Bloomsbury Auctions‘ inaugural Photographs Sale is on 22nd May at 2pm at Bloomsbury House, 4 Maddox Street, London W1S 1PP.
Bloomsbury is delighted to launch its first 230 lot sale with such a variety of iconic works by so many landmark artists; the sale will appeal to connoisseurs as well as would-be collectors. There are fine examples of 19th and 20th century Portraiture, Fashion, Nudes, Hollywood Icons, Jazz Musicians, Street and Humanist photography, Photojournalism, Technical, Industrial & Colour studies, Still Life, City and Landscape photography.
Highlights include two rare vintage Manuel Alvarez Bravo prints, Los Leones de Coyoac (The Lions of Coyoac), 1929, acquired by the present owner from the sale of the collection of Andre Breton, 2003 (Estimate £30,000 – £50,000). Imogen Cunningham’s Frida Kahlo Rivera, painter and wife of Diego Rivera, 1931 (£8,000 – £12,000) and Triangles, 1928, (£6,000 – £8,000).
Amongst the 19th century Portraiture is an exquisite albumen print by Julia Margaret Cameron, Sir John Herschel, 1867, from the collection of Arnold Newman (£30,000 – £40,000).
Especially noteworthy is a variety of Brassaï (Gyula Halasz) vintage photographs featuring prints from the personal collection of Mme. Gilberte Brassaï, which includes L’oiseau de Feu’ aux Folies Bergeres, c.1932 estimated £10,000 – £15,000.
Bloomsbury is also offering 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. Amongst the individual lots is a rare 20×24? print by Henri Cartier-Bresson At The Coronation of King George VI, London, 1937 ( £10,000 – £15,000). Apart from a number of Cartier-Bresson prints, there is also the work of various photojournalists such as Eve Arnold, Ian Berry, Werner Bischof, Martine Franck, Dennis Stock, Elliot Erwitt, and Bruce Davidson with estimates ranging from £1,000 to £2,000.
No sale of photographs would be complete without examples of Fashion photography and at Bloomsbury there is an unusual group of 1950s vintage prints by Norman Parkinson which he took for British Vogue (estimate £2,500 – £3,000). Other lots include Horst P. Horst’s Mainbocher Corset, Paris, 1939; Richard Avedon’s Dorian Leigh, Schiaparelli Rhinestones, Pre-Catalan, Paris, August, 1949 (£2000 – £3000); Simone and Nina, Piazza di Spagna, Roma, 1960 (£2,000 – £3,000) by William Klein and Guy Bourdin’s Untitled (Woman and Heart) from around 1979 which has an estimate of £5,000 – £7,000.
The sale has a wonderful selection of portraits of Rock musicians such as John and Yoko, New York, December 8, 1980 by Annie Leibovitz (£18,000 – £22,000) and David Bailey’s Jagger, 1964 (£1000 – £1500). There are 16 striking images by Bob Willoughby, who specialised in behind the scenes photography of stars such as Audrey Hepburn, Truman Capote and Liz Taylor as well as his renowned pictures of jazz musicians in full swing.
The sale has a strong group of British photographers from Fay Godwin and Grace Robertson to Thurston Hopkins and Shirley Baker. Giving even greater gravitas to Bloomsbury Auctions‘ first Photographs Sale on 22nd May are the works of keystone figures from the world of 20th century photography such as Man Ray, Dr Harold Eugene Edgerton, André Kertész, Aaron Siskind, Harry Callahan, William Eggleston, Diane Arbus, Robert Mapplethorpe, Larry Clark and Thomas Ruff.
Viewing is:
Monday 19th May from 9.30am to 5.30pm; Tuesday 20th May from 9.30am to 5.30pm
Wednesday 21st May 9.30am to 8.00pm; Thursday 22nd May 9.30am to 1.00pm
Or by appointment from 12th May please telephone Zoe Bingham: 020 7495 9494
Auction info www.bloomsburyauctions.com
