Whether by Fred Herzog, Charlotte Perriand, Martin Munkacsi, Vivian Maier or Seydou Keïta, posthumous prints have become increasingly prominent at Paris Photo, the major art fair for still photography held at the Grand Palais, which staged its 28th edition from Thursday, November 13 to Sunday, November 16. But these prints often go under the radar. At the booths, they are frequently labeled with phrases such as “tirage de la succession” (estate print), “tirage tardif” (late print) or simply “tirage argentique avec tampon de la succession” (silver gelatin print with estate stamp). For non-specialists, it can be hard to realize these are prints made by the artist’s heirs after their death, using the original negatives.
The term “posthumous” has long carried a stigma in the photography world. In the late 1990s, several scandals exposed that works sold for high prices and attributed to surrealist Man Ray (1890-1976) or American social photographer Lewis Hine (1874-1940) were, in fact, copies made after their deaths by unscrupulous forgers.
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