VIVIENNE WESTWOOD FASHION IMAGE TO SELL AT BONHAMS PHOTOGRAPHY AUCTION
FIRST SALE FOR BONHAMS NEW PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
A photographic commission for Vivienne Westwood’s On Liberty collection 1994-5, Donut, Kym, for Vivienne Westwood, 1994, by Dutch duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, which was used in a calendar and advertising campaign, is to be sold for £12,000 – 15,000 in the first auction for Bonhams new photography department on 20th May 2010 at New Bond Street.
Three images by the leading American fashion photographer Lillian Bassman, who is attracting attention following an exhibition at Wapping Project Bankside, and a forthcoming show at Paul Smith, will also be on sale. The photographs include Jean Shrimpton, 1955 (estimate £3,000 – 5,000); Nylon: A Natural Traveller, Margie Cato (estimate £2,000 - 3,000), which was taken for Harper’s Bazaar; and Park Avenue Woman, Mary Jane Russell (estimate £2,000 – 3,000).
The top lot is a portrait by the internationally renowned German photographer Thomas Ruff: Portrat (V.Lieberman), 1998. With a pre-sale estimate of £25,000 – 35,000, the portrait is an excellent example of the precise, tonally exact imagery that Ruff, and his fellow students under Bernd Becher, are famous for.
Other important lots include Thomas Struth’s The Ma Family, Shanghai, 1996 (estimate £12,000 – 18,000); Rene Burri’s well-known Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, 1960 (estimate £4,000 – 6,000) – notable here for its unusually large size, rarely seen at auction; and Femme Dans la Baignoire, 2003 (£7,000 – 9,000) by leading Finnish photographer Elina Brotherus.
Head of the Photography Department at Bonhams, Jocelyn Phillips, comments: “Following on from our collaboration with David Bailey earlier this year, the new department is excited to present its first auction at Bonhams London. We are delighted to be offering a broad range of photographic imagery – from the 19th century to the present day – at a wide and accessible range of prices.”
Bonhams
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further five throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York and Boston in the USA; Toronto, Canada; and France, Monaco, Hong Kong and Dubai. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 57 specialist areas. By the end of 2009, Bonhams had become UK market leaders in ten key specialist collecting areas.For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments, go to www.bonhams.com.
