Michael Joseph (1941-) - Swimming opoposite, black and white
00
days
19
hours
35
minutes
54
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Current bid
€ 10
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
 | €10 | |
|---|---|---|
 | €9 | |
| €8 | |
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Description from the seller
Swimming Opposite – Pool Ladies, London, 1987
Photographer: Michael Joseph
Original photograph: London, 1987
Medium: Photographic print on aluminium
Series: Pool Ladies
Presentation: Bespoke painted wooden frame
From the Michael Joseph Archive
Two swimmers, two directions, one wonderfully hypnotic composition.
In Swimming Opposite, Michael Joseph photographs the women from directly above as they float past one another, eyes closed and seemingly oblivious to each other. Their opposing positions create an almost perfect visual balance, while the rippling water dissolves their bodies into patterns of light, texture and movement.
For this new-generation interpretation, the photograph has been printed on aluminium — a medium that seems made for an image of water.
The extraordinary quality of the piece only becomes fully apparent as you move around it. Light plays across the aluminium just as it plays across the surface of a swimming pool: silvery areas shimmer and flare, darker passages deepen, and different details emerge according to the viewing angle and changing light in the room.
The effect is beautifully fluid and almost impossible to reproduce in a still photograph. From one position the swimmers dominate; from another, the reflected metallic surface takes over and the water itself becomes the subject.
The substantial metallic frame continues that interplay of reflection and light, giving this 1987 photograph a strikingly contemporary presence nearly forty years after it was taken.
Part photograph, part reflection — a wonderfully serene image that appears to shift and shimmer as you move around it.
#MichaelJoseph #PoolLadies #SwimmingOpposite #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 TranslateSwimming Opposite – Pool Ladies, London, 1987
Photographer: Michael Joseph
Original photograph: London, 1987
Medium: Photographic print on aluminium
Series: Pool Ladies
Presentation: Bespoke painted wooden frame
From the Michael Joseph Archive
Two swimmers, two directions, one wonderfully hypnotic composition.
In Swimming Opposite, Michael Joseph photographs the women from directly above as they float past one another, eyes closed and seemingly oblivious to each other. Their opposing positions create an almost perfect visual balance, while the rippling water dissolves their bodies into patterns of light, texture and movement.
For this new-generation interpretation, the photograph has been printed on aluminium — a medium that seems made for an image of water.
The extraordinary quality of the piece only becomes fully apparent as you move around it. Light plays across the aluminium just as it plays across the surface of a swimming pool: silvery areas shimmer and flare, darker passages deepen, and different details emerge according to the viewing angle and changing light in the room.
The effect is beautifully fluid and almost impossible to reproduce in a still photograph. From one position the swimmers dominate; from another, the reflected metallic surface takes over and the water itself becomes the subject.
The substantial metallic frame continues that interplay of reflection and light, giving this 1987 photograph a strikingly contemporary presence nearly forty years after it was taken.
Part photograph, part reflection — a wonderfully serene image that appears to shift and shimmer as you move around it.
#MichaelJoseph #PoolLadies #SwimmingOpposite #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
Swimming opoposite, black and white
Condition
Fine
Technique
Other
Height
50 cm
Edition
Print on aluminium in upcycled wooden frame
Width
70 cm
Signature
Not signed
Genre
Fine art photography
Sold by
