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

WORKS BY RICHARD AVEDON, IRVING PENN, ROBERT FRANK, MAN RAY, BERND & HILLA BECHER, ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE, GARRY WINOGRAND, LEE FRIEDLANDER, LARRY CLARK & CANDIDA HÖFER LEAD SALE OF IMPORTANT PHOTOGRAPHS 

New York August 31, 2011 - Phillips de Pury & Company is pleased to announce the highlights of the forthcoming Photographs sale on Tuesday 4 October 2011, to be held at its 450 Park Avenue location.

“Our upcoming Photographs sale will include some of the most iconic images in the history of photography, from classic Modernist to cutting-edge contemporary. We are thrilled to be showcasing the dialogue across the spectrum at our flagship space on 57th Street and Park Avenue. The location provides us with the optimal space to exhibit each work to the best of its potential and ensure a truly enjoyable experience.” Vanessa Kramer, Worldwide Director of Photographs.

Highlights of the New York Photographs sale include: Richard Avedon’s The Beatles Portfolio: John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and Paul McCartney, musicians, London, 1967, at $350,000-$450,000, which fuses Avedon’s nearly unparalleled legacy in capturing a sitter’s essence together with the psychedelic vibrancy of the era that The Beatles helped define; Irving Penn’s Black and White Vogue Cover (Jean Patchett), New York, 1950, at $200,000-$300,000, a platinum palladium print that embodies the understated, minimalist elegance that Penn heralded in the 1950s; Bernd and Hilla Becher’s Cooling Towers, Ruhr District, 1983, at $80,000-$120,000, a three-by-three grid of nine prints that conveys the frontality, immediacy and directness the Bechers championed and consequently inspired future generations of German photographers; Man Ray’s Torso, 1930, at $70,000-$90,000, an early and rare Surrealist study of form as much as it is an experiment in solarization; Robert Mapplethorpe’s Calla Lily, 1987, estimated at $50,000-$70,000, which captures the majestic grace and understated sensuality of Mapplethorpe’s flowers; Ansel Adams’s mural size Mt. Williamson, Sierra Nevada, from Manzanar, CA, 1944, at $50,000-$70,000, displaying the iconic photographer’s boundless affinity for the Great West; Robert Frank’s Indianapolis, 1955, at $50,000-$70,000, from his most iconic body of work, The Americans, which proudly boasts an image of extraordinary foresight and confidence; and William Eggleston’s richly saturated dye-transfer Outskirts of Morton, Mississippi, Halloween, 1971, at $40,000-$60,000, illustrating the kaleidoscopic vibrancy so deftly captured by the pioneer of color photography.

Classic photography will be well represented by a number of photographs, including Horst P. Horst’s sumptuous platinum prints, Classical Still Life, NY, 1937, at $30,000-$40,000, Houdon Still Life, Paris, 1939, at $30,000-$40,000, and Lisa with Harp, Paris, 1939, at $25,000-$35,000, collectively reflecting the photographer’s uncompromising eye for classical, timeless beauty. Other examples of classic photography include Irving Penn’s dazzling Rose, Colour Wonder, London, 1970, at $35,000-$55,000, as well as his poignant Alfred Hitchcock, New York, May 23, 1947, at $30,000-$50,000; Frederick Sommer’s hauntingly meditative Livia, 1948, at $35,000-$45,000; Edward Steichen’s Untitled, 1920s, at $30,000-$50,000. Additional photographers whose works reflect the era include Robert Adams, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Robert Doisneau, Dorothea Lange, and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Street photography will be strongly exemplified by a number of lots, including two portfolios by Garry Winogrand: Women Are Beautiful, 1981, at $70,000-$90,000, and Fifteen Photographs, 1974, at $40,000-$60,000, which together encompass the wit, spontaneity and vitality with which Winogrand observed everyday street life. Similarly, Lee Friedlander’s NYC, 1966, at $35,000-$55,000, and Galax, Virginia, 1962, at $30,000-$50,000, both early impressions of the legendary photographer’s images, beautifully exhibit the surreal and unexpected charm to be found in understated moments. Other examples include William Klein’s Boy and Dollar, New York, 1955, at $15,000-$25,000, and Berenice Abbott’s Canyon, Broadway and Exchange Place, July 16, 1936, at $10,000-$15,000.

Fashion photography will be illustrated by classic and contemporary examples, including Richard Avedon’s Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent, 1981, at $50,000-$70,000, and Dovima with elephants, Evening dress by Dior, Cirque d’Hiver, Paris, August, 1955, at $40,000-$60,000; Horst P. Horst’s Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn on Silk III, 1940, at $20,000-$30,000; Peter Lindbergh’s Helena Christensen, Stephanie Seymour, Karen Mulder, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, Vogue US, Brooklyn, NY, USA, 1991, at $18,000-$22,000; and Helmut Newton’s Mannequins, Quai d'Orsay, Paris, 1977, at $10,000-$15,000. Additional examples portraying the allure of the genre include works by Lillian Bassman, Louis Faurer, and Herb Ritts. 

Contemporary Photography will be wonderfully showcased by a number of outstanding works, including Candida Höfer’s Handelingenkamer Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal Den Haag III, 2004, at $50,000-$70,000; Larry Clarks’s portfolios Tulsa, 1980, at $40,000-$60,000, as well as Teenage Lust, 1981, at $40,000-$60,000; Florian Maier-Aichen’s Untitled, 2007, at $30,000-$50,000; Peter Beard’s 756 Elephants, Tsavo at the Mkomazi Border, 1976, at $30,000-$50,000; Massimo Vitali’s Riccioni (#0056) Red Bikini, at $30,000-$50,000; Nick Brandt’s Portrait of 2 Zebras Turning Heads, Ngorongoro Crater, 2005, at $30,000-$50,000; Vik Muniz’s Migrant Mother, after Dorothea Lange from Pictures of Ink, 2000, at $20,000-30,000; Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Chrysler Building- William Van Alen, 1997, at $20,000-$30,000; Pieter Hugo’s Mallam Galadima Ahmadu with Jamis, Abuja, Nigeria, from Gadowan Kura from The Hyena Men, 2007, at $15,000-$20,000; and Michael Reisch’s Landschaft (Landscape) 10-006, 2010, at $15,000-$20,000. Additional contemporary photographers whose works demonstrate the versatility and appeal of the genre include Stéphane Couturier, Valérie Belin, Ahmet Ertug, Bill Henson, Alex Prager, Robert Polidori, Steven Klein, Sebastião Salgado, Shirin Neshat, Darren Almond, Laura Letinsky.