• Navigation
  • Home
  • Search Photos
  • Photographers
  • Special Sale
  • Photo Exhibits
  • Member Dealers
  • Collecting
  • Newsletter
  • Calendar
  • Photo Links

• Archive Newsletters
• Issue #144
• Article

Bloomsbury Auctions' first sale under its new Photography Department is dedicated entirely to photographs. The auction will be held on Thursday, May 22nd at 2 pm at the London auction house at Bloomsbury House, 24 Maddox Street, London.

On offer will be 230 lots of 19th and 20th-century portraiture, fashion, nudes, Hollywood icons, jazz musicians, street and humanist photography, photojournalism, technical, industrial and color studies, still lifes, and urban and landscape photography.

Highlights include two rare vintage Manuel Alvarez Bravo prints including "Los Leones de Coyoacæn (The Lions of Coyoacæ)", 1929, acquired by the present owner from the sale of the collection of Andre Breton, 2003 (Estimate £30,000-50,000); and Imogen Cunningham's Frida Kahlo Rivera, painter and wife of Diego Rivera (£8,000-12,000) and her "Triangles" (£6,000-8,000).

Portraiture by Julia Margaret Cameron in the sale includes a strong albumen print of Sir John Herschel, 1867, from the collection of Arnold Newman (£30,000-40,000), among other fine examples of 19th-century portraiture and landscapes.

A variety of Brassaï (Gyula Halasz) vintage photographs including prints from the personal collection of Mme. Gilberte Brassaï are showcased, including "L'oiseau de Feu' aux Folies Bergeres", c.1932 (£10,000-15,000).

A selection of rare exhibition prints from the "In Our Time Magnum Portfolio" from the only set ever offered as a collection of prints made available for public purchase will be offered. The selection of individual lots includes a rare 20 x 24 inch print by Henri Cartier-Bresson, "At the Coronation of King George VI, London", 1937 (£10,000-15,000). A number of other Cartier-Bresson prints are included in the auction with work from other photojournalists such as Eve Arnold, Ian Berry, Werner Bischof, Martine Franck, Dennis Stock, Elliot Erwitt, and Bruce Davidson (estimates between £1,000-2,000).

Fashion photographs are featured, including an unusual selection of 1950s vintage prints by Norman Parkinson for British Vogue (estimates £2500-3000). Other pieces include Horst P. Horst's "Mainbocher Corset, Paris", 1939, Richard Avedon's "Dorian Leigh, Schiaparelli Rhinestones, Pre-Catalan, Paris", August, 1949 (£2,000-3,000), William Klein's "Simone and Nina, Piazza di Spagna, Roma", 1960 (£2,000-3,000), and Guy Bourdin's Untitled (Woman and Heart), c.1979, (£5,000-7,000).

A selection of portraits of jazz and rock musicians including Annie Leibovitz's "John and Yoko, New York", December 8, 1980, (£18,000-22,000) and David Bailey's "Jagger", 1964 (£1,000-1,500) are offered, alongside lesser known photographers such as Bob Willoughby. A section of British photographers such as Fay Godwin, Grace Robertson, Thurston Hopkins and Shirley Baker will also be showcased.

Man Ray, Josef Sudek, Dr. Harold Eugene Edgerton, André Kertész, Aaron Siskind, Harry Callahan, William Eggleston, Diane Arbus, Robert Mapplethorpe, Tomio Seike, Larry Clark and Thomas Ruff are also represented in the sale.

The auction will be held on Thursday, May 22, 2008 at 2 pm. You may view beforehand on Monday-Tuesday, May 19-20 from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm; Wednesday, May 21 from 9:30 am to 8 pm; and Thursday, May 22 9:30 am to 1 pm. You can also view by appointment from May 12th. To book an appointment call +44 (0) 20 7495 9494; or email zoe.bingham@bloomsburyauctions.com . To see the online catalogue and for more information, go to: http://www.bloomsburyauctions.com/auction/651 .