Nadav Kander - Photographs London Thursday, November 5, 2015 | Phillips

Photographs

London Auction 6 November 2015 2pm

  • Literature

    N. Kander, Yangtze - The Long River, Hatje Cantz, 2010, pl. 47
    A. Pardo, E. Redstone, eds., Constructing Worlds: Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age, Barbican Art Gallery, London/ Prestel, 2014, p. 249

  • Catalogue Essay

    ‘It’s more about the smallness of man and the vulnerability of man; that’s what I like to show’
    Nadav Kander

    For his seminal series Yangtze, The Long River, Nadav Kander travelled the length of China’s longest river the Yangtze over a three-year period, and captured, with his large-format camera, the fastest growing urban centres on earth. Kander’s status as an outsider and his own feelings of displacement as a British national born in Israel and raised in South Africa inform his images. His own discomfort as he came face-to-face with China’s paradox of construction and destruction is revealed in the compositions and the muted colour scheme. Kander describes his image-making process:

    “Using the river as a metaphor for constant change, I have photographed the landscape and people along its banks from mouth to source … After several trips to different parts of the river, it became clear that what I was responding to and how I felt whilst being in China – formalness and unease – were permeating my pictures. China is a country that feels both at the beginning of a new era and at odds with itself. It is a nation that appears to be severing its roots by destroying its past in the wake of the sheer force of its moving ‘forward’ at such an astounding and unnatural pace – a people scarring their country and a country scarring its people.”

    In Chongqing II, we see the tiny figures of three men who are looking across the Yangtze towards Chongqing. With a staggering population of 27 million, Chongqing is the largest city along the
    Yangtze River. While the three men are dwarfed by the giant man-made structures that surround them, the touches of bright colour from their clothing leap out against the muted landscape.

    Kander is a multiple award winner, including the 2009 Prix Pictet for Yangtze, The Long River and the 2009 Lucie Award for International Photographer of the Year. In September 2015, he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society. Kander’s works have been exhibited internationally and are represented in many prominent collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Ultimate

44

Nadav Kander

Chongqing II, Chongqing Municipality from Yangtze, The Long River

2006
Chromogenic print, flush-mounted.
117 x 149 cm (46 1/8 x 58 5/8 in.) Overall 150.5 x 182.5 cm (59 1/4 x 71 7/8 in.)
Signed, titled, dated and numbered AP1 in ink on an artist's label affixed to the reverse of the frame.

This work is AP1 from the sold-out edition of 3 + 2 AP.

Estimate
£18,000 - 22,000 †

Sold for £18,750

Contact Specialist
Lou Proud
Head of Photographs
London
+ 44 207 318 4018

Photographs

London Auction 6 November 2015 2pm