NEW YORK, N.Y.- Swann Galleries Tuesday, October 18 auction of Fine Photographs contains a stellar selection of classical and iconic images that range from contemporary artworks, to masterpieces of 20th-century modernism and photojournalism, to exquisite daguerreotypes, cased images, and majestic scenes of the American West.
Featured examples of Contemporary Art are Cindy Sherman As Marilyn Monroe, chromogenic print, 1982 (estimate: $8,000 to $12,000); choice images by Sally Mann including Candy Cigarette, silver print, 1989 ($12,000 to $18,000); Vik Munizs Eleven Eggs, from the Pictures of Soil series, silver print, 1997 ($6,000 to $9,000); Sandy Skoglunds The Invisible Web, cibachrome print, 1986 ($4,000 to $6,000); and Annie Leibovitzs Meryl Streep, New York, cibachrome print, 1986 ($7,000 to 10,000).
The sale includes a fascinating recent discovery, an uncommon World War II album containing 214 photographs largely shot and, apparently, sequenced and compiled by Franz Krieger, an Austrian-national soldier and photographer ($25,000 to $35,000). There are images of Jewish and Red Army political prisoners in Minsk, the Jewish ghetto, Hitler meeting Adm. Horthy in Marienburg, in addition to scenes of Nazi soldiers at the Eastern Front, self-portraits, and more, 1941-1942. The album received much attention after it was written up by The New York Timess photo blog when it came into the current owner's possession.
There are powerhouse portfolios in the sale such as Ansel Adamss Portfolio Four, titled What majestic word, in Memory of Russell Varian, complete with 15 silver print photographs of landscapes and details of the natural world, from an edition of 260 copies, San Francisco, 1963 ($60,000 to $90,000); Berenice Abbotts Retrospective Portfolio, with 50 large format silver prints, including Abbotts iconic New York City views, 1930-1960, printed 1982 ($90,000 to $120,000); Brassais portfolio Transmutations, with 12 cliché verre photographs produced from 1934 to 1935, one of 100 numbered copies and 10 hors commerce copies, 1967 ($10,000 to $15,000); and Brett Westons Fifteen Photographs of Japan, silver prints, 1970 ($15,000 to $25,000).
Dazzling landscapes include Francis Friths The Pyramids of Dahshoor from the South West, mammoth albumen print, 1858 ($9,000 to $12,000); Carleton E. Watkinss On the Road to Yosemite Falls, 2634 Feet, mammoth albumen print, 1878-1881 ($30,000 to $40,000); Edward S. Curtiss Canyon del Muerto, orotone, 1906 ($14,000 to $18,000); Edward Westons Cypress and Stone Crop, Point Lobos, silver print, 1946, printed circa 1954 ($10,000 to $15,000); and many individual prints by Adams.
Evocative city views are Eugene Atgets Vieille Boutique Louis XVI, Quai Bourbon, albumen print, circa 1900 ($7,000 to $10,000); Helen Levitts New York (children and broken mirror), silver print, circa 1942, printed 1980s ($5,000 to $7,500); Elliott Erwitts New York City (Empire State Building), oversize silver print, 1955, printed 2011 ($6,000 to $9,000); Margaret Bourke-Whites Cologne, Germany in Ruins, oversize silver print, 1945, printed late 1960s ($3,000 to $4,000); Max Yavnos Army Street, San Francisco, silver print, 1947, printed 1970s ($2,500 to $3,500); Harry Callahans Walls Street, Chicago, silver print, 1949, printed circa 1970 ($10,000 to $15,000); and Roy DeCaravas Couples, with city lights reflected in a coffee shop window, silver print, 1960 ($15,000 to $25,000).
Portraits of celebrated figures include Phillippe Halsmans Albert Einstein, silver print, 1947 ($6,000 to $9,000); Tom B. Kelleys Marilyn Monroe, Pose #2, dye-destruction print, 1949, printed 1980 ($3,000 to $4,500); W. Eugene Smiths Miles Davis, silver print, circa 1960 ($4,000 to $6,000); and Arnold Newmans Pablo Picasso, silver print, 1954, printed 1960s ($4,000 to $6,000).
Photojournalism highlights include Nat Feins Jackie Robinson Steals Home, July 17, 1949, silver print, 1949, printed 1980s ($2,500 to $3,500); three war-related photographs by Dave Heath, 1953 ($6,000 to $9,000 for the set); and Sebastiäo Salgados India, silver print, 1989 ($3,000 to $4,500).
Other classic 20th-century images are André Kertészs Satiric Dancer, silver print, 1926, printed 1970s ($5,000 to $7,500); George Hoyningen-Huenes Divers (Horst and Model), silver print, 1930, printed 1980s ($8,000 to $12,000); Manuel Alvarez Bravos La Buena Fama Durmiendo [The Good Reputation Sleeping], silver print, 1939, printed 1980s ($12,000 to $18,000); O. Winston Links Hot Shot, Eastbound at the Iaeger Drive-In, West Virginia, silver print, 1956, printed 1996 ($9,000 to $12,000); and Ormand Giglis fashion image, Girls in the Windows, New York City, chromogenic dye coupler print, 1960, printed 2000s ($10,000 to $15,000).