LOT Phillips de Pury & Company  /  PHOTOGRAPHS PART I  / 

37

DIANE ARBUS (American, 1923-1971) MISS CORA PRATT, THE COUNTERFEIT LADY

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:6,000.00 - 8,000.00 USD
DIANE ARBUS (American, 1923-1971) MISS CORA PRATT, THE COUNTERFEIT LADY
DIANE ARBUS (American, 1923-1971) MISS CORA PRATT, THE COUNTERFEIT LADY "a diane arbus print" stamp numbered "1067-64-0U-1114" and signed by Doon Arbus on behalf of the Arbus Estate in black ink on verso copyright and reproduction right stamps in black ink on verso vintage gelatin silver print mounted on board 10 x 6 7/8 in. (25.3 x 17.5 cm) paper/mount: 13 7/8 x 11 in. (35.2 x 27.9 cm) 1961 PROVENANCE From the estate of Bea Feitler to a Private Collection, NORTH AMERICA (since 1984) LITERATURE DIANE ARBUS: MAGAZINE WORK, NEW YORK, 1984, p. 21 (illustrated) In November 1961, HARPER'S BAZAAR, under the art direction of Marvin Israel, published "The Full Circle," a photographic essay with text by Diane Arbus. The story focused on five eccentrics, or, as the artist wrote, "singular people who appear like metaphors somewhat further out than we do, beckoned, not driven, invented by belief...so that we may wonder all over again...what it is to become whoever we may be." To quote the photographer's published text, "Miss Cora Pratt, the Counterfeit Lady, is fashioned of a set of teeth, an old wig, beads, brooches, feathers and laces out of the attic, pencil, padding, and the whimsical inclinations of Polly Bushong [see illustration]....If Polly is a delightful, witty and talented Dr. Jekyll, Cora is a guileless, rapturous and preposterous Mr. Hyde, who commits the most unerring blunders and cheerfully treads where angels fear to. Once Cora appeared, by prearrangement with the host, as the maid at an elegant New York cocktail party, attended by a dazzling array of steel tycoons, shipping magnates and theatrical luminaries, wearing a permanently crumpled uniform and a pair of saddle shoes, announcing sweetly that she was just helping out for her friend the real maid who had come down with a frightful case of impetigo. She surreptitiously sipped the drinks as she served them, blew the ashes out of the ashtrays in full view of the aghast guests, solicitously offered pieces of cheese on her outstretched bare hand to gentlemen who looked hungry, and fell asleep in a corner of the living room" (Diane Arbus, HARPER'S BAZAAR, November 1961). It was a common practice at HARpER'S BAZAAR to discard photographs that artists had submitted for publication. This print, in particular, had apparently been folded in two (thus the horizontal crease) and thrown in the trash. It was retrieved by Bea Feitler, one of the two assistant art directors, and affixed to its current mount.
Sign In to Bookmark Lot