael’s 1964 Vietnam archive — photographs that have never previously been seen or offered for sale. These remarkable images reveal a very different side of his work, made when he was just 23 years old.
Alongside Michael’s authentic vintage darkroom prints, I am also presenting a new generation of works: striking prints on aluminium and my own handmade cyanotypes, created from his original negatives and transparencies in the Dordogne sunshine. Some are made on vintage photographic paper retrieved from Michael’s own working library, bringing the archive quite literally into a new generation.
Together, the collection brings photographic history and contemporary experimentation side by side — from unique vintage prints made by Michael himself to bold new interpretations of his remarkable archive.
I hope you enjoy discovering these photographs as much as I enjoy bringing them to light — sometimes preserved exactly as Michael made them, sometimes given an entirely new life.
All works are carefully protected and packed with the attention appropriate to collectible photographic artworks.
For US buyers: customs duties and applicable import charges are paid at source and included in the shipping cost. No additional charges should normally be payable on delivery, subject to any change in regulations.
Translated by Google TranslateWaiting in the Aircraft — Vietnam, 1964
Michael Joseph (b. 1941)
Black & white photographic print
Original photograph: South Vietnam, October 1964
Signed and dated by Michael Joseph
Limited Edition: 1/20
A wonderfully understated photograph from Michael Joseph’s Vietnam archive, taken in South Vietnam in October 1964, when the photographer was just 23 years old.
Three American servicemen sit together inside a military transport aircraft, caught during one of the long periods of waiting that punctuate military life. There is no combat and no obvious action: instead, Joseph turns his camera towards the men themselves.
Their expressions make the photograph. One looks directly towards Joseph; another sits hunched forward, hand covering his mouth, apparently lost in thought; the third holds a small packet or object between his hands and stares solemnly towards the camera. Behind them, webbed seating hangs against the fuselage, while the rollers of the aircraft's cargo floor dominate the foreground.
It is precisely this absence of action that makes the image so compelling. War is also waiting — sitting in aircraft, travelling between locations, thinking, smoking, talking or simply passing the time before whatever comes next.
Small details reward closer inspection. Names and insignia remain visible on the men's uniforms, including “STINNELL” on the left and “TICS” on the right, while the central serviceman appears to wear captain's bars. These traces of individual identity transform what might otherwise have been an anonymous military scene into a portrait of three particular men at a particular moment.
Photographed in 1964, before the major escalation of US ground involvement in Vietnam in 1965, the image belongs to an important early chapter of American involvement in the conflict. Joseph's archive moves between helicopters and military operations, hospitals, villages and civilians — but also quiet, observational moments such as this.
This contemporary black & white photographic print has been personally signed and inscribed “Vietnam 1964” by Michael Joseph and will additionally be numbered 1/20, making it the first print in an official limited edition of only twenty.
More than sixty years later, its strength lies in its simplicity: three men, a military aircraft and a moment of waiting — photographed without spectacle by a young Michael Joseph.
#MichaelJoseph #Vietnam1964 #VietnamPhotography #VietnamWar #USAirForce #MilitaryPhotography #DocumentaryPhotography #Photojournalism #1960sPhotography #BlackAndWhitePhotography #MilitaryAviation #LimitedEditionPhotography #HistoricalPhotography #PhotographicArchive #CollectiblePhotography
Seller's Story
My father, Michael Joseph, was a London-based advertising photographer, active from the mid-1960s to the early 1990s, and best known for his photographs for the Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet gatefold.
My continuing mission is to share what we affectionately call “the other photographs”: the lesser-known treasures from his extraordinary archive — original darkroom prints, test prints, alternative frames from major shoots, his celebrated group compositions, and more intimate, personal images.
For this special Solo Seller Auction, I am particularly excited to include a selection from Michael’s 1964 Vietnam archive — photographs that have never previously been seen or offered for sale. These remarkable images reveal a very different side of his work, made when he was just 23 years old.
Alongside Michael’s authentic vintage darkroom prints, I am also presenting a new generation of works: striking prints on aluminium and my own handmade cyanotypes, created from his original negatives and transparencies in the Dordogne sunshine. Some are made on vintage photographic paper retrieved from Michael’s own working library, bringing the archive quite literally into a new generation.
Together, the collection brings photographic history and contemporary experimentation side by side — from unique vintage prints made by Michael himself to bold new interpretations of his remarkable archive.
I hope you enjoy discovering these photographs as much as I enjoy bringing them to light — sometimes preserved exactly as Michael made them, sometimes given an entirely new life.
All works are carefully protected and packed with the attention appropriate to collectible photographic artworks.
For US buyers: customs duties and applicable import charges are paid at source and included in the shipping cost. No additional charges should normally be payable on delivery, subject to any change in regulations.
Translated by Google TranslateDetails
Date of print
1964
Artist
Michael Joseph (1941-)
Sold by
Direct from the artist
Title of artwork
Waiting in the aircraft, Vietnam 1964
Condition
Extremely fine
Technique
C-Print
Height
30 cm
Edition
Limited Edition C-type print, signed by the artist
Width
40 cm
Signature
Hand signed
Genre
Military and war
Sold by
