German Photographer Albert Scopin's 1970s Chelsea Hotel Portraits Resurface in Berlin Exhibition

German photographer Albert Scopin, now known as Alfred Scopin, documented life at New York's Chelsea Hotel from 1969 to 1971 using a Kodak Instamatic camera. The historic hotel, built in 1884 near Madison Square Park, served as a refuge for artists and creative figures. Scopin originally worked as an assistant to fashion photographer Bill King while living there. His photographs were published in 1972 by ZEIT Magazin but were lost until resurfacing in a gallery in 2016. Scopin had since shifted his artistic practice to painting and working with asphalt. A new publication featuring these images has been released by Kerber Verlag, accompanied by an exhibition at Galerie Feldbusch Wiesner Rudolph in Berlin. Scopin described photographing residents like musician George Kleinsinger, who kept exotic animals in his apartment, and emphasized capturing subjects' inner essence rather than external appearances. He noted the technical challenges of manual photography at the time and the role of chance in his work. The rediscovery of these images has revived memories of that period. The article also mentions three unrelated art market developments: a record auction price for a 17th-century still life by Lubin Baugin at Vichy Enchères in August 2025; an upcoming benefit auction at Pinakothek der Moderne featuring a work by Peter Halley; and a September auction at Breker in Cologne where a vintage Hasselblad aerial camera sold for €32,000.