RARE NUDE STUDY BY CZECH PHOTOGRAPHER FRANTISEK DRTIKOL TO SELL AT BONHAMS
PHOTOGRAPHY SALE ALSO FEATURES WORKS BY NICK BRANDT, HIROSHI SUGIMOTO, BRASSAΪ, HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON, WILLY RONIS AND CORINNE DAY
A rare and beautiful example of a Nude Study by the pioneering Czech photographer, Frantisek Drtikol, celebrated for his daring and radical depiction of the female form, is to be sold at Bonhams, New Bond Street, as part of its Photographs sale on 16 November 2010. The study is an excellent example of the photographer’s later, more stylised compositions in which geometric decoration and shadow played a key part. It has attracted a pre-sale estimate of £25,000 – 30,000.
Another top lot is a photograph by Nick Brandt, the director of Michael Jackson’s music video Earth Song, entitled Cheetah and Cubs, Masaai Mara, 2003. Estimated at £8,000 – 12,000, the picture is the result of Brandt falling in love with Tanzania while filming the music video for Michael Jackson’s Earth Song in 1995.
Highlights also include a group of 13 pictures depicting post-war France by the French photographer Willy Ronis (1910-2009), such as Le Nu Provencal, Gordes, 1949 (estimate £3,000 – 4,000)and Quai du Louvre, 1952 (estimate £1,800 – 2,200); and three early prints by the father of modern photojournalism, Henri Cartier-Bresson, including Bords de la Marne, 1955 (estimate £7,000 – 9,000) and Valencia, Spain, 1933 (estimate £6,000 – 8,000).
Other important lots include a seascape by the Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto, entitled Ionian Sea, Santa Cesarea, 1993 (estimate £15,000 – 20,000); three photographs depicting graffiti by Hungarian/French photographer Brassaï, which the artist gifted to the vendor personally (estimates from £2,000); and a key group of 19th century platinum prints depicting labourers on the Norfolk Broads by British photographer Peter Henry Emerson, including Gathering Water-Lilies, 1886 (estimate £10,000 – 15,000).
Three photographs by Corinne Day, the British photographer who died aged 48 from a brain tumour in August this year, also feature in the sale. Best-known for her photographs of Kate Moss, these images are example of Day’s hard-edged documentary work.
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, Australia, Hong Kong, Australia 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 towww.bonhams.com
