NEW YORK, NY.- Bonhams announces the inaugural auction of The Art of Fashion Photography. This auction is a carefully curated selection of important works by the world’s masters of fashion photography. It will take place in the Madison avenue galleries of Bonhams New York on December 17 at 1:00 PM EST.
The auction is organized into three distinct sections: Editorial Fashion Photography, Celebrities & Style Icons, and Nudes, with pre-sale estimates ranging from $1,500 - 60,000. This dynamic collection, spanning classic through contemporary, includes work by many of today’s leading photographers, including Miles Aldridge, Bob Colacello, Patrick Demarchelier, Horst P. Horst, William Klein, Roxanne Lowit, Marilyn Minter, David LaChapelle, and Annie Leibovitz.
Vintage photographs will be well-represented, including three stunning Irving Penn gelatin silver prints. Mention must be made of Penn’s iconic photograph, Women at Wartime (Dorian and Evelyn Tripp), 1950, which captures the empowered, liberated attitude of two of his favorite models. The work also beautifully showcases their clothing, and footwear, all designed by Clare McCardell. Women at Wartime is one from an edition of just sixteen, and carries a pre-sale estimate of $40,000 - 60,000. Important works by Lotte Jacobi, Elliott Erwitt, Frank Horvat, George Hoyningen-Huene, George Hurrell, Willy Ronis, and Edward Weston are also included.
The Art of Fashion Photography offers an exciting selection of contemporary fashion images from the 1960’s to the present, and includes works by a combination of famous and emerging artists who are currently making waves on the international contemporary art scene. An exciting highlight is the large, unabashedly seductive, color photograph, Deluge, (2011), by Marilyn Minter. The work depicts a tightly-cropped close-up of stiletto heels, worn with decadent diamond anklets. They adorn an anonymous female figure who audaciously struts through deep puddles of liquid gold, which is sensuously splattered across her feet and legs. This photograph is the artist’s single most collectible and sought-after image. The work hits the block with a pre-sale estimate of $25,000 - 35,000, and measures an impressive 60 x 40 inches, and is the only print from the five that Minter printed in large format to have come to auction.
“Fashion photography is a significant pocket of value in the fine art market at present. The Art of Fashion Photography will present a diverse and exciting selection of over 100 works spanning from the 1920’s to present-day, tailored to collectors of all tastes and levels, which include iconic images that are rarely offered at auction,” says Heather Russell, Director of Prints & Photographs at Bonhams New York.
A public preview of the auction will be held from Dec 13 - 15.
