The legendary weekly Paris Match, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, put its emblematic photos from its archives up for auction as part of a sale organized by Artcurial. This sale totaled 241,441 euros or 256,380 dollars including fees.
An exceptional meeting for collectors from all over the world. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Paris Match, Artcurial organized on November 8, 2024, an auction dedicated to iconic photos from the famous and essential magazine which combines news and people. Under the hammer of auctioneer Arnaud Oliveux, the sale totaled 241,441 euros or 256,380 dollars including fees. Some lots recorded very good results, notably the famous photo of Jacques Chirac in the Concorde by Jack Garofalo which sold for 16,400 euros.
“For 75 years, Paris Match has been the photo album of the French, capturing moments that marked an era and a country. Iconic photos which have taken on sentimental, cultural and historical value, ranging from General de Gaulle to Jacques Chirac, from the Beatles to Salvador Dali, from BB to Afghan women. These photos are a mirror of our existence and an essential link between generations,” declared Jérôme Béglé, general director of the Paris Match editorial team.
Entitled “75 years of World History”, this sale highlighted the incredible photographic heritage of Paris Match through the icons and events that have marked world news since March 25, 1949, the date of its creation. of the weekly by Jean Prouvost.
Iconic photos from 1,300 euros
Some 80 emblematic images were on the sale program, including the famous photo of Jacques Chirac, then Prime Minister, in the middle of a nap, blindfolded and feet in the air, aboard the Concorde, taken by Jack Garofalo, on 18 September 1987.
Estimated between 4,000 and 4,500 euros, this later silver print on satin RC paper based on the original slide, was sold for 16,400 euros to a French collector. This price is very close to that of a similar lot which reached the record sum of 17,000 euros, during a sale organized in Paris, in May 2016, by Cornette de Saint Cyr.
Other famous photos up for auction include those of Patrice Habans, in a lot consisting of a contact sheet print accompanied by his iconic behind-the-scenes view of the 1967 recording of the song “Bonnie and Clyde”. by Brigitte Bardot and Serge Gainsbourg, then lovers, for the program “Brigitte Bardot Show”, broadcast on New Year's Day 1968. Estimated between 4,000 and 4,500 euros, this later silver print on baryta paper from the original negative, was acquired for 8,528 euros by a foreign collector.
Among the “treasures” of the sale, there was also a diptych on the surrealist painter Salvador Dali, immortalized by Tony Saulnier in full creative performance, in Cadaquès, in 1965. The estimate of these two later silver prints on satin RC paper of after the original slide, had been set at 2,500/3,000 euros. The sale of these prints was concluded at 8,528 euros on behalf of a foreign buyer.
According to Artcurial, the sale also highlighted “The nostalgic Paris of the 1950s, May 1968, Harlem and the Bronx of the 1970s, the Berlin Wall” seen by Paris Match photographers.
The sale, which was held during the international “Paris Photo” fair, was preceded by an exhibition at Artcurial, from November 5, at the Hôtel Marcel Dassault, 7, rond-point des Champs-Elysées.
