Michael Joseph (1941-) - First Aid in the Field, Vietnam 1964
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Current bid
€ 75
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Selected by Kai Brückner
Over 35 years' experience; former gallery owner and Museum Folkwang curator.
Estimate € 850 - € 1,050
 | €75 | |
|---|---|---|
| €59 | |
| €25 |
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Michael Joseph, First Aid in the Field, Vietnam 1964, a limited edition C-type print (1/20) signed and dated 1964, 30 × 40 cm, in extremely fine condition, depicting a helmeted soldier tending another man’s leg in South Vietnam.
AI-assisted summary
Description from the seller
First Aid in the Field — 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
An intimate and immediate photograph from Michael Joseph’s Vietnam archive, taken in South Vietnam in October 1964, when the photographer was just 23 years old.
A helmeted soldier crouches in the long grass, carefully tending to the lower leg or ankle of another man. His rifle remains slung across his back as he works, while other figures stand close by, only partially entering Joseph’s frame.
The photograph is compelling precisely because Joseph concentrates on the gesture rather than the wider military scene. The soldier’s head is bowed, his hands completely occupied with the task before him. We cannot establish from the photograph alone the nature or seriousness of the injury, but the act of one man attending to another is unmistakable.
Joseph photographed the scene from remarkably close range. The tight composition eliminates almost everything beyond the men, the rough vegetation and the weapon carried across the soldier’s back. It gives the viewer the sensation of standing immediately beside them.
Photographed in 1964, before the major escalation of US ground involvement the following year, the image forms part of Joseph’s remarkable early record of South Vietnam. His archive moves between helicopters and military activity, hospitals and villages, soldiers and civilians — repeatedly finding the quieter human moments within the larger conflict.
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, it remains a strikingly direct photograph: a rifle across one man's back, another man's leg in his hands, and a brief act of care captured in the middle of war.
#MichaelJoseph #Vietnam1964 #VietnamPhotography #VietnamWar #WarPhotography #DocumentaryPhotography #MilitaryPhotography #FieldMedicine #Photojournalism #1960sPhotography #BlackAndWhitePhotography #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 TranslateFirst Aid in the Field — 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
An intimate and immediate photograph from Michael Joseph’s Vietnam archive, taken in South Vietnam in October 1964, when the photographer was just 23 years old.
A helmeted soldier crouches in the long grass, carefully tending to the lower leg or ankle of another man. His rifle remains slung across his back as he works, while other figures stand close by, only partially entering Joseph’s frame.
The photograph is compelling precisely because Joseph concentrates on the gesture rather than the wider military scene. The soldier’s head is bowed, his hands completely occupied with the task before him. We cannot establish from the photograph alone the nature or seriousness of the injury, but the act of one man attending to another is unmistakable.
Joseph photographed the scene from remarkably close range. The tight composition eliminates almost everything beyond the men, the rough vegetation and the weapon carried across the soldier’s back. It gives the viewer the sensation of standing immediately beside them.
Photographed in 1964, before the major escalation of US ground involvement the following year, the image forms part of Joseph’s remarkable early record of South Vietnam. His archive moves between helicopters and military activity, hospitals and villages, soldiers and civilians — repeatedly finding the quieter human moments within the larger conflict.
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, it remains a strikingly direct photograph: a rifle across one man's back, another man's leg in his hands, and a brief act of care captured in the middle of war.
#MichaelJoseph #Vietnam1964 #VietnamPhotography #VietnamWar #WarPhotography #DocumentaryPhotography #MilitaryPhotography #FieldMedicine #Photojournalism #1960sPhotography #BlackAndWhitePhotography #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
First Aid in the Field, 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
