COLOGNE.- A particularly broad scope of nude photography is represented in this auction with outstanding examples of this genre from artists such as Helmut Newton, Heinz Hajek-Halke, Erwin Blumenfeld and Harry Callahan, from Ruth Bernhard, Edmund Kesting, Bill Brandt, Herb Ritts and Jeanloup Sieff.

Helmut Newton's "Lisa Lyon at Home, Venice, California" from 1981 is valued at 6/8.000 (lot 860). Heinz Hajek-Halke's untitled black and white double nude of 1930-1936 is set at 8/10.000 (lot 727). Two examples are from Erwin Blumenfeld: a solarisation from 1943 is valued at 5/6.000, and from the following year, "Nude on Coca Cola Chair" taxed at 4.000 (lots 783/784). Harry Callahan is represented by four nude motifs from the 1940s and 1950s (lots 785-788, up to 4.000).

Umbo (Otto Umbehr) is represented by four portraits. The photographer, who in the 1920s revolutionised and strongly influenced portrait photography with his new style, lost his complete archive of negatives and positives in the war. Therefore, rare later copy prints of his own masterpieces of the 1920s are on offer, which due to the extreme close-ups and dramatic details came to be valued as incunables of portrait photography. These are valued at 2.500 each (lots 721-724). A vintage portrait of his friend and patron Paul Citroen is from the year 1930 (lot 720, 2.500).

Further highlights include, amongst others, masterpieces of black and white composition from René Burri with his 1958 Ipanema Beach (lot 799, 4.200), and Andreas Feininger's print "Cities Service Building" from 1940, of which, according to the photographer, only this vintage print exists (lot 768, 3/4.000). Also worth mentioning is a sensitive portrait from Germaine Krull of her sister (lot 755, 1.800), Henri Cartier-Bresson's "Mexiko“ from 1964 (lot 809, 4.000) and Sebastião Salgado's "Sud-Soudan“ from 2006 (lot 879, 4.000).

A work depicting rural architecture offered from Paul Strand stands out due to its graphic impact and subtle grey nuances (lot 765, 7.500). Two pieces are from Man Ray: produced just before his death in 1976 is the photograph "Domaine de Sade II" depicting a display of manikins (3/4.000), and the print of a sailing boat in Cannes from 1926, which is valued at 4/6.000 (lots 756/757). Alfred Eisenstaedt's elegant picture of a lady and hats, set at 4/6.000 was taken before his emigration to the USA in 1936 (lot 771).

Bernd and Hilla Becher are represented by three four-part tableaus depicting views of winding towers in England and France, (lots 308/309/310, 20/25.000 each). In the spring season at Lempertz top prices were reached by a number of similar groups with winding towers. A two-part photographic work from Klaus Rinke is on offer for 12/15.000 (lot 502), and from Sigmar Polke are four black and white photographs from the 1980s and 1990s (lots 482-485, estimates between 10.000 and 15.000).

Works from Boris Becker (lot 329), Andreas Gursky (lot 386, 8/10.000), Candida Höfer (lots 406, 407), Jürgen Klauke (lot 430), Marie-Jo Lafontaine (lot 434, 13/15.000), Thomas Struth (lot 537), Hans Christian Schink (lot 536) und Olafur Eliasson (lot 363a) round up the offering.