Michael Joseph (1941-) - Pool ladies resting, contact-sheet selection of images, hand-signed test print

**Michael Joseph — “Pool Ladies / Playboy Contact Sheet”

Original C-Type Print (50 cm tall × 40 cm wide)**

Offered here is a striking original C-type print produced from Michael Joseph’s celebrated Pool Ladies series — created during a US Playboy visit to London, where the magazine profiled Joseph and photographed him at work with the now-iconic swimmers of Clapham. This print presents a full contact-sheet style montage, capturing the playful, choreographed energy of the session in sixteen sequential frames.

Each frame reveals a different beat in the rhythm of Joseph’s direction: the models shifting posture, exchanging glances, exaggerating the lines of the body, and subtly breaking formation. The result is both humorous and sculptural — a kinetic study of attitude, athleticism and theatrical timing. Few photographers could coax this kind of controlled mischief and physical poise simultaneously, and it is precisely this duality that made Joseph such a distinctive visual storyteller.

The work stands as a fascinating companion to Joseph’s more widely known compositions — from the exuberant chaos of the Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet session to the serene minimalism of his pool studies. Here, however, we see something different: a behind-the-scenes rhythm, revealing not a single finished photograph but the process itself — the gestures, the experiments, the emergent character of the models as they shift from discipline to play.

This 50 × 40 cm C-type print carries period notations and Joseph’s signature along the right edge, affirming its authenticity and its direct connection to the session used by Playboy for their coverage. The reverse bears a period label from Michael Joseph’s studio archive.

Details

Title: Pool Ladies / Playboy Contact Sheet

Photographer: Michael Joseph (London)

Print Type: Original C-type print

Dimensions: 50 cm (H) × 40 cm (W)

Signature: Signed by Michael Joseph at right margin

Provenance: From the photographer’s archive; created during Playboy’s visit to photograph Joseph and the Pool Ladies at Clapham

Condition: Excellent vintage condition with natural surface qualities consistent with C-type materials

Unframed

A captivating piece of photographic history, this print offers both the glamour and the irreverence of 1980s editorial culture — and a rare glimpse into Michael Joseph’s working environment at the height of his career. It is an exceptional opportunity for collectors of British photography, fashion history, or Playboy-related ephemera.

The print will be carefully packed in archival materials and dispatched with full tracking, handled with the same devotion and respect given to all one-off historical works in this collection.

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