Live Auction 5323Photographs
HIROSHI SUGIMOTO (b. 1948)
Lot 24

HIROSHI SUGIMOTO (b. 1948)

Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1997

Closed16 May 2012

Price Realised

GBP 103,250

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HIROSHI SUGIMOTO (b. 1948)
Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1997
gelatin silver print, flush-mounted on rag board and aluminium
titled in ink (frame backing)
image/flush-mount 58½ x 47in. (147.5 x 119.3cm.)
This print is un-numbered from the edition of 5.

Fiona Cowan, London;
Phillips, de Pury & Company, 'Under the Influence', 27 February 2007;
to Leon Constantiner;
Christie's, New York, 'Icons of Glamour and Style', 16 December 2008, lot 13, sale no. 2252.

Specialist note

Sugimoto made a series of images of iconic examples of 20th century architecture. His deliberate soft focus eliminates all distracting detail and emphasises the essential forms. Each building is distilled to its crucial, signature elements that ensure instant recognition. He has managed effectively to evoke the spirit of these buildings, as one might perceive them in a dream, as concepts, rather than reminding the viewer of their physical mass. His approach bears some relation to traditional architectural photography but is better understood as a modern expression of the poetics of pictorialism.