CONSTANTINE MANOS. Aunt at the Funeral of Her Nephew Killed in Vietnam, South Carolina, 1966. 19x12.9" gelatin silver print on 20x15.9" paper. Printed 1966. Signed in ink on print recto. Signed in pencil on print verso; stamped in black ink: Photograph by / Constatine Manos.

This auction highlight by legendary Magnum photographer Constantine Manos captures the solitary sadness and support for a soldier killed in the Vietnam War.

Constantine Manos was born in Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.A., of Greek immigrant parents. His photographic career began in the school camera club at the age of thirteen, and within several years, he was a working professional. He graduated from the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in English Literature. At the age of nineteen, he was hired as the official photographer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at its summer festival at Tanglewood.

Upon completion of his military service, he moved to New York, where he worked for Esquire, LIFE, and Look. His book, Portrait of a Symphony, a documentary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was published in 1961. From 1961 to 1963 he lived in Greece, where he made the photographs for his book A Greek Portfolio, first published in 1972. The book won awards at Arles and at the Leipzig Book Fair, and exhibitions of the work took place at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris and the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1963, Manos joined Magnum Photos.

Returning from Greece, Manos settled in Boston and completed many assignments for Time-Life books, including their book on Athens. In 1974, he was the chief photographer for Where's Boston?, a multimedia production that documented the city and provided the photographs for his book Bostonians.

Manos's photographs are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Benaki Museum, Athens. In 2003, Manos was awarded the Leica Medal of Excellence for his pictures from American Color.

Images from Manos's ongoing work in color first appeared in his book American Color, published in 1995. The work continued in American Color 2, published in 2010. A new edition of A Greek Portfolio was published in 1999, accompanied by an exhibition at the Benaki Museum in Athens. In 2013, an exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the making of the photographs for the book, including eighty unpublished pictures, was held at the Benaki.

Credit: https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/constantine-manos/

Excellent. Small crease in lower center.