NEW YORK, NY.- This spring, Sotheby’s will present a landmark series of auctions showcasing The Jill and Marshall Rose Collection, among the most significant private holdings of 20th century American and European modernist photography to appear at auction. Formed principally during the 1980s, with shared conviction, discernment, and a passion for the arts, the collection reflects the complementary vision of Jill Kupin Rose’s scholarly eye and Marshall Rose’s enduring dedication to cultural stewardship.

Comprising 20 exceptional fresh to market photographs and works on paper, each piece reflects the couple’s bold yet thoughtful choices, resulting in a group distinguished by rarity, quality, and historical significance. Meticulously preserved and cherished privately for decades, the collection is led by Edward Steichen’s rare and monumental Balzac, The Open Sky, 11 P.M. (1908), believed to be one of only three extant examples of its scale (est. $700,000–1 million).

Works from The Jill and Marshall Rose Collection will inaugurate Sotheby’s dedicated photography auctions at its new global headquarters in the Breuer Building, marking a significant milestone in the continued recognition and appreciation of 20th century photography. The group will be presented across a series of sales, commencing with Sotheby’s spring Photographs auctions on 14 and 16 April*, with additional works appearing in the May Modern Day auctions.

"The Jill and Marshall Rose Collection is an extraordinary testament to the vision and discernment of two collectors who were truly ahead of their time. Each incredibly rare photograph reflects not only exceptional quality but also the collectors’ shared vision and steadfast passion for the arts. It is an honor to bring to market masterworks such as Edward Steichen’s Balzac, The Open Sky, 11 P. M., which was acquired at Sotheby’s 40 years ago. This is a meaningful moment for Sotheby’s and for the field, offering collectors the opportunity to engage with some of the most significant modernist images ever assembled." --- Emily Bierman, Sotheby’s Global Head of Prints & Photographs

A Shared Vision

"But as anyone who has ever endeavored to create a collection can attest, the joy is in the unexpected discoveries, the evolution of the collection, the relationship of the selections to each other. The joy is not in the act of putting a checkmark next to the last, longed-for acquisition that signals the end."
Jill Rose

Shaped through the collaborative vision of Jill Kupin Rose (1944 - 1996) and Marshall Rose (1937 - 2025), the Rose Collection reflects the couple’s complementary expertise and shared passion for the arts, which guided the assembly of this extraordinary private holding. Jill was a visionary cultural force, serving for fifteen years on the board of the International Center of Photography (ICP), later becoming its president and leading the expansion and renovation of its headquarters, helping transform ICP into one of the city’s most significant cultural institutions. Guided by instinct, scholarship, and close relationships within the photography world, Jill was also a respected curator who shaped important private collections, including The Cruz Collection, presented at ICP in 1985 in the exhibition Modernist Masterworks to 1925: From “the deLIGHTed eye” and later sold at auction in 2013. A discerning and deeply engaged collector, Jill was the driving force behind the formation of the Rose Collection itself, assembling it with conviction and foresight at a moment when the market for early modernist photography was still emerging.

A patron in the fullest sense, Marshall Rose, former chairman emeritus of the New York Public Library, demonstrated a lifelong and deeply civic commitment to the arts. A trustee for more than three decades and board chair for two terms, he played a pivotal role in revitalizing the Library’s Beaux-Arts landmark on Fifth Avenue and transforming adjacent Bryant Park into a vibrant public oasis. He championed major capital initiatives, including the creation of the Milstein Research Stacks, the establishment of the Science, Industry and Business Library, and renovations to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Mr. Rose was a trusted advisor to cultural organizations nationwide. In 2019, the Library recognized his lasting contributions with the dedication of a new plaza and entrance on West 40th Street in his name.

Following Jill’s passing in 1996, the New York Public Library honored her legacy by establishing the Jill Kupin Rose Gallery in 1998 within the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. Today, her influence endures in the extraordinary collection she so thoughtfully built and lived with for decades—an enduring testament to a shared vision that, together with Marshall’s steadfast support, helped define a generation of collecting.

Collection Highlights

Representing the very best of 1900–1930 American and European modernist photography, highlights of the collection include Tina Modotti’s Roses, Mexico (est. $250,000–350,000). Created in 1924 after her move to Mexico City, it is among her earliest and most important works and stands as her most accomplished still life. The superb platinum-palladium print in the Rose Collection is arguably the finest example remaining in private hands. Lifetime prints are scarce and have rarely appeared at auction, with

only one other early print offered in recent years, selling in 2019. During her brief but transformative years in Mexico in the 1920s, Modotti evolved into a highly accomplished artist whose work balanced social engagement with formal precision, uniting documentary sensitivity and aesthetic rigor. In Roses, Mexico, she synthesizes a multiplicity of organic forms into a unified and harmonious composition, exemplifying the assured visual sensibility that linked her studio practice to her street photography. Italian-born and having immigrated to the United States at sixteen, Modotti later formed a pivotal personal and artistic partnership with Edward Weston; together they moved to Mexico City in 1923, opening a portrait studio and joining a dynamic expatriate and intellectual circle that included figures such as Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.

Edward Weston’s Nautilus (Shell) (est. $300,000–500,000) from 1927 is one of the most recognizable photographs ever made and is a benchmark of American Modernism. Isolating a chambered nautilus against a deep black ground, Weston transforms the natural form into a study of pure abstraction—curves, tonal gradations, and the interplay of light and shadow. Created during the pivotal spring of 1927, shortly after Weston’s return to the United States and at a decisive moment in his move away from pictorialism, the photograph was inspired in part by his encounter with painter Henrietta Shore, whose stark shell paintings left a lasting impression. Weston’s first and most celebrated shell study, the image marked a turning point in his developing modernist vision.

Edward Steichen’s Balzac, The Open Sky, 11 P.M. (1908) (est. $700,000–1 million) is a seminal work from his extensive series photographing Auguste Rodin’s sculpture of the French writer Honoré de Balzac. In late summer 1908, Steichen transformed the plaster statue into a ghostly, monumental figure by photographing it outdoors under the moon, using long exposures of up to an hour to capture its ethereal presence against a brooding nocturnal landscape. Rodin, who had previously struggled to realize his vision for Balzac, reportedly exclaimed upon seeing the prints: “You will make the world understand my Balzac through your pictures.” The photograph served as the centerpiece of Steichen’s 1909 exhibition at the Photo-Secession galleries and was later reproduced in the 1911 special Rodin issue of Camera Work.

The Rose Collection print, acquired at Sotheby’s in 1986, carries a fascinating provenance: it was originally discovered at a yard sale on the northern shores of Lake George by a young man drawn to its wide wooden frame. Only after returning home did he notice the faint “Steichen” signature in the lower

corner. Familiar with photographic history, he contacted Sotheby’s, where the work was confirmed as an original, and later sold that spring to the Roses for $53,400—a record for the artist at the time and among the highest prices ever paid for a photograph. With Steichen’s negatives from this period destroyed during World War I, prints of this scale are exceptionally rare. The Rose example is believed to be one of only three extant in this monumental size. The two other comparable prints are in institutional collections: one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the other sold at Sotheby’s landmark 2006 auction, Important Photographs from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Works from the Gilman Paper Company. Since then, Steichen’s market has reached historic heights, with The Pond—Moonlight surpassing $2.9 million in 2006 and The Flatiron achieving $11.8 million in 2022, now standing as the second-highest price ever realized for a photograph at auction.