Bring your auction to collectors worldwide!
Get listed nowBy subscribing, you are agreeing to the privacy policy. Unsubscribe anytime.
Barnebys HQ
Brahegatan 10
BOX 5038
114 37 Stockholm
All auctions / Photographs / Michael Joseph (1941-) - Door Gunners in Flight
South Vietnam, 1964 - Door Gunners in Flight Michael Joseph (b. 1941) C-type photographic print Original photograph: South Vietnam, October 1964 Signed and dated by Michael Joseph Limited Edition: 1/20 A remarkable image from Michael Joseph’s little-seen Vietnam archive, photographed in South Vietnam in October 1964, when the photographer was just 23 years old. Taken from inside a military helicopter in flight, the photograph places us directly among the crew. Two armed servicemen sit at the open doorway, rifles across their laps, while the vast patchwork of the Vietnamese landscape stretches away beneath them. A third figure is glimpsed towards the cockpit. There is no staged drama here: instead, Joseph captures the strange mixture of vigilance, routine and vulnerability of men travelling through a landscape already profoundly affected by war. The composition is particularly powerful. The dark interior of the aircraft forms an almost theatrical frame around the pale, expansive landscape outside, while the open doorway creates a dizzying sense of height and exposure. The viewer is not observing the helicopter from a safe distance - we are inside it. Joseph travelled through South Vietnam in 1964 with his camera, creating an extraordinary body of colour photographs documenting soldiers, civilians, hospitals, villages and everyday life during a pivotal period of the Vietnam War. These photographs pre-date the arrival of large-scale US ground combat forces in 1965, giving the archive particular historical interest. This contemporary C-type print has been personally signed and inscribed “South Vietnam 1964” by Michael Joseph. Numbered 1/20 establishes it as the first print in an official limited edition of only twenty. Beyond its historical context, it is an exceptionally cinematic photograph: the weapons, the open aircraft, the almost serene geometry of the fields far below, and the quiet concentration of the men create an image in which tension and beauty coexist. An important early photograph by Michael Joseph, offered as No. 1 of a newly established edition of 20 in this size, exclusively available via Catawiki only at this stage.
Estimate:$966.56
To the auctionView all items fromCatawikiorPhotographs
Estimate:
$966.56
MARTINA HOOGLAND IVANOWS "FAR TOO CLOSE" I FÖRSTA UPPLAGAN, 2010.
09/28/2026
$40.02
Est: $60.49
Bring your auction to collectors worldwide!
Get listed now
DAWIDS "VÄLSTÅND" I BEGRÄNSAD FÖRSTA UPPLAGAN, 2018 - SIGNERAD.
09/28/2026
$30.01
Est: $35.29
TOD PAPAGEORGES "DR. BLANKMAN'S NEW YORK" I FÖRSTA UPPLAGAN, 2017.
09/28/2026
$35.12
Est: $81.38
