DUCHAMP MARCEL: (1887-1968) French painter and sculptor. An excellent vintage signed 8 x 10 photograph, the interestingly lit image depicting Duchamp, wearing a light shirt and dark tie, seated in a three-quarter length pose within his atelier, with a serious expression across his face as he gazes out of the window. He rests one outstretched hand on a small shelf filled with various tools, and at his side a screw press can be seen. Photograph by Sidney J. Waintrob for the Budd Studio of New York and bearing his credit stamp to the verso. Signed by Duchamp with his name alone to a largely lighter area of the image. Signed photographs of Duchamp, particularly of this quality, are rare and desirable. One slight tear to the lower edge, and a few minor surface and corner creases, otherwise about VG

Sidney J. Waintrob (1902–2002) American photographer who, alongside his younger brother Abraham ´Bud´ Waintrob, ran the prominent New York commercial photography studio Budd Studio (later known as Waintrob-Budd). Operating from the 1940s until the 1980s, the brothers led an extraordinary ´dual life´ in photography, achieving massive commercial success in equestrian sports while simultaneously building an intimate, unpaid documentary archive of the 20th-century art world. While horses paid the bills, Sidney’s true personal joy was fine art. This inspired the brothers to embark on a parallel, decades-long project photographing the greatest artists, sculptors, and curators of post-war New York—precisely as the city was becoming the global capital of the art world. Sidney and Bud considered themselves ´amateur photographers of human beings´ when it came to artists. They refused to accept money for these portraits. Instead, they traded their time for gifts or artwork. Over the years, they captured rare, intimate studio portraits of legendary figures including Duchamp, Edward Hopper, Georgia O´Keeffe, Alberto Giacometti, and Robert Motherwell.