NEW YORK.- Swann Galleries' Thursday, October 19 auction of Important 19th & 20th Century Photographs offers a wide array of images, from early western panoramic views to classic images by latter 20th century photographers.
Among the auction's earliest highlights are Photographic Views of Sherman's Campaign, with 61 gold-toned albumen prints from several Civil War battles by George N. Barnard, 1865 (estimate: $20,000 to $30,000); Eadweard Muybridge's spectacular 11-part panorama of San Francisco that provides one of the most precise visual records of pre-earthquake San Francisco still in existence, 1877 ($20,000 to $25,000); as well as 102 plates from Muybridge's Animal Locomotion, with a self-portrait, male and female nude studies, and many photographs of animals, 1887 ($20,000 to $30,000).
A selection of albums with exotic views includes an ornately bound album containing 100 of Kusakabe Kimbei's delicately hand-tinted photographs of Japan, 1880s ($10,000 to $15,000); Francis Frith's Sinai and Palestine, with 37 richly toned albumen prints ($5,000 to $7,500); a choice group of seven photographs of Brazil by Marc Ferrez, 1870s-90s ($5,000 to $7,500); and 80 images of China and India, 1890s ($2,000 to $3,000).
From the early 20th century are albums such as Volume 13 of Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian, with 36 plates of Native American portraits, Boston, 1923 ($15,000 to $25,000); and a portfolio containing 25 original photographs by William Mortensen, circa 1933 ($20,000 to $25,000).
Documentary highlights from the 20th century include Lewis W. Hine's Empire State Building, worker signaling on high beam, silver print, 1930 ($10,000 to $15,000); Margaret Bourke-White's Factory Worker, Aluminum Company of America, warm-toned silver print, 1930 ($8,000 to $12,000); Weegee's Their First Murder, ferrotyped silver print, circa 1936 ($10,000 to $15,000); several Berenice Abbott views of New York City including Murray Hill Hotel: Spiral, silver print, 1935, printed 1982 ($5,000 to $7,500); and selections from the New York Times photo archive.
Featured Modernist works include stunning images by Frantisek Drtikol, such as Female study (model with snake bracelet), pigment print, circa 1925 ($15,000 to $25,000), and Model posing with geometric forms, silver print, circa 1926 ($10,000 to $15,000); André Kertész's Melancholic Tulip, silver print, 1939, printed late 1970s ($5,000 to $7,500); and Josef Sudek's Still life with floating rose petal, early 1960s ($12,000 to $18,000).
Among many fine portraits are Man Ray's Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, silver print, 1922 ($7,000 to $10,000); Irving Penn's John Marin, platinum-palladium print 1947, printed 1977 ($10,000 to $15,000); Yousuf Karsh's Albert Einstein, silver print, 1948, printed 1980s ($6,000 to $9,000); Harry Callahan's Bob Fine, silver print, 1952, printed 1970s ($9,000 to $12,000), Bert Stern's images of Marilyn Monroe in The Last Sitting, with 10 original photographs. New York, 1962 ($7,000 to $10,000); Mary Ellen Mark's Mother Teresa, Calcutta, silver print, 1980 ($1,000 to $1,500); and Annie Leibovitz's look at Steve Martin, Beverly Hills, cibachrome print, 1981 ($5,000 to $7,500).
Also from the late 20th century are David Heath's Erin Freed, 1963, printed 1965 ($6,000 to $9,000); Henri Cartier-Bresson's Brie, France, silver print, 1968, printed 1980s ($9,000 to $12,000); Stephen Shore's U.S. 10, Post Falls, Idaho, chromogenic print, 1974 ($4,000 to $5,000); Eliot Porter's In Wilderness, portfolio with 10 dye transfer prints, 1981($9,000 to $12,000); and Helmut Newton's Another World...of Dressing, chromogenic print, 1983 ($3,000 to $4,500). The auction will begin at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 19. The photographs will be on public exhibition at Swann Galleries on Saturday, October 14 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Monday, October 16 to Wednesday, October 18, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Thursday, October 19 from 10 a.m. to noon. The public is invited to a Gallery Walk with the specialist on Saturday, October 14 at 3 p.m. Illustrated catalogues are available for $35 from Swann Galleries, 104 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, and may be viewed online at www.swanngalleries.com.
