National poet Mihai Eminescu's last photograph is on sale at Artmark's summer auction
The last known photograph of esteemed Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu will be sold in the A10 Artmark Auction House’s last event of the season "Book Auction including a Collection of Photography” on Tuesday, July 19.
Of the four known and certified photographs of Mihai Eminescu, the last photograph of the poet was taken when he was 37 years old, by the photographer Jean Bielig, in 1887.
Until this date, Mihai Eminescu had been captured for the first time at the age of 20, in a photograph taken in 1869, in Prague, by the photographer Jan Tomás; 9 years later, in a photograph of the Junimea Society taken by Franz Duschek; and the third in 1884, in Nestor Heck’s studio in Iaşi.
The piece in the auction is the last in the series and has a starting price of EUR 800.
In this event organized by the auction house, iconic figures, as well as important political and social events are illustrated in photographs with starting prices ranging from EUR 50 to EUR 1,000.
One of these rare photographs is a photograph of Queen Mary of Romania, with her daughter, Princess Mărioara. The photo, which was taken in 1907 at the Cotroceni Palace, bears the Queen's holographic signature and is in a frame decorated in the Neo-Brâncovenesc style. It has a starting price of EUR 500.
Philosopher and writer Emil Cioran is pictured in two vintage photographs taken by photographer Louis Monier, in 1977, in Paris. One of these shows him in a relaxed conversation with Eugen Ionescu and Mircea Eliade at Furstenberg Square near the Eugène Delacroix Museum.
Another vintage photo captures Nicolae Ceausescu doing one of his favorite activities, hunting, alongside former General Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Minister of Foreign Affairs George Macovescu and other senior officials, in the winter of 1970. The piece in the auction comes from George Macovescu’s own collection.
The auction also features photographs being sold for charity. Three pieces, Laughing, Mountain Rooster and Făgăraș Mountains were taken by wildlife photographer and filmmaker Dan Dinu and have a starting price of EUR 300 each. The funds raised from the sale of the three photographs will be directed to the Wild Romania Association to continue the photography and documentary film project dedicated to Romania’s flora and fauna.
Leading Romanian mountaineer Alex Găvan also has a photo on sale illustrating the Himalayan peak Gasherbrum 1 (8068m) which he climbed as a Romanian premiere in 2007. "With my Leica camera I shot a single frame, vertically, in this perfect moment of my life," he said. Half of the proceeds will go to the Alex Găvan Foundation for the project aimed at saving the asprete - a unique living fossil fish that still survives in a small habitat in Romania's Făgăraș Mountains. The asprete is a 65 million-year-old species, which means it is contemporary with the last dinosaurs that walked the Earth.
Other photographs being auctioned feature celebrities such as visual artist André Cădere, painter Corneliu Baba, tennis player Ilie Năstase, and singer John Lennon, all of which have been signed.
The photographs are complemented by a deluxe bibliophile’s copy of Denise, written by Alexandre Dumas’ son, who is one of the most appreciated French playwrights. This is the 20th numbered copy of only 40 copies from the late 1800s, printed on Japanese paper and bearing the author's dedication and signature. It is being auctioned at the starting price of EUR 500.
The photographs capturing rare historical moments and emblematic personalities, together with rare books and historical documents, are on display until Tuesday, July 19, 6 pm at the Cesianu-Racoviță Palace, when the event starts.
Until then, written bids for the collectibles can be placed online or in person at Artmark's headquarters at C.A. Rosetti Street Nr. 5.
More information on participating in the auction is available on the Artmark website.
(Photo source: Artmark)
