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Important Photographs by Constantin Brancusi, Richard Avedon, Andy Warhol, Wolfgang Tillmans and more

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Sotheby’s Photographies sale in Paris on 9 November features standout pieces by such established artists as Constantin Brancusi, Richard Avedon, Andy Warhol and Wolfgang Tillmans. It includes early daguerreotypes from Rome, a surrealism section with works by Hans Bellmer, Man Ray and Claude Cahun and a contemporary photography section that includes works by Alex Prager and Hiroshi Sugimoto. Click the image above to view the slideshow.

Past Auction
Photographies
9 November 2018 | 4:00 PM CET | Paris
Past Auction
Modernism: Photographs from a Distinguished Private Collection
9 November 2018 | 3:00 PM CET | Paris

Important Photographs by Constantin Brancusi, Richard Avedon, Andy Warhol, Wolfgang Tillmans and more

  • © The Richard Avedon Foundation © Photograph by Adrian Panaro, 1977
    © Sam Shaw Inc., licensed by Shaw Family Archives, Ltd
    Richard Avedon, Dovima with elephants, Evening Dress by Dior, Cirque d'hiver, Paris, 1955.
    Estimate €600,000–900,000
    Richard Avedon is considered one of the most important fashion photographers in the history of photography. This image appeared for the first time in Harper's Bazaar in September 1955 after Avedon was sent to Paris by Editor Carmel Snow to photograph the fall couture collections. A series of 15 of his photographs were selected to illustrate a piece entitled 'Carmel Snow's Paris Report'. The most famous photograph from this series is Dovima with Elephants.

    This photograph is an important piece of fashion history as the evening dress worn by Dovima is one of the very first creations of a nineteen-year-old Yves Saint Laurent who was the new assistant of Christian Dior.
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  • © The Richard Avedon Foundation
    Richard Avedon
    Andy Warhol and members of The Factory, 1969
    Estimate €30,000–40,000
    From left to right: Paul Morrissey, director; Joe Dallesandro, actor; Candy Darling, actor; Eric Emerson, actor; Jay Johnson, actor; Tom Hempertz, actor; Gerard Malanga, poet; Viva, actress: Paul Morrissey; Taylor Mead, actor; Brigid Polk, actress; Joe Dallesandro, Andy Warhol, artist.
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  • © Copyright Wolfgang Tillmans. Courtesy Maureen Paley, London
    Wolfgang Tillmans
    Park Work I, Park Work II, Park Work III, 2000
    Estimate €80,000–120,000
    Wolfgang Tillmans' interest in photography as a medium goes beyond the camera. In 1998, he introduced abstraction into his work, moving into a new realm of visual language. Three of his unique works executed in 2000, Park I, II and III, belong to the artist's studies in the behaviour of light and color. His time spent working in the darkroom led to beautiful prints such as these in which, through a rich palette and deep tones, he achieves a sense of disassociation from the real world.
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  • © Alex Prager Studio and Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong.
    Courtesy Alex Prager Studio, Lehmann Maupin, New York and Hong Kong.
    Alex Prager
    Hazelwood #2 (After Steven Siegel), 2014
    Estimate €20,000–30,000
    Alex Prager is an American photographer and film director well-known for works which reference cinema. This photograph taken in a low angle shot illustrates perfectly the hyper realist aesthetic of the old Hollywood that we can find in Prager’s works.
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  • © Succession Brancusi - All rights reserved (Adagp), 2018
    Constantin Brancusi
    Vue d'atelier, circa 1923
    Estimate €30,000–50,000
    This image shows some of Brancusi's most important works. The focus is on the bronze in the center, the Danaïde. The background reveals a wide column of the Door of Kiss in Târgu Jiu garden while in the foreground, on the right, we can see the head of Leda rising from the marble blocks and a rare French Little Girl. This rare print of the studio of Constantin Brancusi is unique. A work in the collection of Centre Pompidou shows the Danaïde scultpture from a different angle.
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  • © Man Ray 2015 Trust / Adagp, Paris 2018
    Man Ray
    Electricité, 1931
    Estimate €20,000–30,000
    Électricité is one of the most acclaimed of Man Ray’s works. It was originally a set of ten rayograms that the artist created for the Parisian Electricity Company (CPDE) to promote the domestic use of electricity. Man Ray showed how electricity could be a modern topic. The portfolio was intended to be distributed by the company to its managers and best clients.
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  • © Robert Frank
    Robert Frank
    Elevator, Miami Beach Hotel, 1955
    Estimate €60,000–90,000
    Elevator, Miami Beach Hotel is one of the rarest photographs from The Americans. It is believed that no other print of this image has appeared at auction. The Bloom Collection print is further distinguished by its impressive size, and by the fact that it shows a greater expanse of the negative than published versions. The image made an impression upon Jack Kerouac, who concludes his introduction to The Americans as follows: 'And I say: That little ole lonely elevator girl looking up sighing in an elevator full of blurred demons, what's her name & address?'
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  • © The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation
    Robert Mapplethorpe
    Untitled (Patti Smith), circa 1973
    Estimate €10,000–15,000
    After their encounter in 1967, Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe continued to maintain a strong relationship as lovers and artistic associates. Patti has been very often photographed by Mapplethorpe as a muse, a model and a rock icon.
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  • © Sohei Nishino
    Sohei Nishino
    Diorama Of Paris, 2009
    Estimate €30,000–50,000
    In his spectacular compositions, Nishino associates photographs, collages and typographies to create dioramas of urban landscapes. Inspired by Ino Tadataka, a Japanese cartographer from the 18th century, his creations reinvent the cities he visited.
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  • © Estate of André Kertész
    André Kertész
    Cello study, 1926
    Estimate €400,000–600,000
    Directly from the private collection of André Kertész, it is believed that this print is one of three or four made by the photographer from the negative at the same time in 1926 while living in Paris on Boulevard Montparnasse. According to Kertész, this is one of the his favourite images from Paris. It is certainly also one of the most representative images of modern photography.
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