Los 4167

Lebeck, Robert
(1929-2014)Der gestohlene Degen, Leopoldville

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Fotografie des 19. – 21. Jahrhunderts (Katalog nur online verfügbar)
Auktionsdatum 29.11.2025

Der gestohlene Degen, Leopoldville. 1960. Gelatin silver print, printed later. 25,3 x 37,5 cm (30,5 x 40,5 cm). Signed, titled and dated by the photographer in felt-tip pen, with the photographer’s stamp on the verso.

Taken during Congo’s independence festivities, this photograph captures the moment a young Congolese man snatches the ceremonial sword from King Baudouin - a powerful and unplanned gesture that came to symbolize the collapse of colonial rule. Widely published, it became one of Robert Lebeck’s most iconic images and a defining document of 20th-century decolonization. – Some buckling along the edges of the prints; otherwise in near excellent condition.

Lit.: Tete Böttger, ed. Robert Lebeck: Vis-à-vis. Steidl/Arkana: Göttingen, 1999, ill. p. 88.