Sotheby’s bi-annual auction of Photographs in New York will be held on 2 October 2013. The sale offers an exceptional group of imagery from the 19th to 21st centuries and is especially rich in masterworks from the first half of the 20th century, including several iconic American photographs by artists such as Alfred Stieglitz, Ansel Adams, and Paul Outerbridge.
The intimate Georgia O’Keeffe: A Portrait—Torso, circa 1919, by Alfred Stieglitz leads the auction with an estimated price of $300,000 – $500,000. It is one of only three prints known and the only one in private hands. Ansel Adams is represented by a strong group of five mural-sized photographs, most notably his majestic Tetons and Snake River, estimated at $250,000 – $350,000 and the stark Winter Sunrise, estimated at $150,000 – $250,000, while a brilliant color carbro Advertising Study created by Paul Outerbridge for Scot Tissue, circa 1938, will be offered with an estimated price of $50,000 – $80,000.
When talking about the rare European and Russian photographs, we have to mention the three superb experimental works by László Moholy-Nagy, with a print of a Photogram from the 1929 Giedion portfolio, estimated at $200,000 – $300,000 as well as a print of one of Moholy’s own Hand Photograms, also from the 1920s, with the same estimated price.
The Contemporary section of sale is lead by sequence of Cooling Towers by Bernd and Hiller Becher, estimated at $70,000 – $100,000, along with works by Peter Beard, Nick Brandt, Francesca Woodman, Adam Fuss, and Elger Esser, among many others.
The pre-sale exhibition opens on 28th September.
