I n celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Sotheby’s photographs auctions, our New York and London specialists present 50 masterworks spanning the entire history of the medium. In New York, the birth of photography is represented by an extraordinary trove of nearly 200 prints by William Henry Fox Talbot, collected by his devoted sister Horatia and passed by descent through family. The sale features exceptional works by women photographers, such as a rare early print of Imogen Cunningham’s modernist study Triangles; a surreal Nude by Lee Miller; and Anne Brigman’s quintessential composition The Dying Cedar. Classic American photographs include Carleton Watkins’s The Garrison, Columbia River, one of only two known prints in private hands, and a bravura early print of Ansel Adams’ seminal Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico. Iconic postwar images include an early print of Robert Frank’s U.S. 90, Yves Klein’s Leap into the Void, Lee Friedlander’s Galax, and Roy DeCarava’s Dancers, each one a defining photograph of the artist’s life and work. In a contemporary vein, Sebastião Salgado’s magnum opus Serra Pelada, Gold Miners, Brazil, and Richard Misrach’s mesmerizing, mural-sized image of water prove that masters of the medium still walk among us.
Lots 1-25 will be offered in New York with bidding open 12-21 April.
Lots 26-50 will be offered in London with bidding from 12-22 April.
Exhibition dates
Open by appointment
Thursday, 15 April, 10 am to 5 pm
Friday, 16 April 10 am to 5 pm
Saturday, 17 April 10 am to 5 pm
Sunday, 18 April 1 pm to 5 pm
Monday, 19 April 10 am to 5 pm
Tuesday, 20 April 10 am to 5 pm
