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(AFRICA.) ELISOFON, ELIOT.
Series of six large gelatin silver print
photographs. Five are of the people of Mali and one is the king of the Kuba
people of today’s Democratic Republic of Congo.
Five of the six are 19-1/2 x 13-
1/2, one is 19-3/8 x 15-1/2 inches, each is on the original photographer’s heavy cardboard
mount; the tips of a few of the latter are bumped, the photographs are in very good
condition.
SHOULD BE SEEN
Africa, 1960s
[1,000/1,500]
Six strikingly beautiful photographs by Eliot Elisofon. Five of them show the Dogon people
of Mali in an elaborate dance ceremony; with one image showing a carver preparing a
ceremonial mask. One image shows the Kuba King, in Mushenge Village, resplendent in a
royal suit made from thousands of cowrie shells and beads, trimmed with leopard skin; on
either side of him are the royal drummers. Eliot Elisofon (1911-1973) was an influential
American documentary photographer and photojournalist, whose work appeared in numerous
magazines, including National Geographic and Life Magazine. Some of his best known works
are his photo essays on Africa. His archives are located at the Smithsonian. One of the images
of the dancers was used in an essay on Elisofon for Tribal Arts Magazine for Autumn, 1974.