Michael Joseph (1941-) - Ready to Dive, purple
06
days
02
hours
47
minutes
09
seconds
Current bid
€ 2
No reserve price
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Selected by Kai Brückner
Over 35 years' experience; former gallery owner and Museum Folkwang curator.
Estimate € 850 - € 1,050
 | €2 | |
|---|---|---|
 | €1 |
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Description from the seller
Ready to Dive – Pool Ladies, London, 1987
Photographer: Michael Joseph
Original photograph: London, 1987
Medium: Photographic print on aluminium
Series: Pool Ladies
Presentation: Bespoke silver-toned frame
From the Michael Joseph Archive
Poised on the very edge of movement, a line of swimmers leans forward on the starting blocks, bodies repeating into the distance like a piece of choreography frozen a fraction of a second before the dive.
Taken from a wonderfully dramatic low viewpoint, Ready to Dive is one of those Michael Joseph compositions in which repetition becomes almost sculptural: legs, arms, bathing caps and bodies form a rhythmic procession through the image.
For this new-generation interpretation, the photograph has been printed on aluminium in extraordinary purple and silvery tones, transforming Michael’s 1987 image into something distinctly contemporary.
And aluminium brings its own magic. The surface reacts constantly to light: as you walk past the piece or the daylight in a room changes, highlights appear and disappear, the silver areas glow, and the purples move from deep aubergine to luminous violet. Parts of the image that seem subdued from one angle suddenly come alive from another.
This shifting metallic quality is almost impossible to convey fully in photographs. It is a piece that genuinely changes as you move around it.
The substantial silver-toned frame was deliberately chosen to complement the metallic surface, producing a finished work that sits somewhere between photography and contemporary decorative art.
Nearly forty years after the original photograph was taken, Ready to Dive has been given an entirely new life — while retaining Michael Joseph’s unmistakable eye for composition, repetition and theatricality.
A luminous, constantly changing interpretation of one of Michael Joseph’s most striking Pool Ladies compositions.
#MichaelJoseph #PoolLadies #ReadyToDive #AluminiumPrint #PhotographyOnAluminium #BritishPhotography #LondonPhotography #1980sPhotography #FineArtPhotography #SwimmingPhotography #PhotographicArt #PhotographyCollector #CollectiblePhotography #MichaelJosephArchive #ContemporaryPhotography
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 TranslateReady to Dive – Pool Ladies, London, 1987
Photographer: Michael Joseph
Original photograph: London, 1987
Medium: Photographic print on aluminium
Series: Pool Ladies
Presentation: Bespoke silver-toned frame
From the Michael Joseph Archive
Poised on the very edge of movement, a line of swimmers leans forward on the starting blocks, bodies repeating into the distance like a piece of choreography frozen a fraction of a second before the dive.
Taken from a wonderfully dramatic low viewpoint, Ready to Dive is one of those Michael Joseph compositions in which repetition becomes almost sculptural: legs, arms, bathing caps and bodies form a rhythmic procession through the image.
For this new-generation interpretation, the photograph has been printed on aluminium in extraordinary purple and silvery tones, transforming Michael’s 1987 image into something distinctly contemporary.
And aluminium brings its own magic. The surface reacts constantly to light: as you walk past the piece or the daylight in a room changes, highlights appear and disappear, the silver areas glow, and the purples move from deep aubergine to luminous violet. Parts of the image that seem subdued from one angle suddenly come alive from another.
This shifting metallic quality is almost impossible to convey fully in photographs. It is a piece that genuinely changes as you move around it.
The substantial silver-toned frame was deliberately chosen to complement the metallic surface, producing a finished work that sits somewhere between photography and contemporary decorative art.
Nearly forty years after the original photograph was taken, Ready to Dive has been given an entirely new life — while retaining Michael Joseph’s unmistakable eye for composition, repetition and theatricality.
A luminous, constantly changing interpretation of one of Michael Joseph’s most striking Pool Ladies compositions.
#MichaelJoseph #PoolLadies #ReadyToDive #AluminiumPrint #PhotographyOnAluminium #BritishPhotography #LondonPhotography #1980sPhotography #FineArtPhotography #SwimmingPhotography #PhotographicArt #PhotographyCollector #CollectiblePhotography #MichaelJosephArchive #ContemporaryPhotography
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
2026
Artist
Michael Joseph (1941-)
Sold by
Owner or reseller
Title of artwork
Ready to Dive, purple
Condition
Fine
Technique
Other
Height
63 cm
Edition
Print on aluminium in upcycled silver-coloured wood frame
Width
62 cm
Signature
Not signed
Genre
Fine art photography
Sold by
