Beschreibung:

Andreas Gursky Follow Los Angeles signed, titled, numbered and dated 'A Gursky "Los Angeles" 4/6 '98' on the reverse Cibachrome print face-mounted on Plexiglas, in artist's frame image 158.3 x 316.5 cm (62 3/8 x 124 5/8 in.) overall 206.5 x 361.7 cm (81 1/4 x 142 3/8 in.) Executed in 1998 - 1999, this work is number 4 from an edition of 6.
Provenance Sprueth Magers, Cologne Private Collection, Paris (acquired from the above in 1999) Exhibited Edinburgh, The Dean Gallery, Andreas Gursky Photographs 1994 - 1998 , 27 March - 16 May 1999, p. 15 (another example exhibited and illustrated on the cover) Bonn, Kunstmuseum; Miami Museum of Contemporary Art, Great Illusions: Demand, Gursky, Ruscha, 17 June - 28 November 1999, no. 87, p. 85 (another example exhibited and illustrated) Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Art Museums, Busch-Reisinger Museum; Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Art Museums, Sert Gallery, Landmark Pictures: Ed Ruscha/Andreas Gursky, 8 January - 16 July 2000 (another example exhibited) New York, Museum of Modern Art, Andreas Gursky , 4 March - 15 May 2001, no. 50, pp. 162 - 163 (another example exhibited and illustrated) Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, Defying Gravity: Contemporary Art and Flight , 2 November 2003 - 7 March 2004, no. 36 (another example exhibited and illustrated) Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt, Andreas Gursky Architecture, 11 May - 7 September 2008, pp. 54-55 (another example exhibited and illustrated) Kunstmuseen Krefeld; Stockholm, Moderna Museet; Vancouver Art Gallery, Andreas Gursky Werke - Works 80-08, 12 October 2008 - 20 September 2009, pp. 168-169 (another variant exhibited and illustrated) Literature Peter Nisbet, ed., The Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, MA, and London, 2007, pp. 12 - 13 (another example illustrated) Stephan Wolohojian, ed., Harvard Art Museum/ Handbook, Cambridge, MA, 2008, p. 253 (another example illustrated) Video Los Angeles to Scale: Andreas Gursky's Birdseye View At three meters long, the sheer scale of Gursky's 'Los Angeles' Cibachrome print is a celebration of the possibilities of the medium. Senior Specialist Nathalie Zaquin-Boulakia discusses one of the largest, most mesmerizing examples of Gursky's photographic works. Catalogue Essay Los Angeles , 1998 - 1999, is a rare and monumental masterpiece from the celebrated oeuvre of prolific photographer, Andreas Gursky only the second of the edition of six ever to be seen at auction. Breath-taking in its impactful splendour, the sheer scale of the three metre long Cibachrome print is a paragon of photography, an exemplary celebration of the possibilities of the medium. Amongst one of the largest examples of Gursky’s photographic work, other examples from the edition are housed in the collection of the prestigious Harvard Art Museums and The Broad, Los Angeles. Other editions of large scale photographic work, for example Rhein II , have been purchased for some of the world’s major institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum. In the present work, Gursky chooses the iconic skyline of Los Angeles as his subject, transporting the viewer to a dark night overlooking the urban metropolis. Taking the photo from the Griffith Park Observatory in Los Angeles, Gursky’s viewpoint gazes south over the city sprawl, presenting the thin capillaries of roads and streets which feed into the beating heart of the enormous city, rather than looking up to the heavens. Showcasing the grandeur of the scene, Gursky unveils a moment in time, suspended in his perfected tension between flatness and perspective, his capturing of localised detail lending itself to the overarching essence of sublime abstract composition. Executed in the same year as his comprehensive Fotografien 1994 – 1998 travelling exhibition, the present work is a colossal spectacle, enveloping the viewer in the dramatic panorama. Strikingly evident in Los Angeles is Gursky’s accomplished mastery over the medium of photography, which the artist honed under the tutelage of Bernd and Hilla Becher at the Dusseldorf school, the pair whose urban studies and industrial topography influenced Gursky’s own conceptual practice. To convey the sweeping vista of the Los Angeles skyline, Gursky used a traditional large format view camera with a wide lens, allowing for a long exposu