Richard Selby (1933) - Greek Goddess Nike IX - large - 1988

Wikipedia on GREEK GODDESS NIKE:
In Greek mythology and ancient religion, Nike is the goddess who personifies victory in any field including art, music, war, and athletics. She is often portrayed in Greek art as Winged Victory in the motion of flight; however, she can also appear without wings as "Wingless Victory" when she is being portrayed as an attribute of another deity such as Athena. In Greek literature Nike is described as both an attribute and attendant to the gods Zeus and Athena. The Roman equivalent is goddess Victoria.

In his book Know Your Number, Richard Selby write about Nike:
Nike was shot between 1983 and 1988 in New York using a 4x5 Linhof Master Technika and a 6x7 Mamiya RB, and a single studio flash or ringlight. The collage on page 80-82 and on page 83-85 and 88-89 were created from multiple silver gelatine prints, dry mounted on museum board. The first one is approximately 2400x750mm, the other two are approximately 1000x400mm (see collage photo for reference).

Photographer: Richard Selby (1933, London)
Title: Nike VIII
Year: 1988
Year of print: 1988, vintage
Stamp: photographer's copyright stamp in red on verso.
Print: silver gelatin print
Reference: Know Your Number, book published in 1991
Number of items: 1
Image size: 58,0 x 37.2 cm
Paper size: 58,0 x 37.2 cm

The last 5 images (the published collage of Nike, a portrait of Richard Selby taken in 2015 at age 82, some covers of Playboy, his book 'Know Your Number and Richard Selby signing prints in 2015) are for reference only and are not part of this lot.

Condition: Good (9), minor dings, dents and spots. Overall, this print is in good condition.

As a classic schooled photographer, Richard Selby mastered the darkroom printing process like no other. His photo prints have unprecedented finesse, contrast and tonality. Unless stated otherwise, irregularities and reflections on the shown pictures, are caused by scanning or photography of the prints.

BIOGRAPHY
Richard Selby was born on the 6th of August 1933 in London, England. He graduated from Cambridge University with a M.A. in History. He spent several years working in London at various jobs before enrolling at Westminster University to study photography. At the end of his first year he took a summer job in a New York studio and from there found a job as assistant to Art Kane, a famous editorial and advertising photographer. Two years later, he declined invitations from Richard Avedon and Hiro and started out on his own as a freelance editorial photographer in New York for magazines such as Look, Saturday Evening Post, Holiday and Venture.

While on assignment for Venture, he visited Munich and was invited by Willy Fleckhaus to work for Twen magazine. Twen is still considered to be the most prestigious and influential magazine ever created. Besides Richard Selby and Will McBride, Twen invited freelance photographers like Jeanloup Sieff, David Hamilton, Wim Wenders, Sam Haskins and Helmut Newton. Subsequently, he divided his time working for magazines in New York, London, Paris, Milan and Munich. For the German edition of Playboy he did a number of playmates, including the first one shot outside the U.S.A. He also began to do some corporate work. He has never solicited advertising photography.

CLIENTS
Germany: Twen, Playboy, Jasmin, Eltern, Freundin, Quick and Stern.
England: Nova, Honey, Woman’s Own and Over 21.
France: Depech Mode and Marie France.
Italy: Grazia and others.

KNOW YOUR NUMBER
In 1991 his first book of nudes 'Know Your Number' was published in Germany. Almost 5000 copies of this book were sold, mainly in the U.S.A.. After a period of ill health following the publication, a second revised and enlarged edition of the book was published in 2001. Richard lives in Brighton, England, and is trying to finish a long time running project about artists.

SOLO SHOWS
• Books and Binding Gallery, New York, 1993
• Books and Binding Gallery, New York, 1994
• Mono Gallery, London, 1997
• Gwenola De Luze, Paris, 1998
• Sterts Art Centre, Cornwall, 1998
• Laurant Struck Gallery, Paris, 1999
• The Photo Cabinet Gallery, The Hague, 2012

GROUP SHOWS
• Portfolio Gallery, London, 1990
• MBM Gallery, New York,1992

BOOKS
• Know Your Number (1st Ed. 1991, Monograph, Graphic+Photos+Art, Munich)
• NudeYork (Seibundo Shinkosha, Tokyo, 1995)
• Know Your Number (2nd Ed. 2001, Monograph, Catwalk Editions, Paris)

MAGAZINE ARTICLES
• Playboy, Germany, 1974-1975
• Foto Magazine, Germany, 1991
• Esquire, Germany, 1992
• Das Magazine,Germany, 1992
• PIC magazine UK, 1992
• Black and White Art Photography, U.K., 1992
• Penthouse Forum, U.S.A., 1991
• Cupido, Norway, 1994
• Libido, U.S.A., 1993
• Black+White, Australia, July 2003.
• British Journal of Photography, U.K., March 2003
• Amature Photographer, U.K., February 2003.

MAGAZINE COVERS
• PIC magazine (January 1992, April 1992)
• Das Magazine (February 1992)
• Penthouse (January 1991)
• Esquire (February 1992)
• BW Art Photographer (September 1991)
• Over 21 (1976)
• British Journal of Photography (March 2003)
• Modern Photography (1964)
• Cupido (1994)
• Libido (1994)

KEYWORDS
Playboy, black & white, nude, fine art, Richard Avedon, Hiro, Japan, Japanese, Art Kane, Twen Magazine, Munich München Germany, London U.K., New York U.S.A., gelatin silver print, limited edition, unica, zilvergelatine afdruk, Vintage Silbergelatineabzug, tirage gélatino-argentique d'époque, stampa vintage alla gelatina sali d'argento.