On Wednesday, May 28, a total of 312 lots of modern and contemporary photography will be sold at Villa Grisebach in Berlin, Germany. This is one of Villa Grisebach's largest and most impressive photography auctions and catalogues.
One of the top lots in the sale is Irving Penn's 1970 "3 New Guinea Men, (2 with Pipes)," a group portrait shot during a traditional dance festival, in a platinum palladium print from 1983. The portrait of the tribe members in native costume, who in the photographer's mobile tent studio assume a pose of highest concentration, is one of Penn's most formidable works (€ 35,000/45,000).
From the estate of Otto Steinert, one of the pioneering German photographers of the post-war era, comes two of his most well-known subjects that document his preoccupation with finding a way of personal photographic expression: "Rhythmus und Struktur," 1951 (€ 20,000/30,000) and "Appell," 1950 (€ 18,000/22,000).
Other highlights of modern photography include: Diane Arbus' "Two ladies at the automat, N.Y.C." (€ 10,000/15,000), Henri Cartier-Bresson's nude "Leonor Fini" (€ 8,000/12,000), Julius Shulman's "Case Study House # 22" (€ 10,000/15,000) and vintage prints by Martin Munkácsi: "Meeresstrand vor dem Ungewitter," 1930 (€ 12,000/15,000) and Helmar Lerski: "Türkischer Jude" from the series "Jüdische Köpfe," 1931-1932 (€ 4,000/5,000). Works by Eugène Atget, Mario Giacomelli, Leonard Misonne, Ilse Bing, Dora Maar, Édouard Boubat, Brassai, Robert Capa, Andreas Feininger, Peter Keetman, Arthur Leipzig, W. Eugene Smith, Germaine Krull, Eve Arnold, Duane Michaels, Alexander Rodchenko, August Sander, Malick Sidibé, and others round out this part of the auction.
A special section of the catalog is devoted to "Czech Photography from an Austrian Private Collection." The group of 38 photographs includes works be renowned Czech names, like František Drtikol, Jaroslav Rösser and Josef Sudek. Alongside of these well-known names are unusual works by less well-known photographers, like Josef Bartuška, Ladislav Emil Berka or Jaroslav Kysela. These can all be found with estimates from € 300/500 up to € 2,000/3,000.
The highlights of contemporary photography are Rineke Dijkstra's portrait of a girl, "Odessa, Ukraine, August 10" (€ 20,000/30,000), Helmut Newton's "Domestic Nude III" (€ 20,000/30,000) and "Jodie Foster, Hollywood" (€ 15,000/20,000), Roger Ballen's famous photograph of the twins "Dresie and Casie" (€ 15,000/20,000) and Elger Esser's magic landscape, "Passage du Gois" (€ 15,000/20,000), the portfolio "Selbstbemalung II" by Günter Brus (€ 12,000/15,000), two works by Hiroshi Sugimoto from his "Seascapes" series (€ 15,000/20,000, each), as well as works by Gregory Crewdson, Nan Goldin, Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Boris Mikhailov, Ricarda Roggan, Jörg Sasse, Thomas Ruff, Michael Wesely, Tom Wood, and others.
The next day, Thursday, May 29, at 11 am, a separate Grisebach auction entitled "Orangerie" will feature a 2/3rd plate daguerreotype of a view of a French Chateau, circa 1845 in original French wooden frame (Lot 331, estimate 12,000-15,000 euros).
The main auction preview will take place May 23-27 at Villa Grisebach Auktionen, Fasanenstrasse 73, Berlin, from Friday through Monday from 10 am-6 pm, Tuesday from 10 am-5 pm. A selection of work will be available to preview in Dortmund, Hamburg and Munich (see website for details, times and dates).
The main photography auction itself is scheduled for Wednesday, May 28, 2014, 5 pm (Berlin time).
For more information and to leave bids, contact Franziska Schmidt (head of the photography department), phone: +1-49-30-885 915-27; fax: +49 30-885915-4627 (from the U.S. dial 011 then the number); or email: f.schmidt@villa-grisebach.de.
You can view the auction catalogue online at http://www.villa-grisebach.de/en/. To order a printed, full color catalogue, you can call the department or order online. Cost is 20 euros. To call to order the catalogue, contact Friederike Cless at +49-30-885 915-50.
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