This exciting auction features numerous highly sought-after photography portfolios, such as Robert Mapplethorpe’s Portfolio Z, Lawrence Schiller’s Marilyn 12 Portfolio, Jock Sturges Twenty Five Years suite, Allan Tannenbaum’s New York Punk: 1979–1981, and Roman Vishniac’s The Vanished World Portfolio, as well as complete suites of photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alexander Rodchenko, Gavin Bond, Erwin Olaf, Berenice Abbott, and more.
Our Photography Portfolios sale is live for bidding now through January 14 on artnet Auctions.
https://www.artnet.com/auctions/photography-portfolios-0116/
• Erwin Olaf
Grief Portfolio (8 works), 2007
Chromogenic prints
Edition of 15
10.2 x 7.9 in. (each)
Est. 8,000–12,000 USD
Erwin Olaf’s Grief series features images of solitary men and women in tearful silence, each dressed in American fashions from the 1960s. Olaf was inspired to create this series upon seeing a photography book on the Kennedy family. After his previous series Hope and Rain, the portraits in Grief provide a final chapter to Olaf’s character-focused fascination with the visual representation of emotions such as loss, loneliness, and quiet despair. This portfolio comes housed in its original burgundy velour box.
• Robert Mapplethorpe
Portfolio Z (complete portfolio of 13 works), 1979–1981
Selenium-toned archival gelatin silver prints
Edition of 25
7.56 x 7.56 in. (each)
Est. 50,000–70,000 USD
This portfolio, which features many of the artist’s most sought-after photographs, is rarely seen at auction. Portfolios “X,” “Y,” and “Z” are best known for sparking controversy when the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. planned to feature them in a major retrospective of the artist’s work—only to ultimately cancel the exhibition. Perhaps one of the most iconic images from this portfolio, Man in Polyester Suit, recently achieved $478,000 at auction in a larger dimension.
• Bill Owens
Suburbia: 15 photographs (complete portfolio), 1970–1972
Gelatin silver prints
Edition of 15
10 x 8 in. (each)
Est. 10,000–15,000 USD
Bill Owens is celebrated for his documentary work in the 1970s, and in particular for his series Suburbia. As a photographer at the Livermore Independent, Owens was exposed to Californian suburban life and the materiality of the American Dream. In these photographs, Owens records quotidian scenes and fleeting moments that permeate the collective memory of all who grew up or live in similar communities.
• Berenice Abbott
Faces of the ’20s (portfolio of 12), circa 1928
Gelatin silver prints
Edition of 60
14 x 11 in. (each)
Est. 14,000–18,000 USD
Berenice Abbott’s body of work encapsulates a particular era in New York City. This portfolio features striking portraits of some of the most memorable and outlandish figures of 1920s Manhattan, captured in Abbott’s distinctly candid style.
• David Levinthal
Five Trails West Portfolio (5 works), 1988
Cibachrome
Edition of 10
24 x 20 in. (each)
Est. 10,000–15,000 USD
David Levinthal’s works touch upon many aspects of American culture, from Barbie to baseball, and—shown here—the American West. Levinthal uses small toys and props combined with dramatic lighting to construct miniature environments that often feature intense themes and subject matter. Through his skilled approach to photography, Levinthal is able to bring his small toys to life and achieve an inferred narrative and a sense of real movement.
• Henri Cartier-Bresson
Untitled (set of 4 works), 1933–1989
Photogravures on paper
7 x 10.25 in. (each)
Est. 18,000–24,000 USD
This portfolio of four Henri Cartier-Bresson photographs spans several decades and represents the artist’s keen eye for intriguing compositions and enigmatic subjects. The subject of the first photograph, Italy (1933), is Leonor Fini, a well-known Argentinian Surrealist painter who rubbed elbows with some of the most accomplished artists of the 20th century, including Max Ernst, Georges Bataille, Pablo Picasso, and Salvador Dalí. The bodies in these photos strike poses that draw the viewer in, curious to know more about these seductive characters.
• Various Artists
The Lily Sarah Grace Portfolio (complete portfolio of 6 works), 2010
Chromogenic prints
Edition of 100
10 x 8.5 in. (each)
Est. 5,500–8,500 USD
A suite of six signed photographs by Cindy Sherman, Marilyn Minter, Laurie Simmons, Anne Collier, Jack Pierson, and Mary Heilmann, The Lily Sarah Grace Portfolio presents an exciting opportunity to acquire important works by today’s leading Contemporary artists. The winning bid amount will go the Lily Sarah Grace Fund, which challenges and empowers teachers in underfunded public elementary schools to deliver best-practice instruction via Arts-Infused Inquiry-Based Learning (AIIBL).
INFORMATION
Photography Portfolio
January 7–14, 2016
artnet Auctions
