Melvin Sokolsky (1933-2022)
On The Roof, Paris, 1963
Gelatin silver print; the photographer's 'Sokolsky, Made in France' stamp on the reverse.
11 3/8 x 11 3/8 in. (28.9 x 28.9 cm.)

Footnotes:
Note
American fashion photographer Melvin Sokolsky is best remembered for his 1963 'bubble' series, a campaign he created for Harper's Bazaar, in which he photographed model Simone D'Aillencourt, clad in the latest fashions, as she floated in a giant Plexiglas bubble above the streets of Paris.

Sokolsky's inspiration stemmed from the glistening bubbles that encapsulate various creatures strewn about Hieronymus Bosch's Renaissance masterpiece, The Garden of Earthly Delights. These transparent spheres had fascinated Sokolsky since childhood, when he frequently imagined being able to traverse a city while secured inside one such capsule.

The New York City-born photographer drew inspiration from a variety of sources to realize his vision. At the time he was working on this assignment, the windows of his local Manhattan department store had its holiday collections on display, which highlighted shoes and accessories by presenting them within small, clear, plastic bubbles that floated in the display windows. The store directed him to their bubble fabricator, leading Sokolsky to play a significant role in both the engineering and manufacturing of his chosen 'flight' apparatus, which ultimately comprised two acrylic hemispheres, fused together with a metal band and hoisted from an 1/8-inch aircraft cable tethered to an industrial crane. 'I secretly saw it as a Sokolsky aircraft that could fly anywhere on an engine built into the ring,' the photographer remarked in a 2019 interview. 'It was not a girl captured in a bubble. It was a woman at the helm of her spaceship.'

The setting for each shoot often captured civilians milling about on the street or reacting organically to the presence of the bubble bobbing through the air in their Parisian neighborhood. Once a photograph was taken, the image was carefully retouched to remove the presence of the aircraft cable that held the bubble aloft. The present work is an early print that features the cable before the image was retouched. This rare photograph provides a glimpse behind the magician's curtain, demonstrating to the viewer how the illusion is crafted.

This gelatin silver print, on double-weight Agfa paper with a surface sheen, is in generally very good to excellent condition. There is a very small area of soiling visible in the upper left portion of the sky. Upon close examination under raking light, the following are visible: scattered, soft handling creases which do not appear to break the emulsion; 2 sharp crescent-shaped creases in the lower right portion of the image that may break the emulsion; and a nearly-imperceptible linear impression along the left side of the image. The following is visible in the margins: two fingerprints near the lower left and right corners; sharp creases at the upper edge in the center and across the upper right corner, all of which may break the emulsion; tack holes in each of the upper corners; and 3 tack holes in the lower left corner. The corners are gently bumped, and the print is very slightly rippled.

The reverse is lightly soiled. 'n. Ricci Parkwood no. 3' is written in ink and '681B' is written in pencil, both in an unidentified hand.