LOS ANGELES, CA.- LAMA announced the addition of Photographs to their roster of auction categories, with the first auction set to take place August 2nd, 2023. This dedicated auction expands on LAMA's success with photographs and photography-based works, offering a larger breadth of material across time periods and genres.
The inaugural Photographs auction features nearly 200 lots, ranging from the birth of the art form, with Eadweard Muybridge's Animal Locomotion, Plate 733 (est. $800-1,000), to contemporary works such as Alex Prager's 4:01 PM, Sun Valley And Eye #3 (House Fire) (from the Compulsion series) (diptych) (est. $7,000-9,000). A wide range of genres are represented in both black and white and color, including still life, landscape, documentary, and portraiture, with works from masters of the discipline from the early 20th century to today, including Eugene Atgèt, Berenice Abbot, Weegee, Robert Capa, Barbara Morgan, Ansel Adams, Irving Penn, Imogen Cunningham, Edward Burtynsky, Sebastião Salgado, Nan Goldin, Robert Mapplethorpe, Carrie Mae Weems, and more.
A particularly strong selection of black and white photography leads the August 2nd auction. Highlights include Barbara Morgan's iconic image of dancer Martha Graham, Martha Graham - Letter to the World (Kick) (est. $4,000-6,000), Irving Penn's platinum-palladium print Cigarette No. 37, New York (est. $20,000-30,000), Imogen Cunningham's intimate 1957 gelatin silver print The Unmade Bed (est. $7,000-9,000), and Richard Avedon's charming, luxe Suzy Parker and Gardner MacKay, Dress by Balmain, Café de Beaux-Arts, Paris (est. $8,000-12,000). Several works from documentary photographers Weegee, Aaron Siskind, and Max Yavno are featured, as well as Robert Capa's famed Death of a Loyalist Militiaman near Espejo, Córdoba Front, Spain (est. $3,000-5,000) and multiple works of portraiture by Robert Mapplethorpe.
The many contemporary works included in the auction represent the evolution of photography as an art form, and its myriad adaptations for use within contemporary art practice. From the eerie fabrications of Joel-Peter Witkin and Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison to Edward Burtynsky's sublime landscapes to the vibrant portraiture of Nan Goldin and the dark pranksterism of Paul McCarthy and Mike Kelley, the possibilities of the photograph for both art and activism are fully on display. Contemporary highlights include Shirin Neshat's 1993 C-print I am its Secret (from Women of Allah series) (est. $6,000-8,000), Edward Burtynsky's Three Gorges Dam Project, Feng Jie #7, Yangtze River, China (est. $5,000-7,000), and Vanessa Beecroft's series VB 09: Ein Blonder Traum (est. $8,000-12,000).
"We're very pleased to be expanding our offerings to include an auction exclusively dedicated to photographs," says CEO Richard Wright, "It's an exciting first for our company."
