Avant... Pendant... Après... (Before... During... After...) [A SET OF 3 ORIGINAL SILVER GELATIN PRINTS]
[Paris]: NP, ND (ca 1945). Original photographs. Original photographs. French photographer Maurice Georges Chanu's "Avant... Pendant... Après..." is a striking photographic triptych depicting the transformation of a roast chicken before, during, and after a meal.
Each matted print measures 11 1/2 x 9 1/4" (captioned mount: 13 3/4 x 11 3/8"; mat: 17 1/8 x 14 3/4") with photographer's stamp at recto of mount, as well as handwritten negative number and technical information.
Captions in French. Silver gelatin prints, mounts and mats in very good condition. vg. Item #40319
About the photographer: Born in France and active from the 1930s through the 1950s, Maurice George Chanu worked primarily in Paris. In 1948, he put together a photo album to illustrate the lyrics of the popular French song "La Seine", which won the Grand Prix de la Chanson Francaise in 1948. Chanu's work echoes several other photographers, including Brassai's "Paris Nuit" work and Jindrich Styrsky's signage and posters, but he created his own unique view of the world - no matter that it was limited primarily to Paris, as was Atget's before him. Chanu's strong modernist eye captured Paris and its winding river, the Seine, from the sparkling light of dawn to work-a-day activities and finally the romantic evening calm. Chanu worked with a 4 x 5 camera with Dager lens, often using magnesium flares to light his night shots. Chanu was also known to paint landscapes. The photographer/artist was also an inventor of optical instruments including a scope and something called an épiscope comparator, which was used by police for reading fingerprints. Chanu was very active in the photographic salons of France and abroad.
Price: $1,500.00