McDermott and McGough - Photographs New York Friday, April 5, 2024 | Phillips

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  • David McDermott and Peter McGough crossed paths during the early 1980s in New York City. Realizing a common desire to abandon modernity in lieu of more refined, antiquated reality, the pair soon became artistic collaborators. Together they moved into a Lower East Side apartment and did away with the electrical system, artificial lighting, copper plumbing and in general, any comforts of twentieth century domesticity. Thus began their venture into an immersive and performative lifestyle. By dressing exclusively in Edwardian and Victorian attire, speaking in period-appropriate dialect, the pair created their own world within a world, ultimately fabricating a utopian, gentile version of the past.

    “This was not to be just some fancy version of escaping the proverbial rat race but more of a proposal of time experimentation, an attempt to live in at least two worlds simultaneously; creating a skip in the progressive linearity of history.”
    —Mark Alice Durant

    While McDermott and McGough's joint practice originated with painting, in 1987 they heeded a friend’s advice and began photographically documenting their life. After finding an 8 x 10 in. format camera in an antique shop, the duo made initial exposures inside their Alphabet City home. Dissatisfied with the appearance of gelatin silver prints, they opted for historically accurate processes. As seen in this lot, cyanotypes provided a means to add a further sense of authenticity to the subject matter. Like they had done with their paintings, the duo employed the tactic of back-dating to further displace the time period depicted. Despite being produced in 1989, the title (and aesthetic) of these two works leads the viewer to believe they were created in 1907.

    • Provenance

      Robert Miller Gallery, New York

    • Literature

      Kyoto Shoin, Messers: McDermott and McGough, n.p.
      Irish Museum of Modern Art, McDermott & McGough: An Experience of Amusing Chemistry: Photographs 1990-1890, p. 55 (Portrait of the Artist)
      Arena Editions, McDermott & McGough: A History of Photography, p. 65 (Achievement of Sublimity)

    • Catalogue Essay

      The photographs included in this lot are as follows:

      Portrait of the Artist with His Spill Vases, 1907
      The Achievement of Sublimity Through the Renunciation of Temporality, 1907

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM A PROMINENT NEW YORK COLLECTION

205

Selected Images

1989
Two cyanotypes.
Each 10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm)
Each signed, titled, dated, and annotated in ink on the artists' letterpress label affixed to the frame-backing. Each number 2 from an edition of 3.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$3,000 - 5,000 

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Contact Specialist

Sarah Krueger
Head of Department, Photographs
skrueger@phillips.com
 

Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Chairwoman, Americas
vhallett@phillips.com

Photographs

New York Auction 5 April 2024