In Praise of Shadows, 2003

lithograph printed on hand-cut Japanese Torinoko paper

signed and numbered 185/225 lower right; titled and dated 2003 on a certificate from Serpentine Gallery on the reverse

18 × 11.25 in (45.7 × 28.6 cm) (sheet)

Auction Estimate:$1,000 - $1,500

Sale date:March 11 - 25, 2025

Price Realized

$1,200

(including Buyer's Premium)

Provenance

Estate of Robert Noakes

With the aid of a camera obscura, or pin-hole camera Hiroshi Sugimoto sought to capture “the life of a candle” in his installation titled "In Praise of Shadows" that was on view at the Serpentine Gallery from 2003-2004. The title of the work references Jun' ichirō Tanizaki's book of 1933 where the writer in his stream of conscious style casts light on the heightening of the fleeting beauty of the everyday. The artist constructed a dark room at the centre of the gallery, with a single candle in the middle casting a flickering shadow through a photographic transparency of the candle on the wall behind. Produced on the occasion of this exhibition the artist, concerned with the essence of photography and the passing of time recorded by the action of light, has captured in the lithograph a layering of image making techniques.