Sonja Braas - Photographs New York Friday, April 5, 2024 | Phillips
  • “Through the recognizability of the materials and my…analogue approach, the constructed worlds oscillate between being realistically overwhelming and revealing of their artificiality, causing and dissolving expectations and emotions.”
    —Sonja Braas

    In Tornado, 2005, German photographer Sonja Braas presents an image of the raw power and beauty of nature's fury. This work is part of The Quiet of Dissolution series (2004–2010) that explores the representation of natural catastrophes through methodically constructed images that vividly depict the dramatic effects of such events. With her meticulous composition, attention to detail and mastery of analogue techniques, Braas transforms the chaotic energy of a tornado into a tableau of wonder and trepidation. Braas reveals that the images are not of nature itself but rather of models, carefully built and photographed in her studio. Her images create an ambiguity that invites viewers to question their perception of nature and to contemplate the ways in which we create and interpret images of the natural world. Braas’ photographs waver between a romanticized view and a stark portrayal of the irreversibility and conflict shaping the natural world.

     

    Braas’ work is held in many institutions internationally including Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Fotomuseum Witnterthur, Switzerland as well as exhibited extensively over the last twenty years including her solo show at the prestigious Kunsthalle Göppingen in Germany in 2010.

    • Provenance

      Fabian & Claude Walter Galerie, Zurich, 2007

    • Literature

      Hatje Cantz Verlag, Sonja Braas: So Far, 2013, p.53
      Aperture, PHOTOart, Photography in the 21st Century, p.72
      Andrew Edlin Gallery, Collectors of Skies, 2012, p.19 and back cover
      Heiting, The Sir Mark Fehrs Haukohl Collection of European Women Photographers 2000-2020, p.96
      The Museum for Painting and Contemporary Art; Remote Proximity: Nature in Contemporary Art, 2009, p.137
      Snoeck, Land_Scope, Photographic works from Roni Horn to Thomas Ruff in the DZ Bank Art Collection; 2018, p.103
      Strozzina, Centro di Cultura Contemporanea a Palazzo Strozzi; Manipulating Reality, 2009, p.67

286

Tornado from The Quiet of Dissolution

2005
Chromogenic print, Diasec mounted.
72 1/2 x 55 in. (184.2 x 139.7 cm)
Overall 74 1/4 x 56 5/8 in. (188.6 x 143.8 cm)

Signed in ink, printed title, date and number 7/8 on a gallery label affixed to the frame backing.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$20,000 - 30,000 

Contact Specialist

Sarah Krueger
Head of Department, Photographs
skrueger@phillips.com
 

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Photographs

New York Auction 5 April 2024