Group of 30 Original Custom Photographs of Gregory Peck by Paul Apoteker from Behold a Pale Horse (Columbia, 1964)....

Description

Group of 30 Original Custom Photographs of Gregory Peck by Paul Apoteker from Behold a Pale Horse (Columbia, 1964). 30 original vintage gelatin borderless photographs, 29 glossy single weight and one semi-gloss double-weight. Most measure 11.5" x 15.25", with a few being slightly smaller. An incredible sequence of portraits shot on location in the French Pyrénées during filming of the mountain scenes and on the set. Most with sequence numbers handwritten in pencil and seven with the photographer's credit ink stamp on the verso. These masterfully lit portraits feature Peck in his role as the aging Spanish Civil War Republican guerilla, Manuel Artiguez, feature him frequently alone and highlight the actor's careworn facial features, occasionally illuminated by a match while lighting a cigarette, and emphasize the ravages that the civil war has taken on his character.
These unique portraits were shot for in-house production only, with no more than two or three sets produced in total. This set, likely the only one to survive, are Mr. Peck's personal prints presented to him by the photographer. The photographs were hand-printed by the photographer on excellent quality paper with incredibly high silver content, unusual for productions of this time. The extraordinary silver content imparts a richness to the deep blacks and mid-tone grays of the portraits. The extremely high quality of the prints belies the fact that they were shot on-set during production, frequently in low-light conditions with no special preparations. Each portrait represents a quiet masterpiece and ranks as the highest quality work from this photographer.
Mr. Apoteker used a large format camera and so the clarity of the photographs is unprecedented for any other film of this era that we have ever encountered. None of the graininess so often seen in portraits shot from this era in 35mm then enlarged, is visible in these beautiful prints. Fine to Very Fine.

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