ANITA CONTI 1899-1997 Lot n° 23

Transport of a locomotive, Guinea, circa 1945. Photograph. Vintage silver print on postcard paper, signed in pencil on the back. Image: 10 x 9 cm; sheet: 13.8 x 9 cm. Anita Conti (French, 1899-1997) was a passionate and free adventurer and was the first woman oceanographer. She travelled the world and witnessed the harshness of life at sea, embarking with the ocean scrapers to document her oceanographic research. From these extraordinary adventures, this writer and photographer gave an accurate and powerful account of life on the ocean. Her works are part of major private and museum collections in France. The prints offered here show that beyond the simple documentary and autobiographical testimony, Anita Conti has delivered a work of great subtlety, both in her photographic writing and in the delicacy of her prints.