Elliott Erwitt (1928-2023); 'Moscow' (Khrushchev/Nixon);

Elliott Erwitt (1928-2023) 'Moscow' (Khrushchev/Nixon), 1959 Gelatin silver print, printed later; signed in ink in the margin, signed, titled, and dated in pencil on the reverse, framed, a Boca Raton Museum of Art label on the reverse. 11 3/4 x 17 5/8 in. (29.8 x 44.8 cm.) sheet 15 7/8 x 19 7/8 in. (40.3 x 50.5 cm.) Footnotes: Provenance The photographer to Richard Coplan, circa 2012 Literature Sam Holmes, Elliott Erwitt: Photographs and Anti-Photographs (Greenwich, 1972), p. 45 Sean Callahan, Masters of Contemporary Photography, Elliott Erwitt, The Private Experience: Personal Insights of a Professional Photographer (Los Angeles, 1974), pp. 52-53 Elliott Erwitt, Elliott Erwitt's Handbook (New York, 2003), p. 96 Elliott Erwitt, Elliott Erwitt: Personal Best (Kempen, 2009), p. 260 Elliott Erwitt, Sequentially Yours, Elliott Erwitt (Kempen, 2011), p. 181 Exhibited Elliott Erwitt: Photographs from the Collection of Richard Coplan and Martin R. Mallinger, Boca Raton Museum of Art, 9 November 2014 - 11 January 2015 The Art of Observation: The Best of Photographer Elliott Erwitt, D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts / Springfield Museums, 9 November 2019 - 12 January 2020; Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, 17 September - 31 December 2022 Note Elliott Erwitt took this historic photograph in 1959 when the Westinghouse Electric Corporation sent him to Moscow to cover the American National Exhibition, where he was assigned to take images of Russians looking at American consumer goods on display. It was sheer luck that afforded Erwitt the opportunity to tag along with Vice-President Richard Nixon and his entourage during the famous Kitchen Debate with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, which was staged in front of a model kitchen assembled by Macy's department store. Erwitt slipped out of the press pool area and claimed a prime viewing post, thanks to William Safire, Macy's public relations director who granted him access. Safire later would later become Nixon's presidential speechwriter. Erwitt recounted the afterlife of this image: '[Safire] was nice to me, letting me into the kitchen. As a courtesy, I sent him an 8x10 print of this picture. The next thing I know, Nixon's running for president and this [image] is the campaign poster. They must have made a million copies of it. There were even murals - all made from that damn 8x10. I think it was the most widely known campaign photograph ever.' (quoted in Elliott Erwitt, the Private Experience, p. 53) For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing