Phillips Announces Highlights From Its New York Fall Auction Of Photographs From The Collection Of The Art Institute Of Chicago

September 16, 2014

Phillips will launch its Fall Photographs season with selections from The Art Institute of Chicago's renowned collection that include superb works by many of the leading classic photographers. The Wednesday, Oct. 1, auction will feature 117 lots with a combined pre-sale low estimate of $1,148,200 and a pre-sale high estimate of $1,659,800.
"The sale of photographs from the collection of The Art Institute of Chicago presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for collectors to purchase a work with a most desirable provenance. The breadth and caliber of the collection is as much a celebration of the medium as it is of the Art Institute's vision in building one of the foremost institutional collections of photography in the world," said Vanessa Kramer Hallett, worldwide head of photographs and senior director, photographs, of Phillips.
"This auction represents the first sale of deaccessioned photographs from The Art Institute of Chicago since collecting began at the museum 65 years ago. It is the result of years of careful review, and the proceeds will go exclusively to furthering acquisitions in photography. The choices on offer here point to the terrific history of the museum's longstanding photography program and will help make possible its future successes," said Matthew S. Witkovsky, Richard and Ellen Sandor chair and curator of the department of photography at The Art Institute of Chicago.
At the helm of the collection is Henri Cartier-Bresson's rare and early print of Córdoba, Spain, in 1933, estimated at $80,000-120,000. Originally from the famed Julien Levy collection in New York, this image captures Cartier-Bresson's early Surrealist sensibilities, depicting the unexpected juxtaposition of two women, one older and real, the other youthful and made of paper. The image was taken the same year Levy held a show for the budding French photographer, and this print, trimmed and mounted, was almost certainly included in the show. It is one of only a handful of early surrealist prints by Cartier-Bresson to ever be offered at auction. Other outstanding photographs in The Art Institute's collection include two works by Edward Weston: an awe-inspiring vista “Dunes, Oceano,” 1936, estimated at $70,000-90,000, printed no later than 1951 and depicting a favored landscape of the artist, and the majestic “Nude,” 1936, estimated at $40,000-60,000, printed circa 1953 by Brett Weston. The auction will also feature Irving Penn's timelessly elegant “Mermaid Dress (Rochas),” Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn, 1950, estimated at $80,000-120,000, an homage to his beloved wife and muse; Lewis Wickes Hine's “Sadie, a Cotton Mill Spinner,” from Lancaster, S.C., in 1908, estimated at $60,000-80,000, a superb example of Hine's groundbreaking work on underage laborers in America, a body of work that subsequently led to Federal regulation; André Kertész's “Untitled (Distortion #167),” 1933, estimated at $30,000-40,000, depicting a quintessentially Modernist configuration of the human form; Ansel Adams's “Moonrise,” in Hernandez, N.M., 1941, estimated at $30,000-50,000, illustrating the celebrated American photographer's love for the American West; and Walker Evans' “Sidewalk and Shopfront,” New Orleans, 1935, estimated at $18,000-22,000.
Other highlights include Gertrude Käsebier's “Auguste Rodin,” 1905, estimated at $20,000-30,000; Robert Frank's “Chicago,” 1956, estimated at $15,000-25,000; and Frederick Sommer's “Paracelsus,” 1960, estimated at $15,000-20,000.
As expected, many photographers whose work had been championed by The Art Institute of Chicago are well presented in the collection including Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, Walker Evans, Julia Margaret Cameron and Yasuhiro Ishimoto.
Other works from this collection will be sold in the London Photographs sale on Tuesday, Nov. 18. Additional works will be sold exclusively online, at Phillips.com, during the month of December.
This sale will be immediately followed by the Phillips Photographs various-owners sale.
For additional information, visit www.phillips.com. Images courtesy of Phillips.




 

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