RENÉ BURRI (1933–2014)
Tae Song Dong, 1961 *

Estimate: € 6.000–7.000

Vintage silver print

16,8 x 25,1 cm

Photographer's agency stamp and several handwritten notations (by the photographer) in ink and pencil on the reverse

LITERATURE: René Burri, One World Photographs et collages 1950-1983, Bern 1984, p. 54; Hans-Michael Koetzle (ed.), René Burri, Fotografien, Berlin 2004, p. 325.

One of his countless journeys took René Burri to South Korea in 1961. Together with journalist Bernie Kalb, he was reporting for The New York Times about a country in which a clique of officers led by General Park Chung Hee had seized power two weeks previously through a putsch. In the feature Again Korea Is Being Tested, published in The New York Times on November 12, 1961. In the evening, René Burri followed American GIs to the village Tae Song Dong, where the soldiers sought distraction with ladies of the night. In a nightclub, Burri took the photograph whose right half shows a young Korean prostitute caressing a soldier’s ear lasciviously with her half-open mouth. As so often, Burri seeks out a secondary venue, placing what seems inconsequential at the centre and telling stories invariably focused on the human element.

Start price: €3.000