COLOGNE.- Two important collections make up the largest group of lots within the photography offering this season: the first is the private collection of the Berlin gallery owner and publisher Roland Angst (Only Photography), who died in 2022. The collection focuses on fotoform, American photography and contemporary Japanese photography, and will be auctioned over a period of two years, as well as the holdings of Galerie Clairefontaine from Luxembourg, whose successful auction Lempertz already began last fall. The artistic range of Marita Ruiter's gallery, which was one of the important players in the international art scene for three decades and contributed lasting impulses to the Luxembourg photography scene, is reflected in the selection of around 60 photographs that will be offered on both consecutive auction days.
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The highlight of the season is the glamorous ˈTied-up Torso (Henrietta Ficellée)ˈ from a private South German collection, taken in 1980 in Ramatuelle on the Côte d'Azur, where photographer Helmut Newton, a virtuoso of erotic staging, had owned a house since 1964. With a format of around 100 x 100 cm, this artist proof is both a rare and outstanding example of the Berlin-born photographer's masterly command of composition. The high-quality print was formerly in the Frieder Burda Collection, Baden Baden, from where it went to its current owner (lot 790, € 60/80,000). In addition to this classic black and white print, a second important photograph by Helmut Newton will be offered for sale: a large-format colour nude photograph of the supermodel ˈKristen McMenamyˈ, taken in Monte Carlo in 1995 (lot 789, € 25/30,000).
In the field of classic photography from the 1920s, the Bauhaus photographs from the estate of Xanti Schawinsky stand out as vintage prints, including the motif ˈDer Bau als Bühne, Bauhaus Dessau, 1927ˈ by T. Lux Feininger, which Herbert Bayer selected in 1938 for the catalogue cover and poster motif of the exhibition ˈbauhaus 1919-1928ˈ at the MoMA in New York (lot 622, € 4/5,000). A real rarity is the complete portfolio ˈ25 nus femmesˈ featuring highly aesthetic nudes by Sasha Stone in outstanding vintage quality (lot 629, € 12/15,000), which the photographer gave to an artist friend in 1936. American classics of their genre include the black and white fashion and portrait photographs by Horst P. Horst - such as the iconic ˈRound the Clock I, New York, 1987ˈ (lot 697) - Diane Arbus (lot 765), Irving Penn (lot 766) and Robert Mapplethorpe (lot 769) with estimated prices between € 7/9,000 and € 10/15,000, whilst New Colour photography is represented by four works each by Stephen Shore and Bruce Wrighton (lots 759-762 and 770-773, estimates € 1,500/2,000 to € 5/6,000).
Further highlights of the auction are two large-format photographs by Mitch Epstein, including the motif ˈBerlin-Lichtenberg, 2008ˈ from the year in which the New York photographer received the ˈBerlin Prize in Arts and Letters of the American Academy in Berlinˈ (lot 830, € 8/10,000). As wall-sized photographs with cult status, the three portraits of musicians by Anton Corbijn are likely to attract interest not only among fans of independent music (lots 791-793, from € 4/5,000 to € 8/10,000).
Auction 1269 Day Sale Contemporary Art and Photography
Important works of contemporary photography will be auctioned as part of the Day Sale on the second day of the auction weekend (31 May): ˈGerhard Richter 1, Cologne, 1993ˈ by Thomas Struth from his famous ˈPortraitˈ series, taken with a plate camera and printed in life size, is the photo highlight of the Contemporary Art auction, consigned from a Californian private collection (lot 482, € 30/40,000). The chromogenic print ˈTreppenhaus Münchenˈ from 1984 (as a new print from 2012) in wall-filling format belongs to a body of work of architectural photographs by Günther Förg (lot 550, € 20/25,000). From the winner of the ˈGerhard Altenbourg Prizeˈ of this year, Dieter Appelt, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday, we have two multi-part photographic works from the Clairefontaine collection (lots 467 and 468, € 10/15,000 and € 15/20,000 respectively).
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