Michael Joseph (1941-) - Solo swimmer, black and white
05
days
17
hours
01
minute
36
seconds
Current bid
€ 3
No reserve price
Expert
Selected by Kai Brückner
Over 35 years' experience; former gallery owner and Museum Folkwang curator.
Estimate € 750 - € 900
 | €3 | |
|---|---|---|
 | €2 | |
 | €1 |
Catawiki Buyer Protection
Your payment’s safe with us until you receive your object.View details
Trustpilot 4.4 | 141835 reviews
Rated Excellent on Trustpilot.
Description from the seller
Solo Swimmer – Pool Ladies, London, 1987
Photographer: Michael Joseph
Original photograph: London, 1987
Medium: Photographic print on aluminium
Series: Pool Ladies
Presentation: Bespoke natural wood frame
From the Michael Joseph Archive
There is something almost mythological about this extraordinary image from Michael Joseph’s Pool Ladies series.
Seen from above, a lone swimmer floats on her back, face turned upwards and eyes closed, while the water swirls around her body. She appears suspended between water and light - peaceful, statuesque and almost weightless.
For this new-generation interpretation, the photograph has been printed on aluminium, a medium particularly suited to an image in which water and reflected light play such an important role.
The effect changes remarkably as you move around the piece. Light catches the exposed aluminium beneath the image, travelling across the surface like light across water itself. Silvery passages flare and shimmer; darker areas gain depth; details of the swimmer and the rippling pool appear, disappear and re-emerge according to the viewing angle.
It gives the photograph an almost three-dimensional quality — and one that is extremely difficult to convey in a static auction photograph. This is an artwork that genuinely needs light, and movement around it, to reveal its full character.
The simple natural-wood frame provides a warm, organic contrast to the cool metallic surface, allowing the aluminium and the extraordinary fluidity of Michael’s composition to take centre stage. Its size is 70cm tall by 45cm wide.
Nearly forty years after the original photograph was made, the medium has given it a completely new presence: part photograph, part reflection, part moving light.
A serene and mesmerising Michael Joseph image transformed into a luminous contemporary statement piece.
#MichaelJoseph #PoolLadies #FloatingSwimmer #AluminiumPrint #PhotographyOnAluminium #BritishPhotography #LondonPhotography #1980sPhotography #FineArtPhotography #SwimmingPhotography #PhotographicArt #PhotographyCollector #CollectiblePhotography #MichaelJosephArchive #StatementArt
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 TranslateSolo Swimmer – Pool Ladies, London, 1987
Photographer: Michael Joseph
Original photograph: London, 1987
Medium: Photographic print on aluminium
Series: Pool Ladies
Presentation: Bespoke natural wood frame
From the Michael Joseph Archive
There is something almost mythological about this extraordinary image from Michael Joseph’s Pool Ladies series.
Seen from above, a lone swimmer floats on her back, face turned upwards and eyes closed, while the water swirls around her body. She appears suspended between water and light - peaceful, statuesque and almost weightless.
For this new-generation interpretation, the photograph has been printed on aluminium, a medium particularly suited to an image in which water and reflected light play such an important role.
The effect changes remarkably as you move around the piece. Light catches the exposed aluminium beneath the image, travelling across the surface like light across water itself. Silvery passages flare and shimmer; darker areas gain depth; details of the swimmer and the rippling pool appear, disappear and re-emerge according to the viewing angle.
It gives the photograph an almost three-dimensional quality — and one that is extremely difficult to convey in a static auction photograph. This is an artwork that genuinely needs light, and movement around it, to reveal its full character.
The simple natural-wood frame provides a warm, organic contrast to the cool metallic surface, allowing the aluminium and the extraordinary fluidity of Michael’s composition to take centre stage. Its size is 70cm tall by 45cm wide.
Nearly forty years after the original photograph was made, the medium has given it a completely new presence: part photograph, part reflection, part moving light.
A serene and mesmerising Michael Joseph image transformed into a luminous contemporary statement piece.
#MichaelJoseph #PoolLadies #FloatingSwimmer #AluminiumPrint #PhotographyOnAluminium #BritishPhotography #LondonPhotography #1980sPhotography #FineArtPhotography #SwimmingPhotography #PhotographicArt #PhotographyCollector #CollectiblePhotography #MichaelJosephArchive #StatementArt
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
Solo swimmer, black and white
Condition
Fine
Technique
Other
Height
57 cm
Edition
Print on aluminium in upcycled wooden frame
Width
32 cm
Signature
Not signed
Genre
Fine art photography
Sold by
