Yesterday, Christie’s New York showcased a broad range of photographs from the early 20th century through to the present day. As the market for the medium continues to flourish, Christie’s is committed to offering a carefully curated group of desirable prints. Highlights include important photographs from private collections across the globe, and by artists such as Ansel Adams, Eugène Atget, W. Eugene Smith, Robert Frank, Vik Muniz, William Eggleston, Lee Friedlander, Robert Adams, Irving Penn and Richard Avedon. Overall, the sale contains 298 lots with a projected sale total of between $4.5 – 6.8 million.
The work of Ansel Adams is very well-represented in the sale, including the top lot, Clearing Storm, Sonoma County Hills, 1951(estimate: $200,000-300,000) , which encompasses five remarkable gelatin silver print enlargements, originally created as a folding screen for installation in a Sonoma County ranch. Throughout his career, Adams produced only twelve to fifteen decorative screens. Most of these screens now reside within the collections of museums and other institutions, or remain with the artist’s family. Several screens are missing and may have been destroyed over the years or, as in the case of the present lot, altered to fit into a new environment. In their present form, the panels retain their extraordinary visual impact. This is a highly important and extraordinarily rare work of art, with significant provenance. Adams will also be represented by the mural sized Aspens, Northern New Mexico, 1958 (estimate: $150,000-250,000), as well as extraordinary and rarely offered five-part Surf Sequence, A-E, 1940 (estimate: $100,000-150,000).
The sale is also highlighted by a collection of 10 extremely important works by Robert Frank, acquired directly from the artist, including Fourth of July – Jay, New York, 1956 (estimate: $100,000-150,000), Charleston, S.C., 1956 (estimate: $100,000-150,000) , and London, 1951 ($90,000-120,000).
Additional important highlights include a very strong selection of works by Peter Beard with an oversized Bull Eland Passing Elephants Digging Water, near Kathamula Tsavo, North, for The End of the Game, February 1965 ($80,000-120,000), Vik Muniz’s early portfolio, The Best of Life (estimate: $80,000-120,000), a group of 10 gelatin silver prints portraying the artist’s memory-renderings of the iconic images from Life Magazine created from his memory, and a particularly compelling group of vintage prints by Lee Friedlander, including the highly sought-after Galax, Va., 1962 (estimate: $40,000-60,000).
