Kim Frohsin Portrait Prints

"Mariée Juive de Fès" translated to "Jewish Bride of Fez" is plate number 52 in Jean Besancenot's stunning portraits and depictions of the people of Morocco from his series "Costumes du Maroc" ("Costumes of Morocco). The woman depicted here is a young Jewish woman dressed for her wedding. She is dressed in traditional fashion for a Jewish wedding for the community in Morocco, a community with a long history in the region, especially the city of Fez, the second largest city in Morocco and known as the "Mecca of the West" for its contributions to religion and learning. For this reason and its northern proximity, Fez was a prominent destination for Jews fleeing Spain. Jewish history in Morocco is long, dating back to the 1st century, their numbers later increased by the Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492 by the Alhambra Decree. Jean Besancenot's sixty plate reproduced and handcolored gouache on paper study on the diversity of Morocco's cultures is a work of stunning historical importance in tracing the rich and vibrant diversity of North Africa. Besancenot spent the 1930s traveling around Morocco, undertaking an awe-inspiring study of its peoples and rendered in vivid and precise detail the way they traditionally lived and dressed. Many of those outfits and cultural expressions are gone now, with Besancenot's watercolored drawings of them some of the only ways that people can now visit the past. The original manuscript of "Costumes du Maroc" is kept in the Royal Collection in Rabat, with only 310 copies of it produced. These prints are fresh from the folio and have been newly museum framed under conservator glass; unframed the image of the print is 12.75 x 7.75 inches. The tissue guards that bear the caption of the plate have been framed in the verso with the title visible behind clear plastic. Jean Besancenot, real name Jean Girard, was a photographer, painter, designer, and ethnologist who was born in 1902 in Estrées-Saint-Denis. His work straddles the crossroads of art and ethnography as he was primarily interested in the costumes and ornaments of Morocco in the first half of the 20th century. He arrived for the first time in Morocco in 1934, a country he traveled through until 1939. There he produced a very rich ethnographic documentation on the traditional costumes and adornments of the different Moroccan ethnic groups. His work, composed of photographs, films, drawings and paintings, testifies to the aestheticism of Moroccan cultural heritage that was still marked by little Western influence. His book "Costumes du Maroc" was published in 1942 at the end of his first trip and presents 60 documented plates of Moroccan costumes...

"Notable Citadine" translated to "City Notable" is plate number 2 in Jean Besancenot's stunning portraits and depictions of the people of Morocco from ...

"Femme des Imerrhane" translated to "Woman of the Imerrhane is plate number 34 in Jean Besancenot's stunning portraits and depictions of the people of ...

"Homme de L'Ouanergui Portant le Tabban" translated to "Man of The Ouanergui Carrying the Tabbane" is plate number 25 in Jean Besancenot's stunning por...

"Femme de Tiznit Portant L'Amendil" translated to "Woman of Tiznit Wearing the Amendil" is plate number 47 in Jean Besancenot's stunning portraits and ...

"Homme des Zemmour" translated to "Man of the Zemmour" is plate number 24 in Jean Besancenot's stunning portraits and depictions of the people of Moroc...

"Juive du Tafilelt" translated to "Jewish Woman of the Tafilelt" is plate number 55 in Jean Besancenot's stunning portraits and depictions of the peopl...

"Femme Des Aït MGuild" translated to "Woman of the Aït MGuild" is plate number 19 in Jean Besancenot's stunning portraits and depictions of the people ...

Richard Corman Madonna, 2013 Color photographic monotype on archival pigment paper Hand signed, dated and numbered 1/1 by Richard Corman on the front 26 × 20 inches Unique Unframed This unique archival pigment print (numbered 1/1) was based upon a photograph taken by legendary portrait photographer Richard Corman, which was later hand embellished in acrylic by artist Alec Monopoly. That original work is reproduced in the monograph Richard Corman – Madonna NYC ’83 published by Damiani in 2013. This print is numbered 1/1 and is hand signed by Richard Corman. The photograph of Madonna was taken during Richard Corman's historic photoshoot in the early 1980s, and it was reprinted in 2013. Richard Corman's famous photographs of Madonna during that period have been reproduced in books, magazines, tv clips and newspapers - and are considered the most iconic images ever taken of The Material Girl. We are incredibly honored to be exclusively offering this unique print for the very first time -- in honor of her 65th birthday. Here, Madonna is just a natural beauty, youthful, confident, vulnerable, natural, and extraordinarily poised. The photograph was taken while she was on the cusp of superstardom, but still anxious, striving, going on casting calls, and waiting for her big break. In his own words, photographer Richard Corman describes how this famous photo shoot came about: My mother was Cis Corman, a renowned casting director in New York City. In the summer of 1982 she was casting The Last Temptation of Christ for Martin Scorsese and called me to say they had just tested a girl for the part of the Virgin Mary. She said, “You must meet this girl — she’s an original.” I was 28 and had just finished an apprenticeship with Richard Avedon and was looking for interesting people to shoot. So I got this girl’s number and called. It was Madonna. At the time she was living in Alphabet City [Lower East Side of Manhattan], and she suggested I go to her apartment and chat about what I wanted to do. I had to call her from a phone booth across the street, because the neighborhood was full of drug dealers, and they didn’t let people just walk in and out. There was a group of kids outside the building, on the stoop, in the hallways, and when I said I was there for Madonna the seas parted. I looked up the staircase, and I saw this girl leaning over the edge of the banister, and even from three stories below I could see these catlike eyes just looking down. I knew at that moment that she had something special — I really did. She had her best friend and neighbor, Martin, with her — he later died of AIDS—and we sat and talked. She served me a cup of coffee on a silver tray with three pieces of Bazooka bubblegum. There was no pretense to it. When I came back a few days later to shoot her, she said, “You know, we should go up to the roof because I go up there with all the kids from the building.” She was like the Pied Piper of the neighborhood — they loved her. They followed her, they danced with her, they sang with her. It was something they did on a daily basis, and it was remarkable. We just walked up and they gathered around. She put the boom box on — it was her music, though I don’t remember which song — and they just started dancing and singing. She was so alive and unpretentious. She was fierce, determined. Nothing was going to stop her. After we came down from the rooftop, we walked through the neighborhood, laughing and chatting, stopping in front of a storefront that you see in one of the shots, stopping in front of a senior citizen’s home...

"Femme de Tagmout Chantant L'Ahwas" translated to "Woman Of Tagmout (Singing the Ahwash)" is plate number 44 in Jean Besancenot's stunning portraits and depictions of the people of Morocco from his series "Costumes du Maroc" ("Costumes of Morocco). The woman depicted here is veiled and draped and in the midst of singing the "ahwash", a traditional song and dance from the regions of southern Morocco, such as Tagmout, and which has some roots in the pre-Islamic cultures of the Amazigh (also known as the Berbers) and is performed primarily by the Shilha, a sub-group of the Berbers. The ahwash is a community performance that incorporates song, dance, poetry, and frame drums...

"Costume du D'Apparat dit du Maghzen" translated to "Formal Dress Called " is plate number 14 in Jean Besancenot's stunning portraits and depictions of...

"Moghanzi du Sultan" translated to "The Sultan's Moghazni" is plate number 4 in Jean Besancenot's stunning portraits and depictions of the people of Mo...