Agence France-Presse launches first-ever photo auction: 'The Analogue Years'

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Agence France-Presse (AFP) has announced its first-ever photo auction “The Analogue Years” under the direction of Digard Auction. 

6 November 1979 – Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Royaume Uni – James Baldwin, at home in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, southern France. © Ralph Gatti / AFP
6 November 1979 – Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Royaume Uni – James Baldwin, at home in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, southern France. © Ralph Gatti / AFP

The auction will be held as a live event on Sunday, October 3, 2021 in a physical and online format. The auction will be held at the we are event space in Paris, France, as well as online at Digard.com and as Artsy.net. Interested buyers will be able to place bids online at Artsy.net up to two weeks ahead of October 3. 

30 April 1955 – Paris, France – Salvador Dali painting a rhinoceros with Vermeer’s famous painting “The Lacemaker” at the Vincennes Zoo. © AFP
30 April 1955 – Paris, France – Salvador Dali painting a rhinoceros with Vermeer’s famous painting “The Lacemaker” at the Vincennes Zoo. © AFP

Approximately 200 photographs will be available for purchase in the auction. The collection on sale will be made up of images that captured current events during the years the Agency used analogue photography. 

The photos on auction are from a range of dates beginning in 1944, when the Agency was founded, up until 1998 which was the year that marked the Agency's rollout of digital photography.

1947 – New York, United States – Louis Armstrong playing in his dressing room for a little boy before performing in a jazz cabaret in New York. © Eric Schwab / AFP
1947 – New York, United States – Louis Armstrong playing in his dressing room for a little boy before performing in a jazz cabaret in New York. © Eric Schwab / AFP

Marielle Eudes, AFP’s director of photography has shared, ‘‘Some of the photos on sale are real photographic ‘surprises’, while others are symbolic moments that made international news in the last century. Several have become cult classics.” 

15 November 1967 – Paris, France – Johnny Hallyday on the stage of the Palais des Sports in Paris. © AFP
15 November 1967 – Paris, France – Johnny Hallyday on the stage of the Palais des Sports in Paris. © AFP

Each photograph on sale will be offered as a ‘special edition’ copy, with each print to be signed and stamped by AFP and accompanied by a certificate verifying its authenticity. 

27 July 1973 – Maputo, Mozambique – Training of the Portuguese army special forces at Dondo military camp of Maputo during the Mozambican War of Independence.
© Claude Juvenal / AFP
27 July 1973 – Maputo, Mozambique – Training of the Portuguese army special forces at Dondo military camp of Maputo during the Mozambican War of Independence. © Claude Juvenal / AFP

You can see the full auction catalogue here. 

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