Fine Photographs: Celebrating 70 Years of Photographs at Swann
Officers
Deborah Rogal
Director, Photographs & Photobooks
drogal@swanngalleries.com
(212) 254-4710 ext. 55
George S. Lowry
Chairman
Nicholas D. Lowry
President, Principal Auctioneer
924899
Andrew M. Ansorge
Vice President & Controller
Alexandra Mann-Nelson
Chief Marketing Officer
2030704
Todd Weyman
Vice President & Director, Prints & Drawings
1214107
Nigel Freeman
Vice President & Director, African American Art
Rick Stattler
Vice President & Director, Books & Manuscripts
Administration
Andrew M. Ansorge
Vice President & Controller
aansorge@swanngalleries.com
Ariel Kim
Client Accounting
akim@swanngalleries.com
Diana Gibaldi
Operations Manager
diana@swanngalleries.com
Kelsie Jankowski
Communications Manager
kjankowski@swanngalleries.com
Shannon Licitra
Shipping Manager
slicitra@swanngalleries.com
19th Century
Celebrating 70 Years of Photography at Swann
Over 70 years ago, Swann held the first auction dedicated to photography in the United States. This 1952 photography auction was astonishingly early for a sale devoted to a medium just 113 years old and still finding its artistic footing in the marketplace. Seven decades later, however, the landscape for this diverse and innovative medium has grown dramatically. The past few decades bore witness to a blossoming market, with numerous galleries, auction houses, and a vibrant, devoted, passionate group of collectors spread around the world.
In 1952, albums and books illustrated with photographs dominated the sale at Swann. The sales results are shocking to a contemporary reader: a nearly complete set of Eadweard Muybridge’s Animal Locomotion (with duplicate plates) sold for $250, and William Henry Fox Talbot’s Pencil of Nature for $200. The catalogue had no illustrations or estimates, and though the offerings were diverse, the medium’s early relationship with the book field is apparent.
Today we see a full spectra of photo books, contemporary photographs made to occupy an entire wall, small classical gems, and modernist masterpieces exploring abstraction in our auctions. To date, our Department’s top lot is Edward S. Curtis’ The North American Indian, which sold for $1.44 million. This market has expanded and flourished, and our auctions at Swann continue the tradition of groundbreaking exploration of the medium, most recently in our photo book and vernacular photography sales (introduced in 2006 and 2014, respectively). These sales advance the boundaries of what is sought and reconsider the ways in which we view and discuss photographic output.
Today we look both forward and backward. Back, to marvel at what has grown. Forward, to imagine what we can still build.
SIGNED BY MAHARAJA JAGAJIT SINGH
1
(india)
An album with 60 photographs celebrating the investiture of Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala.
This album represents one of the most comprehensive photographic depictions of a 19th century maharaja and his court. With his titles, riches, affairs, and estates, the Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala was internationally known as the epitome of Indian royalty. His coronation album includes both formal and informal portraits of Jagatjit Singh and his fellow princes, his administrators and distinguished guests, including Prince Albert Victor on a pig sticking expedition, taken three years before his death.
The album includes views of Jagatjit Singh’s palaces, private and public buildings, and the palace grounds. There are images of Kapurthala’s royal stable, his elephants (including his famously enormous state pachyderm), his horses (with a striking image of the Maharaja on his favorite steed), his dogs, durbars, tennis games, and remarkable images of His Highness’s servants pedaling Jagatjit Singh and his chihuahua in a velocipede and paddle boat. Included are views of the city market, temples, and a two-panel panorama of Kapurthala. Albumen prints, the images measuring approximately 9½x11¾ inches (24.1x29.8 cm.), and slightly smaller, and the reverse, mounted recto/verso, each with a caption, in ink, on the mount. Oblong leather folio, with the gilt-lettered title "Kapurthala;" with a new leather spine replacing the cloth spine that had been applied by Maria Brothers in Simla; signed by Jagatjit Singh in 1891 on the front free endpaper. 1890
Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala created an image of himself as a dashing, romantic figure. He became famous in his day for his spectacular gems and his secularism. He traveled the world, served as British India’s representative to the League of Nations, received 28 Grand Crosses.
Believing himself the incarnation of Louis IV, he spoke fluent French, built a palace after Versailles, hosted lavish parties in Paris and on the Riviera, and added a Spanish dancer and a Czech countess to his harem of four.
Though it appears that this album was meant to be a souvenir, we have not been able to locate another copy (including in the Kapurthala family’s collection, the Royal Collection, and the India Office Library).
Given the quality of the photographs, we propose the photographer may have been Lala Deen Dayal who at this time was the Viceroy’s official photographer.
Estimate
$6,000 – $9,000
2
Kusakabe kimbei (1841-1934)
An elegant Japanese album with 50 hand-colored photographs depicting cities, temples, landscapes, and gardens.
Including beautiful scenery from Tokyo, Yokohama, Nikko, and Kyoto; images of temples, hot springs, Mount Fuji, and other landscapes; and occupationals featuring the labors related to tea, silk, and rice. Hand-colored albumen prints, the images measuring approximately 8x10¼ inches (20.3x26 cm.), and the reverse, two with small typed caption labels and the rest with the captions in the negative. Oblong 4to, with a decorative red lacquer front cover with a bird motif; refurbished leather backstrip; with Kimbei’s stamp on the front pastedown; also with the original owner’s dated inscription, in ink, on the front pastedown; all edges gilt. 1894
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
3
Martín chambi (1891-1973)
Group of 5 photographs depicting indigenous figures and landscapes of Peru.
Silver (2) and silver prints on carte-postale paper (3), the images measuring approximately 5½x3½ inches (14x8.9 cm.), one the reverse and slightly smaller, one with a caption in the negative, and each with a Chambi Cuzco stamp, on verso. 1920s-40s
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,500
4
Else thalemann (1901-1984)
A group of 5 images depicting travel scenes and the Ruhr region.
Silver prints, the images measuring 4¾x6¾ inches (12.1x17.1 cm.), and the reverse, the sheets slightly larger, the mounts 11¾x15¾ inches (29.8x40 cm.), each with a typewritten credit and caption label, and Thalemann’s Folkwang Verlag credit stamp and Wilhelm Arnholdt and Maja Isolde Heya Arnholdt stamps, and two with the Ernst Fuhrmann stamp, on mount verso. 1929-30; printed 1950s
Bridge * Monument * Woman and child * Lamp post * Store widow
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
5
Gustave le gray (1820-1884)
Scène de campement, Camp de Châlons.
Albumen print from a collodion on glass negative, the image measuring 11¼x13⅜ inches (28.6x34 cm.), the mount 19½x25½ inches (49.5x64.8 cm.), with Le Gray’s stamped facsimile signature, in red, on print recto. 1857
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
6
Julia margaret cameron (1815-1879)
Baby Blossom (Portrait of Alice Keown).
Albumen print from a wet collodion negative, the image measuring 13⅜x11 inches (34x28 cm.), the mount 20½x17⅞ inches (52.1x45.4 cm.), with Cameron’s signature and notation “From Life Not Enlarged,” in ink, “Baby Blossom,” in pencil, in an unknown hand, and the Colnaghi blind stamp, on mount recto. Circa 1866
In the summer of 1865, Cameron began using larger format 15x12-inch glass negatives. She embarked upon a series of large-scale, close-up portraits, which she saw as a rejection of conventional photography in favor of a less precise but more emotionally compelling kind of portraiture. She wrote to Henry Cole that she intended this new series to “electrify you with delight and startle the world.”
There are no other prints known of this portrait of Alice Keown. She was the daughter of Thomas Keown, and Cameron also photographed her sister Elizabeth and brother Percy. Alice was not known as Baby Blossom, so it is thought that perhaps Cameron took the title from Ida White’s recently published poem.
This print was exhibited in Photographs from the Collection of Gary and Barbara Hansen, the Saint Louis Art Museum, June 23 - August 9, 1987
Julian Cox, Julia Margaret Cameron: The Complete Photographs (The J. Paul Getty Museum), cat. no. 878, p. 384; Larry J. Schaaf, Sun Pictures Catalogue Twenty, Julia Margaret Cameron (Hans P. Kraus), no. 6, p. 22-23
Estimate
$15,000 – $25,000
7
Charles marville (1813-1879)
Rue des Déchargeurs, de la Rue de Rivoli.
Albumen print, the image measuring 11⅝x10⅛ inches (29.5x25.7 cm.), the two-toned mount 24x16¼ inches (61x41.3 cm.), with Marville’s Photographe Du Musée Impérial Du Louvre blind stamp and a location, in pencil, on mount recto. Circa 1865
Around 1832 Parisian-born Charles-François Bossu (1813–1879) changed his unfortunate last name (“bossu” means hunchback in French) and adopted the pseudonym Marville, which also transformed his identity. By 1850 he began taking poetic photographs throughout Old Paris, a project that foreshadows the work of another great French artist, Eugène Atget.
Estimate
$6,000 – $9,000
8
Louis-émile durandelle (1839-1917)
Études et Travaux de Chemins de fer Construit par L’État [Studies and Works of Railways Built by the State].
Complete with 22 photographs. Albumen prints, the images measuring approximately 13½x17 inches (34.3x43.2 cm.), and the reverse, the mounts 19x24¾ inches (48.3x62.9 cm.), each with Durandelle’s credit, the title, folio title, chief engineer, ordinary engineer, and contractor, printed on mount recto. Elephant folio-sized case, with a label indicating the title, chief engineer, and subject. 1880s
Viaduc De Malminot * Souterrain de Viandes * Viaduc des Sept Ponts * Viaduc de Fontanet * Pont de Montauban, Sur le Tarn * Mur de Soutenement de Mercues * Tranchee du Queyran, avec Pont Supérieur * Souterrain de Pouzergues * Viaduc de St Denis * Pont de Montauban, Sur le Tarn * Tranchee D’acces du Souterrain de Mercues * Viaduc de Malminot * Pont de Cahors, Sur le Lot * Viaduct de Calamane * Viaduct de Calamane * Viaduc de St Denis * Pont de Cahors, Sur le Lot * Pont de Cahors, Sur le Lot * Viaduc de St- Georges * Viaduc des Sept Ponts * Viaduc de Fontanet * Viaduc des Courtils
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
9
Albert londe (1858-1917)
A selection of three photographs depicting a cavalier au galop.
Albumen prints, the images measuring approximately 6½x9 inches (16.5x22.9 cm.), the original mounts 9x12 inches (22.9x30.5 cm.). 1887
WITH–Albert Londe. La Photographie Moderne. 4to, gilt-lettered red leather backed boards, lightly worn. Paris: G. Masson, Éditeur, 1888
Estimate
$800 – $1,200
10
Leonard Darwin (1850-1943)
Portrait of Charles Darwin.
Carbon print, the image measuring 4⅝x3⅝ inches (11.8x9.2 cm.), the mount 8½x5¼ inches (21.6x13.3 cm.), with a printed facsimile signature on mount recto, and notations, in pencil, in an unknown hand, on mount verso. Circa 1884
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
11
(author of the communist manifesto)
Portrait of Karl Marx.
Portrait by John Jabez Edwin Paisley Mayall. Silver print, the image measuring 5½x4⅜inches (14x11.1 cm.), the mount 8x5½ inches (20.3x14 cm.), with the sitter’s name, in pencil, in an unknown hand, on mount recto, and the Culver Pictures stamp, labels, and barcodes, on mount verso. Circa 1875; printed circa 1910
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
12
(occupational cased images)
A selection of 4 sixth-plate daguerreotypes, two showing figures with tools of their trades, one with a book, and the fourth dressed in his everyday attire.
The figure with the book is thought to be holding a technical title related to photographs. Each enclosed in a brass mat, two with their preservers; and in leather cases, one split. Circa 1850s
From the Collection of Pearl Korn.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
13
Marcus aurelius root (1808-1888)
A half-plate daguerreotype of a family, artfully composed, with a beam of natural light.
Enclosed in a brass mat; and in a leather case with Root’s credit and Philadelphia address on the facing velvet. 1846-57
From the Collection of Pearl Korn.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
14
Williamson brothers (active 1856-1859)
Group of 5 daguerreotypes, including one half-plate, two quarter-plates, and two sixth-plates.
All but one featuring parents with their children, and two with hand-tinted elements. Each in a brass mat and preserver with the Williamson stamped credit and location Brooklyn; leather cases. 1856-59
From the Collection of Pearl Korn.
Estimate
$1,000 – $1,500
15
Jeremiah gurney (1812-1895)
Three quarter-plate daguerreotypes, including two of siblings wearing plaid and third apparently depicting William Lewis Dayton.
Two of the cases show young children wearing identical plaids, each beautifully tinted in delicate red and in the same elegant pose; these both with Gurney’s 707 Broadway address stamped on the mat. The third apparently depicting the statesman Dayton, with the Gurney and Fredericks 349 Broadway address on the mat. Each in their brass mats and preservers; in leather cases. 1850s
Gurney was one of the pioneering practitioners of the daguerreotype process, opening the first American photo gallery at 189 Broadway in 1840. His work is known for its fine detail, and for a clientele base from New York City’s elite, building a reputation as the city’s leading daguerreotypist. In 1851, Gurney founded the American Daguerre Association—the first national organization of photographers.
By the early 1850s, he was housed at 349 Broadway, where he occupied nine rooms. In 1858 he built a three-story studio at 707 Broadway, apparently the first building constructed for the purpose of photography in the United States.
William Lewis Dayton was the first Republican vice-presidential nominee in 1856. Although his campaign was unsuccessful, Dayton proved to be a talented diplomat in his foreign affairs. Following his vice-presidential campaign, Dayton then served as the American ambassador to France. There, he successfully worked against the French recognition of the Confederate States of America. He was later appointed to Minister of France. Dayton served until his death in December of 1864 in Paris, France.
From the Collection of Pearl Korn.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
16
Rufus anson (active 1851-1867)
A quarter-plate portrait of a handsomely dressed couple, possibly William Kibbe and his wife.
With delicate gold embellishments. Enclosed in a brass mat and preserver, the latter with Anson’s credit and Broadway address; and in a leather case, with Anson’s stamped credit and address in the velvet. Circa 1860s
From the Collection of Pearl Korn.
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
17
Mathew brady (1822-1896)
An album titled Delegates to the International American Conference with 44 photographs.
Washington, 1890
Albumen prints, each image measuring approximately 13x7¾ inches (33x18.4 cm.), inserted into 22 original gilt-lined mat leaves, some numbered lightly in pencil, and one (#17) signed by Brady in the negative; plus a printed contents leaf listing 41 of the sitters and their titles, with 4 others added in manuscript. Thick folio, original gilt morocco, tastefully rebacked and conserved, lacking one clasp, with alternate title “Album of Delegates to the International American Conference” stamped on front board; endpapers renewed. Washington, 1890
This album represents two important milestones: the end of Mathew Brady’s career as the most renowned American photographer of the 19th century, and the birth of what became the Organization of American States.
The American politician James Blaine (1830-1893), best known as the losing candidate in the 1884 presidential election, served as Secretary of State from 1889 to 1892. Blaine had an expansive vision of the nation’s role on the international stage, and convening the First International Conference of American States was one of his first accomplishments as the nation’s top diplomat. Held from 20 January to 27 April 1890, it brought together 27 delegates from 17 nations. A secretariat was established on 14 April which evolved into today’s Organization of American States. The date is still observed as Pan-American Day.
The work of photographing the delegates was given to Mathew B. Brady (1822-1896), revered for his pioneering work from 1844 through the Civil War. By 1890, he had gone through bankruptcy and was in poor health, just six years away from an ignominious death in a hospital charity ward. His most recent major commission had been an 1888 album of the members of the 50th Congress. He was later hired to produce a similar album of the 1891 Patent Centennial, but no examples are known.
Among the most well-known delegates represented here are Blaine, who leads off the album as portrait 1; wagon manufacturer Clement Studebaker, #22, and industrialist Andrew Carnegie, #25. Among the Latin-American delegates were two future presidents of Argentina, Manuel Quintana and Roque Sáenz Peña; and a former president of Ecuador, José María Plácido Caamaño. Philippe Hannibal Price of Haiti appears second in the volume. Delegates from Peru, Guatemala, Colombia, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Brazil, Honduras, Mexico, Bolivia, Venezuela, Chile, and El Salvador are also represented. The final image shows the Wallach Mansion on Massachusetts Avenue, where the conference was held.
Presented to Nicanor Bolet Peraza (portrait #30), a delegate from Venezuela; acquired by the consignor from one of his descendants.
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
18
Thomas h. johnson (active 1860s)
A set of 5 Delaware & Hudson Canal Views.
Albumen prints, the images measuring 12x16 inches (30.5x40.6 cm.), the gilt-bordered mounts 18x22 inches (45.7x55.9 cm.), and smaller, each with Johnson’s gilt-lettered credit and letterpress title, on mount recto. 1860-71
WITH–A photograph of the U.S. Patent Office, Washington, D.C. by an unknown photographer. Albumen print, the image measuring 8½x11¼ inches (21.6x28.6 cm.), the mount 13¾x18 inches (34.9x45.7 cm.).
Office Del. & Hudson Canal Co. (Carbondale) * Inclined Plane, G * The Docks (Honesdale) * Von Storch Breaker (From Hill) * Gibson’s Breaker (Rushdale)
Estimate
$5,000 – $7,500
19
Carleton watkins (1829-1916)
The Pavilion on the Stump, Calaveras Grove.
Albumen print, the image measuring 16⅜x21⅝ inches (41.6x55 cm.), the mount 19x24 inches (48.3x61 cm.), with Watkins’ credit, title, and notation “New Series,” in ink, in an unknown contemporary hand, on mount recto. 1878-81
Naef and Hult-Lewis, Carleton Watkins: The Complete Mammoth Photographs (The J. Paul Getty Museum), cat. no. 281 (pg. 124)
Estimate
$8,000 – $12,000
20
Eadweard muybridge (1830-1904)
A selection of 4 plates from Animal Locomotion, comprising two male studies and two female studies of figures in motion.
Collotypes, the images measuring 5¼x7⅝ to 8¾x14 inches (13.3x19.4 to 22.2x35.6 cm.), the two-toned sheets 19x24 inches (48.3x61 cm.), with Muybridge’s letterpress credit, series title, plate number, copyright, and date, on recto. 1887
Female nude carrying two buckets, pl. 104 * Male nude climbing steps, pl. 109 * Female nude climbing over sawhorse, pl. 171 * Male nude throwing shot put, pl. 284
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
Early 20th-Century American Photography
21
(teddy roosevelt as a cowboy)
Teddy Roosevelt in 1885 North Dakota
Warm-toned silver print, the image measuring 8¾x5⅞ inches (22.2x15 cm.), flush mounted, with the Culver Pictures stamp, labels, and descriptive title, in pencil, in an unknown hand, on mount verso. Circa 1885; printed circa 1905
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
22
Edward s. curtis (1868-1952)
Watching for the Signal, Nez Percé.
Silver print, the image measuring 8x6 inches (20.3x15.2 cm.), with the inventory notation in the negative, and the title, plate number, and portfolio number, in pencil, on verso. 1910; printed circa 1920s
Acquired from the family-owned Edward S. Curtis Archive, 1970s.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
23
Edward s. curtis (1868-1952)
The Vanishing Race.
Orotone, the plate measuring 10½x13½ inches (26.7x34.3 cm.), the original Curtis frame 15¾x18¾ inches (40x47.6 cm.), with Curtis’ signature and copyright in the negative. 1904
Estimate
$5,000 – $7,500
24
Edward s. curtis (1868-1952)
Three Chiefs, Blackfoot, Montana.
Platinum print, the image measuring 16x12 inches (40.6x30.5 cm.), the mount 17½x21 inches (44.4x53.3 cm.), with Curtis’ signature, in ink, on recto, and his numeric notation in the negative. 1900
Estimate
$6,000 – $9,000
25
Edward s. curtis (1868-1952)
The Scout, Apache.
Photogravure on Japan tissue, the image measuring 11⅜x15⅝ inches (28.8x39.6 cm.), the sheet 13⅜x16¾ inches (33.9x42.5 cm.), the mount 17⅜x21⅞ inches (44.1x55.5 cm.), with Curtis’ printed credit, title, date, plate number, and printer’s credit on sheet recto; enclosed in Curtis’ original presentation overmat. 1906
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
"FROM THE SNOWFLAKE MAN"
26
Wilson a. “snowflake” bentley (1865-1931)
A group of 4 vintage snow crystals, one of which is signed and inscribed.
Silver microphotographs from glass plate negatives, each measuring approximately 4x3 inches (10.2x7.6 cm.) overall, one with Bentley’s signature and inscription “Best wishes for Christmas from the Snow flake man,” in pencil, on verso. Circa 1903-10
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,500
27
Edwin hale lincoln (1848-1938)
A suite of 6 lovely botanical studies from Wild Flowers of New England.
Platinum prints, the images measuring 9¼x7¼ inches (23.5x18.4 cm.), the deckle-edged sheets 15x13 inches (38.1x33 cm.), each with a printed number and caption, in English and in Latin, on recto; each print in a custom frame, with a Richard York Gallery label on the reverse. 1914
64 Red Chokeberry * 163 Large Purple-Fringed Orchis * 164 Small Purple-Fringed Orchis * 169 Ragged Fringed Orchis * 180 Peppermint * 325 Mouse-Ear Chickweed
Estimate
$1,800 – $2,200
28
Alvin langdon coburn (1882-1966)
The Singer Building, Noon * The Brooklyn Bridge, from the River.
Together, 2 photogravures, the images measuring approximately 8¼x2½ inches (21x6.4 cm.), and the reverse, the sheets slightly larger. Circa 1909 & 1910
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
29
Edward steichen (1879-1973)
Rodin, Balzac Statue (II), Meudon.
Silver print, the image measuring 8⅝x5⅜ inches (21.9x13.7 cm.), with Steichen’s signature in the negative, and a Photograph by Edward Steichen stamp and the title and date, in pencil, on verso. 1908; printed 1970s
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
30
Edward steichen (1879-1973)
Balzac - The Open Sky * Balzac - The Silhouette, 4 a. m.
Together, 2 photogravures from Camera Work Number 34/35, the images measuring 8¼x6½ inches (20.9x16.5 cm.), and the reverse, the sheets and original page mounts 11¾x8¼ inches (29.8x20.9 cm.). 1911
Estimate
$1,400 – $1,800
31
Edward steichen (1879-1973)
Three Pears and an Apple.
Silver print, the image measuring 16⅝x13⅝ inches (42.2x34.6 cm.), the sheet slightly larger, with a Photograph by Edward Steichen, Printed from the Original Negative stamp and the title, date, and notations, in pencil, on verso. Circa 1921; printed 1960s
Estimate
$7,000 – $10,000
32
Alfred stieglitz (1864-1946)
A selection of 3 photogravures of New York and Parisian street scenes from Camera Work.
Photogravures, the images measuring 6⅞x5⅜ to 7⅝x6¼ inches (17.5x13.7 to 19.4x15.9 cm.), two on Japanese tissue, the sheets measuring 11x8 inches (27.9x20.3 cm.), one on the original Camera Work page and two hinged to contemporary mounts. 1907, 1911, 1913; printed 1907 and 1913
Snapshot - From My Window, New York, 1907 (Camera Work Number 20, 1907) * A Snapshot; Paris, 1911 (Camera Work Number 41, 1913) * Two Towers - New York, 1913 (Camera Work Number 44, 1913)
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,500
33
Alfred stieglitz (1864-1946)/clarence h. white (1871-1925)
Miss Thompson (Torso), from Camera Work Number 27.
Photogravure on Japan tissue, the image measuring 8⅜x6⅜ inches (21.3x16.2 cm.), the sheet 11¾x8¼ inches (29.8x21 cm.), on the original page mount. 1907
Estimate
$1,500 – $2,500
34
Camera work.
Number 36.
Edited by Alfred Stieglitz. An iconic issue, complete with the 16 photogravures after Stieglitz’s photographs, including the first appearance of his hugely influential image The Steerage. This copy also presented in the original mailing envelope with a 1912 mail stamp, and with an extra photogravure laid in, Julia Margaret Cameron’s portrait of Ellen Terry (reproduced in Camera Work Number 41, published in 1913). 4to, original printed gray wrappers, the edges are untrimmed; the backstrip repaired; the gravures clean and richly printed; housed in a custom clamshell case. New York, 1911
The City of Ambition * The City Across the River * The Ferry Boat * The Mauretania * Lower Manhattan * Old and New New York * The Aeroplane * A Dirigible * The Steerage * Excavating–New York * The Swimming Lesson * The Pool–Deal * The Hand of Man * In the New York Central Yards * The Terminal * Spring Showers, New York * Picasso drawing
Ethel Andrews, to whom the mailing envelope is addressed, was an assistant to Alfred Stieglitz. She gave this copy of Number 36 to friend of hers in the 1960s, from whom the current owners purchased the issue, in 2007.
In the early decades of the 20th century, as photography was establishing itself as an art form for the amateur snapshooter, Alfred Stieglitz pursued the realization of his daring artistic vision as well as popular and institutional recognition for his work. Relentless in experimentation, reinvention, and creative dexterity, Stieglitz used Camera Work to make the American introduction of new writers and artists, as a venue for his tireless insistence on photography’s rightful place next to these tastemakers, and, eventually, a forum for the bold idea that photography was uniquely suited to depict modern life.
Edward Steichen designed Camera Work’s cover, creating a unique Art Nouveau-inspired font in white on the magazine’s soft gray wrappers, and this simple, highly elegant design signaled Stieglitz’s intent to his audience. Its extravagant photogravures (often printed on delicately beautiful Japanese tissue) were hand-tipped into the publication. The high standards for the publication were Stieglitz’s own for photography, and he offered his publication as the gold standard, and as a medium for debate and discussion.
Stieglitz’s own imagery, which form the complete set of photogravures in this landmark issue, speak to his adoption of so-called “straight photography” and transition away from Pictorialism. The Steerge, reproduced here for the first time, remains today an icon of the modernist sensibility. However, here we also often see him turn to atmospheric effects, using smoke and weather to both mask and illuminate the urban landscape, effectively both concealing the city’s modernity while also juxtaposing the new urban environment with the natural environment it displaced. Stieglitz, one of New York City’s most poetic and muscular photographers, captures both the intimacy and the modern isolation of the early twentieth-century urban environment.
Estimate
$18,000 – $22,000
35
Alfred stieglitz (1864-1946)
Portrait of woman.
Platinum print, the image measuring 8x6 inches (20.3x15.2 cm.), with Stieglitz’s signature and notations, in pencil, on verso. 1919
Acquired from the Zabriskie Gallery.
Estimate
$5,000 – $7,500
36
Edward steichen (1879-1973)
Kate Steichen.
Silver print, the image measuring 10x8 inches (25.4x20.3 cm.), with the sitter’s name, in pencil, in an unknown hand, on verso. Circa 1930
Acquired from the Lee Gallery, Winchester, Massachusetts, in 2006.
Estimate
$5,000 – $7,500
37
Johan hagemeyer (1884-1962)
Rose Blossom.
Silver print, the image measuring 7¼x9 inches (18.4x22.9 cm.), the primary mount very slightly larger, the secondary mount 14x18 inches (35.6x45.7 cm.), with Hageymeyer’s signature, date, and notation Pasadena, in pencil, on the larger mount recto. 1929
Acquired from Paul M. Hertzmann, Inc., San Francisco, California, by the Present Owner in 2003.
Estimate
$8,000 – $12,000
38
Imogen cunningham (1883-1976)
Alfred Stieglitz, An American Place.
Silver print, the image measuring approximately 9⅜x7¼ inches (23.8x18.4 cm.), the mount with an original overmat 12⅞x10¼ inches (32.7x26 cm.), with Cunningham’s signature, title, and negative date, in pencil, on the overmat recto, and her credit, title, and date, in pencil, and her Green Street label with the typed title and date, on mount verso. 1934; printed 1950s
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
39
Ansel adams (1902-1984)
Alfred Stieglitz and a painting by Georgia O’Keeffe at An American Place, New York.
Silver print, the image measuring 10⅝x7½ inches (27x19.1 cm.), the mount 20x16 inches (50.8x40.6 cm.), with Adams’ signature, in pencil, on mount recto, and his Carmel, California hand stamp (BMFA 11) with the title and date, in ink, on mount verso. 1939; printed 1973-77
From a Northeast Collection.
Estimate
$2,500 – $3,500
40
Alfred stieglitz (1864-1946)/soichi sunami (1885-1971)
Hands of Georgia O’Keeffe, No. 26.
Silver print, the image measuring 9x7⅛ inches (22.9x18.1 cm.), with Stieglitz’s credit, title, and negative date, in pencil, and Sunami’s Photographed for the Museum of Modern Art stamp, on verso. 1919; printed 1942
Estimate
$6,000 – $9,000
41
Napoleon sarony (1821-1896)
Oscar Wilde with a cane.
Silver print, the image measuring 9¼x6½ inches (23.5x16.5 cm.), the sheet 10x8 inches (25.4x20.3 cm.) with the subject’s name, in pencil, in an unknown hand, and the Culver Pictures stamp, barcodes, and labels, on verso. 1882; printed circa 1930s
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
42
Lotte jacobi (1896-1990)
Head of a Dancer (Niura Norskaya), Berlin.
Silver print on carte-postale paper, the image measuring 3⅜x4¼ inches (8.6x10.8 cm.), the sheet slightly larger, with Jacobi’s signature, in ink, on recto. 1909; printed circa 1970
Estimate
$2,000 – $3,000
43
Barbara morgan (1900-1992)
Vision of Penitente.
Silver print, the image measuring 10x12⅝ inches (25.4x32.1 cm.), the mount 11x12⅝ inches (27.9x32.1 cm.), with Morgan’s signature, in pencil, on mount recto. 1941
WITH–Barbara Morgan. Martha Graham. Illustrated with reproductions of Morgan’s photographs of 16 iconic performances by the phenomenal Martha Graham. 4to, tan cloth boards. FIRST EDITION, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY MORGAN. New York: Duel, Sloan and Pearce, (1941)
This print and the book were gifted by Morgan to Marshall Brooks who assisted with the photo project (and who is thanked on the acknowledgements page).
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,500
44
Barbara morgan (1900-1992)
Martha Graham - Letter to the World (swirl).
Silver print, the image measuring 15¼x17½ inches (38.7x44.5 cm.), the mount 22x26 inches (55.9x66 cm.), with Morgan’s signature, title, and negative date, in pencil, on mount recto, and her signature, title, and negative date, in pencil, and her copyright stamp, on mount verso. 1940; printed 1970s
From the Estate of Evelyne Z. Daitz, New York.
Estimate
$3,000 – $4,500
45
Manuel álvarez bravo (1902-2002)
Diego and Frida arriving in San Francisco.
Silver print, the image measuring 9⅜x7½ inches (23.8x19.1 cm.), the sheet slightly larger, with Bravo’s signature and inscription “A Evelyne,” in pencil, and the notation signed by “M.A. Bravo on July 1, 1984 in Mexico City,” in pencil, on verso. Circa 1930; printed 1980s
From the Estate of Evelyne Z. Daitz, New York.
Estimate
$4,000 – $6,000
46
Tina modotti (1896-1942)
Reparto de Tierras (detail), Capilla Riveriana, Universidad Autónoma, Chapingo * Guardia de la Verdad, Diego Rivera Mural, Chapingo, Mexico * La Tierra Dorminda, Diego Rivera Murals, Chapingo, Mexico.
Together, 3 photographs. Silver prints, the images measuring 8x10 inches (20.3x25.4 cm.), and the reverse, each with Modotti’s stamp on verso. Circa 1925
Each reproduced in Manjarrez, Tina Modotti y el Muralismo Mexicano (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)