INTIMATE IMAGES OF PICASSO BY HIS FRIEND, ANDRÉ VILLERS, TO SELL AT BONHAMS
FAMOUS FACES IN SALE ALSO INCLUDE BRIGITTE BARDOT, TWIGGY, NELSON MANDELA AND MIKE TYSON
Four images of the celebrated Spanish painter, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), are to be sold at Bonhams, New Bond Street, as part of its Photographs Sale on 19 May 2011.
Three of the pictures - Picasso in front of ‘La Chute d’Icare’, Vallauris, 1957; Picasso à Vallauris, October, 1953; and Les Yeux de Picasso, Cannes, 1956 - were taken by French photographer, André Villers, with whom Picasso struck up a great friendship following a chance meeting on a street in Vallauris, France, in 1953, when Villers stopped to take Picasso’s picture. Each photograph has attracted a pre-sale estimate of £1,500 – 2,000. The fourth image was taken by German photographer, Werner Bokelberg. Entitled Picasso at St Tropez, 1965, it is estimated at £1,000 – 1,200.
The sale also features portraits of icons including: Brigitte Bardot by British photographer Terry O’Neill (estimate £2,000 – 3,000); Jean Shrimpton in New York in 1962 by David Bailey (estimate £7,000 – 9,000); Marilyn Monroe in her famous ‘Last Sitting’ by Bert Stern (estimate £1,000 – 1,500); Nelson Mandela revisiting his cell on Robben Island in 1994 by Jürgen Schadeberg (estimate £1,800 – 2,200); Mike Tyson by Albert Watson (estimate £3,500 – 4,500); The Beatles by Robert Freeman – the instantly recognisable image that became the cover for the band’s 1963 album With The Beatles (estimate £4,000 – 6,000); James Dean by Roy Schatt, from the well known ‘Torn Sweater’ series (estimate £1,000 – 1,500); and Marlene Dietrich by Horst P. Horst (estimate £2,000 – 3,000).
Other highlights include: two photographs by legendary American photographer Irving Penn – a stunning platinum print of his Five Dahomey Girls, Two Standing, 1967 (estimate £15,000 – 20,000) and the powerful Tambul Ialibu Warrior, New Guinea, 1970 (estimate £8,000 – 12,000); Dutch artist Ruud van Empel’s World #31, 2008 (estimate £10,000 – 15,000) and Moon #7, 2008 (estimate £7,000 – 9,000); and an impressive collection of 17 photobooks by American pop artist Edward Ruscha, many first editions, spanning the period 1962 to 2005 (estimate £10,000 – 15,000).
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, 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 to www.bonhams.com
