69 - Marc VAUX (1895–1971)

Marc VAUX (1895–1971) Chaïm Soutine A bust portrait of the painter dressed in black, with his hand resting beneath his chin; a grainy image, likely reproduced from an older photograph. Silver print 23.7 x 17.5 cm Inscription on the reverse: Photographer’s purple stamp “PHOTO Marc VAUX / 114bis, Rue de Vaugirard / PARIS-VIe - Tel. LITtré 90-01”; annotations in blue ink: “Soutine,” “Ph. 20”; in pencil: layout frame with marker “1),” circled number “18,” vertical dimension “90 mm”; traces of adhesive at the top Provenance: former collection of Jean-Marie Drot Born in the Orne department in 1895, Marc Vaux moved to Montparnasse after World War I and opened his studio at 114 bis, rue de Vaugirard, in 1927. Nicknamed “the painters’ photographer,” he photographed works of art and artists in their studios—from Matisse to Brancusi—worked for galleries, and covered the major Parisian art shows. A member of the Resistance during the war, he founded a mutual-aid center for artists in 1946, the magazine *Montparnasse-Carrefour des Arts* in 1948, and the Musée du Montparnasse in 1951. His collection of glass negatives, preserved at the Kandinsky Library (Centre Pompidou), constitutes an exceptional record of the School of Paris. He died in Paris in 1971.