Episode 27: The Untitled One

Whether it is by cataloguing mistake or intentional error, calling something by the wrong name can actually have rippling affects.

This episode details 3 ways that things can become mistitled: plain old human error, The Storyteller, and The Scriptwriter’s Delight.

First, we have human error. The example for this is a very famous photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson, often mis-located as being on the banks of the Marne.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sunday on the Banks of the Seine, Near Juvisy-sur-Orge, France, 1938

The second example is The Storyteller, the effect of which is illustrated by two works:

Robert Capa, The Last Man to Die, 1945

Josef Koudelka, Jarabina, 1963

A print of Jarabina recently sold at Sotheby’s as part of the Pilara Family Foundation auction in October 2023.

Finally, there’s The Scriptwriter’s Delight. This phenomenon is illustrated by one of George Hoyningen Huene’s most well-known images, taken on the roof of a Paris building and featuring his partner, Horst P. Horst, and fellow photographer Lee Miller as models. This image was featured in Vogue on July 5, 1930. A print of this image sold at Sotheby’s in 2019 for $17,500.

George Hoyningen-Huene, The Divers, 1930