Phillips de Pury & Company is proud to announce highlights from its forthcoming New York Photographs Sale

Candida Höfer

Ca' Rezzonico, Venezia I

Estimate $50,000-70,000

WORKS BY EDWARD WESTON, PETER BEARD, PAUL OUTERBRIDGE JR, THOMAS DEMAND, RICHARD AVEDON,THOMAS STRUTH, ANDRES SERRANO, MASSIMO VITALI, CINDY SHERMAN & DAVID HOCKNEY LEAD SALE OF IMPORTANT PHOTOGRAPHS

AUCTION: 2 OCTOBER 2012, 10AM & 2PM

VIEWING: 24 SEPTEMBER - 1 OCTOBER 2012

LOCATION: Phillips de Pury & Company, 450 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10022

New York - 10 September 2012 - Phillips de Pury & Company is proud to launch its Fall Photographs sale with a wide array of works that delineate the many important and exciting permutations of the medium.

Classical photographs will be represented by a number of rare works from early champions within the field. Edward Weston’s Pepper no. 30, 1930, estimated at $200,000-300,000, leads the group of Classic masterpieces. Printed before 1949, the iconic image captures the Modernist tenets that Weston championed, exploring volume, linearity and abstraction with an underlying anthropomorphic and transcendental sensitivity. The rich tonality of the print in conjunction with the early printing date further distinguish this work as one of the most important Modernist works to come up at auction in recent years. The work will be joined by Paul Outerbridge Jr.’s Standing Nude with Chair, c. 1924, estimated at $150,000-200,000. The sensual image marks the intersection of a number of vectors in Outerbridge’s life at the time: his early interest in anatomy, his lifelong fascination by German Expressionist cinema, and his evolving fascination with abstraction. Adding to the lot’s appeal is the belief that this work is the only known print of the image. Alfred Stieglitz’s Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly, estimated at $100,000-150,000 will additionally be offered. As the publication that marked the launch and subsequent success of Modernist photography, the plates included in the set have come to collectively define one of the most important pivots in the history of the medium. The set of 50 Volumes, two Special Numbers and Special Steichen Supplement include photogravures by such masters as Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Paul Strand, Clarence H. White, and Alvin Langdon Coburn, among others. Other strong classic selections in the sale are Irving Penn’s Girl in Bed (Jean Patchett), New York, 1949, estimated at $50,000-70,000 and New York Still Life, 1947, estimated at $40,000-60,000; Eugene Atget’s compelling arrowroot print ofVersailles, 1924, estimated at $30,000-50,000; and Roy DeCarava’s expressive and spirited Twelve Photogravures portfolio, estimated at $30,000-50,000.

Politically Correct: Selections From a Private American Collection, a group of 13 politically-themed works from a single collection, follows the sale’s historical continuum with a strong, cohesive narrative that focuses on the important political currents in mid-20th century America. The selection includes such outstanding works as Robert Frank’s Chicago Convention, 1956, estimated at $50,000-70,000, which captured the aftermath of Senator John F. Kennedy’s vice-presidential campaign, as well as Chicago, 1956, estimated at $25,000-35,000, depicting Lady Bird Johnson’s triumphantly smiling as her husband’s candidacy banner floats atop. These works will be joined by other important images, including Louis Faurer’s San Gennaro, New York, NY, 1950, estimated at $25,000-35,000 and politically charged works by Robert Capa, Garry Winogrand, and Leonard Freed, among others.

Leading the contemporary selections are seven works by Peter Beard, at the helm of which is Happy Easter/ Alia Bay Croc Hatchery. Lake Rudolf for Eyelids of Morning, 1965, estimated at $120,000-180,000. In it, Beard projects an image of optimism with two newborn crocodiles hatching out of their eggs. By painting portions of the photographs in a manner and a palette that resonates with egg-painting Easter traditions and filling the borders in a rich African folkloric tableau, Beard seamlessly fuses Western and traditional African traditions involving fertility, livelihood and the cyclical nature of life. Other works by Beard include a rare double-sided work featuring Cheetah cubs orphaned at Mweiga nr. Nyeri for The End of the Game, 1968 and Hunting Cheetah on the Taru Desert, Kenya, June, 1960, estimated at $60,000-80,000; I'll Write Whenever I Can, Koobi Fora, Lake Rudolf, Kenya, 1965, estimated at $40,000-60,000 and Francis Bacon at work, 7 Reece Mews London, March, 1973, estimated at $30,000-50,000. Additional strong contemporary works include Thomas Demand’s Wand (Mural), 1999, estimated at $120,000-180,000. As a graduate of the Düsseldorf Art Academy, Demand’s image epitomizes the renowned art school’s tenets of monumentality and irony. In presenting a peeling paper collage of the world map, Demand’s image is not a study of geography but of its ephemeral materiality and fragile existence. The work’s contemporary presence will be further reinforced by Andres Serrano’s Piss Light, 1987, estimated at $60,000-80,000, which counts among the renowned photographer’s most controversial and important images. The rare-to-the-market image, which depicts the holiest of Christian insignia submerged in the artist’s bodily fluid, has been used by conservatives and liberals alike to launch passionate debates on the role of the Church, censorship, and the power of art. Other contemporary works in the sale include David Hockney’s Nude (Theresa Russell), 17th June, 1984, estimated at $60,000-80,000; Candida Höfer’s Ca' Rezzonico, Venezia I, 2003, estimated at $50,000-70,000, Robert Mapplethorpe’s rich dye-transferAnemone, 1989, estimated at $30,000-50,000; Thomas Struth’s Paradise 1 (Pilgrim Sands) Daintre/Australia, 1999, estimated at $50,000-70,000; Philip-Lorca diCorcia’s W, March 14, 2000, estimated at $30,00-50,000; and David LaChapelle’s Last Supper (Jesus is my Homeboy), 2003, estimated at $30,000-50,000.

Fashion photography will be lead by a number of iconic images across the spectrum, including Steven Meisel’s Walking in Paris, Linda Evangelista & Kristen McMenamy, Vogue, October, 1992, estimated at $40,000-60,000. As one of the leading fashion photographers of all time, Meisel captured the sharp turn the industry made in the 1990s, from the overwrought and staged to the loose and natural. Twenty years since it was first taken, the image remains an iconic benchmark in fashion photography. This work will be accompanied by three works by Richard Avedon: the effortlessly elegant Dovima with elephants, evening dress by Dior, Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, 1955, estimated at $50,000-70,000, the sensual Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent, Los Angeles, California, June 14, 1981, estimated at $60,000-80,000, and the effervescent Audrey Hepburn and Art Buchwald with Simone, Barbara Mullen, Frederick Eberstadt, and Dr. Reginald Kernan, Evening Dresses by Balmaln, Dior, Patou, Maxim's, Paris, August, 1959, estimated at $50,000-70,000.

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