Herbert List German 1903-1975
Young Man, Hammamet, Tunisia, 1933

£6,500

Silver print
Studio stamp (verso)
22 × 27.5 cm (45 × 41 cm framed)

Herbert List was a classically educated artist who combined a love of photography with a fascination for surrealism and classicism. Under the dual influence of the surrealist movement on the one hand, and of Bauhaus artists on the other, List photographed still life and his friends, developing his style. He has described his images as “composed visions where [my] arrangements try to capture the magical essence inhabiting and animating the world of appearances.” A great deal of his work is homoerotic. His work was hugely influential on 20th century photography and is represented in the greatest collection of photography, from the MOMA NY to the V&A in London, The Getty Museum in LA to the Pompidou Center in Paris.

This photograph was taken in Hammamet, Tunisia, when List was visiting George Hoyningen-Huene and Horst P Horst there in 1933. (I would like to thank the Herbert List Estate for their assistance in correctly identifying the place and date of the image.)