Lot 13: Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou (Benin, born 1965) Untitled Triptych (Demoiselles de Porto-Novo series), 2012

Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou (Benin, born 1965)
Untitled Triptych (Demoiselles de Porto-Novo series), 2012 c-print150 x 100cm (59 1/16 x 39 3/8in).Edition of 5 + 2 AP (#1/5)

Provenance: Acquired from Jack Bell Gallery, London;Private Collection, UK. Exhibited Paris, Grand Palais, Picasso.Mania, 2015Trained by his father, the renowned photographer Joseph Moise Agbodjelou (1912-2000), Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou has become one of the most well established artists of the Republic of Benin. Demoiselles de Porto is part of Leonce's Citizens of Porto Novo series. Capturing those who live in the Benin capital, using a daylight studio and medium format film. In the present work, the nude female model is photographed within the colonial setting of the artist's family house. One of many mansions built at the end of the 19th century by Africans who had returned to the continent from Brazil following the abolition of slavery.Leonce is also the founder and director of Benin's first photographic school, and is the president of the Photographer's Association of Porto-Novo.