HARRIS EUGENE V (active 1940s 1954) Peruvian Boy with Flute

Sale 2124 - Lot 110

Price Realized: $ 5,040

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,500

HARRIS, EUGENE V. (active 1940s-1954)
"Peruvian Boy with Flute." Silver print, 13x10 inches (33.0x24.5 cm.), flush mounted. 1954-55

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Additional Details

From the estate of Arthur Goldsmith, editorial director of Ziff-Davis; to the current owner.

Perhaps the signature image from "The Family of Man" exhibition, which was organized by Edward Steichen, then director of photography at the Museum of Modern Art, in 1955. The picture appeared on the cover of MoMA's book, and was used extensively in magazines and newspapers across the country, including Ziff Davis's own "Popular Photography."

This pioneering exhibition offered infinitely diverse images of human beings living in the 1950s, emphatically reminding viewers that they all belonged to the same big family. Now regarded as the 'greatest photographic enterprise ever undertaken,' the exhibition consisted of 503 photographs taken by 273 photographers, both professional and amateur, famous and unknown, from 68 countries. A huge undertaking, with unique cultural and artistic dimensions, "The Family of Man" stirred public interest in photography and its tremendous ability to communicate.

Harris was photojournalist Werner Bischof's assistant. Their tragic death in Peru (where this image was made), occurred right before the exhibition opened.