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Description: An unusual and evocative archive of images by Ingrid Lothigius-Walder (1920-1998), a Swedish-born actress and poet who settled in New York in 1965 and took up street photography. The present group largely comprises images made on the city's streets during the 1970s, together with a smaller group of portraits, a genre for which she seems to have possessed a singular talent, undertaken on commission to support herself. Ingrid Lothigius emigrated to Los Angeles and in 1961 starred in the Vernon Zimmerman experimental short To L.A. With Lust co-starring Andy Warhol favourite Taylor Mead. In 1965, she relocated to NYC and began taking photography classes at Parsons and New York School of Photography, studying with George A. Tice and Lisette Model, whose influence is clear in the present collection. By 1980, she was exhibiting her work quite extensively, not just at The East Gallery, NYU, and the Parsons School Gallery, but she also had several shows at the Soho Photo Gallery, and also gave slideshows at the United Nations Photography Club, featuring images from a tour among the Berbers in Tunisia, and at Studio 54 and Magique Disco. There are a number of poster/handbills present for exhibitions of her photographs at O'Neal's on 43rd Street, "They have no style colour-abstracts-experimental-nudes-portraits-streetlife here or maybe Africa - views of N. Y. Stockholm or the moon, painted photo,s [sic] maybe even a child, theater dancers Yes whatever crawls into her camera. No cats-dogs occasionally a crocodile". The majority of the images here, both printed and in negative, are street photographs accumulated by Ingrid on her drifts across the city, with no lunar views or amphibian portraits to be seen. The printed photographs have no identifications, although a few do have her wet-stamp and a handful are signed. However, quite a few of the contact sheets have her almost legible notes of location. There is an excellent group of ten large prints from shots taken in the meatpacking district - when people packed meat there - and numerous further images among the negatives attached to contact sheets identified as "14th St". Another solid grouping among the negatives represent a gathering of roller skaters on 42nd Street; there several other named locations, Brooklyn Heights, Coney Island and Portugal feature, but the most are unidentified or are marked "Sheet mingled", which we presume to mean that the images are drawn from various points in Ingrid's wanderings. The other major group is of portraits, but in some cases the distinction between these and her street work is inevitably arbitrary. As with her former tutor Lisette Model, her ability to empathically capture character is outstanding, and her skilful cropping of the original exposures to draw out and frame the individual that had attracted her interest from the hugger-mugger on the street is impressive. It is unsurprising that she took on commissions for portraits, in the October 1994 issue of a Chelsea free-sheet - "What? A Humanist Neighbourhood Magazine" - for which she was photo editor, and which contains a brief biography of her as "Volunteer of the Month", she advertises, "People or actors, headshots or portraits - grandmothers, lovers, babies, and pets - in your place or mine, as needed - 1 roll - 36 pictures. (2) 8 x 10 prints $75.--. No Joy. No Pay". It would be wrong to say that there are not a few disheartening headshots here, but among the apparently commercial prints there are a number of exquisitely deft portraits of children, some carefully mounted on textured card and pencil signed on the mount, and a contact sheet for a very fresh photo shoot for Sarah Vaughan from 1972. Around 100 large format photographs, various sizes from 230 x 305 mm to 280 x 355 mm, most mounted on board for exhibition, together with c.100 contact sheets with associated 35 mm negatives representing 1000s of potential images. Housed in three light grey archival boxes. Some light handling damage to the prints, creases to the contact sheets, and one or two with adhesion damage, but overall very good.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom