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• Issue #123
• Article

Phillips de Pury & Co. has scheduled a pair of April photography auctions and published three separate oversized catalogues for these events.

Part I, which will be held on April 24 at 7 pm, is entitled "27 Exceptional Photographs". A little over two dozen photographs by 22 artists with a value of $4 million will be on offer. Included are works by Richard Avedon, John Baldessari, Harry Callahan, Chuck Close, Robert Frank, Andreas Gursky, André Kertész, László Moholy-Nagy, Alexander Rodchenko, Edward Steichen, Paul Strand, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Edward Weston. This sale is expected to be the first in a series of such annual auctions, which will attempt to bridge influential classic photography and its contemporary progeny.

"We wanted to address the most competitive, high-end, savvy collectors who are driving this market today without wasting their time," Rick Wester, director and worldwide head of photographs, stated. "My team and I put together an evening sale that respects the concept of important auction events. It is short, sweet, to the point and full of "no excuse" pictures. Each work exhibits incredible qualities" they are stunning, sometimes unique, of outstanding provenance, very desirable, fresh to the market and most importantly, convey the power of the photograph, something we still very much believe in."

The auction features such master work as André Kertész's Surrealist tinged icon, Meudon 1928 ($300,000-400,000), perhaps the only known vintage print; a very rare vintage print by Edward Steichen of Gloria Swanson; three of László Moholy-Nagy photograms, from 1922 and 1925; Robert Frank's "US 90, New Mexico, 1955" ($300,000-400,000), which shows his wife, the artist Mary Frank and their son Pablo, in the front seat of their car parked alongside a highway in the middle of nowhere; a "Self-Portrait, 1977" by Chuck Close ($150,000-200,000), which is a unique gelatin silver maquette, overlaid with Close's characteristic ink grid; Andreas Gursky's "Toys 'R' Us, 1999" ($1,200,000-1,800,000), which is a poignant, precise and subtle satire on the homogeneity and disassociation of consumer culture, showing two similar warehouses like bunkers, each sporting corporate names, side by side, one reading 'Toyota' and the other, 'Toys 'R' Us'.

Part I can viewed on Phillips website at http://www.phillipsdepury.com/auctions/online-catalog.aspx?sn=NY040007 .

Part II, which will be held on April 25 at 10 am and 2 pm, will include work from the collection of Alain-Dominique Perrin, executive director of the Richemont Financial Group and president of Fondation Cartier pour L’Art Contemporain in Paris.

The Perrins' collection contained a number of important prints by Irving Penn, including Penn's iconic "Harlequin Dress (Lisa Fanssagrives-Penn)", 1950 ($200,000 - $250,000); his "Picasso (B), Cannes", 1957, ($50,000-70,000); and a number of exquisite still lives, such as Frozen Foods with "String Beans, NY", 1977 ($40,000-60,000) and "New York Still-Life", 1957 ($7,000-9,000).

Other highlights of the Perrin collection in this sale include: Cindy Sherman's "Untitled Film Still #20", 1978 ($30,000-50,000); Edward Weston's "Charis, NM", 1937 ($40,000-60,000); Man Ray's Rayograph, 1927 ($150,000-200,000); Robert Frank's, "Longchamp", 1948 ($20,000-30,000); Tina Modotti's, "Glasses", 1924 ($50,000-70,000); Frantisek Drtikol's Untitled (Silhouette with Two Circles), 1928 ($50,000 - $70,000); and Peter Beard's, "Lake Rudolf", 1968 ($80,000-120,000).

Part II can viewed on Phillips website at http://www.phillipsdepury.com/auctions/online-catalog.aspx?sn=NY040107 .

The sales will take place at Phillips de Pury & Co., 450 West 15 Street, New York City, NY 10011. The viewings will run April 11-24 from 10 am-5 pm. There will be an opening reception from 6-8 pm on April 12. Condition reports and further information on lots in the sale can be obtained from: Rick Wester, worldwide head of photographs 1-212-940-1244 or email: rwester@phillipsdepury.com or Lisa Newlin Galeano, head of photographs, New York at 1-212-940-1247 or email: lgaleano@phillipsdepury.com .