Fresh-to-market finds from the holdings of an important Fortune 500 company – including photographs from such luminous names as Harold Edgerton, Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand, Sandy Skoglund, Eliot Porter, Ernst Haas, Annie Leibovitz, O. Winston Link and William Wegman – provide the anchor to Heritage Auction’s Signature® Vintage & Contemporary Photography Auction, Friday, Dec. 3 at 3 p.m., at the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion (Ukrainian Institute), 2 East 79th Street (at 5th Avenue).
Ansel Adams, Mount Williamson, Sierra Nevada from Manzanar, 1944
“This is as eclectic and as a fine a mix of great photographs, from some of the biggest names in the history of the genre, as we have yet had the pleasure of presenting,” said Ed Jaster, Senior Vice President of Heritage Auctions. “Besides the offerings from the Fortune 500 Company, which are indeed extraordinary, this grouping goes very deep and should appeal to a broad array of collectors.”
America’s greatest naturalist photographer, Ansel Eason Adams, has been much in the news lately – with the controversy over a trove of supposedly “lost” Adams negatives – and Heritage is present two superb Adams photographs, both of which have been off the market for more than 30 years, and which are already drawing advance buzz from collectors. The first piece, Moonrise Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941 (estimate: $30,000+), comes to auction directly from the Friends of Photography – the group that Adams and a group of colleagues founded in 1967 – and is accompanied by a copy of the original letter from James Alinder, Executive Director of the Friends of Photography. The second piece, Mount Williamson, Sierra Nevada from Manzanar, 1944(estimate: $25,000+), is another stellar example of Adams’ talent, which also comes with the Witkin Gallery label on the reverse, providing rock solid provenance.
“Adams is American photography royalty bar none,” said Jaster, “and we fully expect these two pieces, so long unavailable, to make a big splash with collectors.”
Williams Wegman’s Man Ray Portfolio, estimated at $8,000+, a grouping of 10 images done in homage to the great Avant-Garde artist, and all featuring Wegman’s signature Weimereiner dogs, represents a highpoint in the contemporary photography section, while a grouping of 15 Lee Friedlander photographs, with estimates of $4,000+, will provide collectors with a golden opportunity to acquire a fine piece of the photographer’s work.
Further highlights from the Contemporary section include a grouping of 10 incredible stop-motion photographs from Harold Edgerton, with estimates of $1,000+; a four-photograph selection of mostly political images from Garry Winograd, with estimates of $600+; Sandy Skoglund’s Coathangers, 1979, estimated at $3,000+; Eliot Furness Porter’s Iceland, Portfolio II (Twelve Photographs), estimated at $600+; Ernst Haas’ Eight Photographs from the Creation Portfolio, 1962-1981, estimated at $3,500+; Annie Leibovitz’s Christo, New York City, Central Park, 1981, estimated at $3,000+ and five photographs from O. Winston Link, including Main Line on Main Street, Northfork, West Virginia, 1958, estimated at $3,000+.
No Heritage photography auction would be complete without a healthy selection of iconic vintage photographs, and the Dec. 3 event is no different with images from some of the greatest names of the Golden Age of photography, including Yusef Karsh’s Winston Churchill, 1941, estimated at $4,000+, Phillipe Halsman’s Albert Einstein. 1947, estimated at $7,500+, Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Rue Mouffetard, Paris, 1954, estimated at $8,000+ and a trio of superb William Garnett nature photographs with estimates ranging from $3,000+ to $6,000+.
Fashion photography is always in demand with collectors, and Heritage is responding in this auction with a considerable selection of some of the most important names in the genre, including Herb Ritts’ Stephanie with Flower, 1989, estimated at $5,000+, Peter Lindbergh’s Kate Moss, Harper’s Bazaar, New York, 1994, estimated at $5,000+ and Helmut Newton’s Elsa Peretti in Halston Bunny Costume, New York, 1975, estimated at $30,000+.
Heritage Auctions, headed by Steve Ivy, Jim Halperin and Greg Rohan, is the world’s third largest auction house, with annual sales more than $600 million, and 500,000+ registered online bidder members. For more information about Heritage Auctions, and to join and gain access to a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit HA.com.
