(3) ELEANOR PARKER CUSTIS (American, 1897-1983) PHOTOGRAPHS
female nudes, 1930's, unframed bromide photographs
Decorative Frieze, 5.5 by 13 in., Custis label and Luxembourg stamp on reverse
untitled, woman on rocks, 14 by 11 in.
untitled, woman in cave, 11 by 14 in., photographer's shoot notes on reverse
Purchased at the Eleanor Custis estate sale.
In the 1930's Custis shifted from painting to photography. In 1934 she exhibited five photographs, the next year sixty-seven, and the following year more than 180. Her peak season was 1949-50, when 257 of her prints were hung in more than ninety salons.
Custis used a Flou-Net enlarging diffuser, invented by Belgian Léonard Misonne, which produced dark, romantic halos along the edges of shadow areas.
The 1940's she received fellowship status from the Photographic Society of America, presented one-person exhibitions at both the Brooklyn Museum and Smithsonian Institution, and saw her book, 'Composition and Pictures' published. In 1960, after the death of her father, with whom she lived in Washington, Custis relocated to Gloucester, Massachusetts.
Corner folds on woman on rocks.
Estimate: $400 - $600
Realized: $175 - Excluding Buyer's Premium
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Lot 300 : (3) ELEANOR PARKER CUSTIS (American, 1897-1983) PHOTOGRAPHS
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