Swann Galleries’ May 19 auction of important photobooks, portfolios and photographs featured classic Twentieth Century images by celebrated photographers, as well as portfolios of their work.
The sale’s top lot was the André Kertész portfolio, “A Hungarian Memory,” which contained 15 silver print photographs of the artist’s homeland from 1914 to 1923, and printed in 1980. It was one of 100 numbered copies and seven artist’s proofs and sold for an auction record of $48,000.
Other notable portfolios and sets of photos in the sale were a select group of five silver prints from the Walker Evans portfolio, 1935‱936, printed 1971, which brought $21,600; one of 50 copies of Barbara Morgan’s “Dance” portfolio, with ten silver prints, 1935‱944, printed in 1977, which went to $13,200; and a portfolio with ten silver prints by Brassaï, containing his iconic Parisian images, 1932‱951, printed in 1973, which realized $16,800.
Exceeding expectations were a group of 50 albumen prints attributed to Frederick Gutekunst, related to the Philadelphia Society of Artists, depicting art classes, exhibition rooms and views of painter and printmaker Stephen Parrish, circa 1878, that brought $15,600; as well as a group of 68 photographs by Herman Rubin of 1930s Hollywood movie palaces that sold for $19,200.
The highest priced individual photograph was Roy DeCarava’s “Dancers,” silver print, 1956, printed 1983, which sold for $22,800 †a record for a modern print of the image.
Vintage silver print highlights were Josef Koudelka’s “Gypsy, Romania,” 1968, $21,600, and “Fatima,” 1973, $11,400; W. Eugene Smith’s poignant “Minamata †Tomoko and Her Mother (Japan),” 1972, $15,600; Helmut Newton’s racy “By-Product of An Advertising Sitting,” 1973, $12,000; and Francesca Woodman’s untitled, 1980, $15,600.
Sought-after modern prints included Paul Strand’s “Lathe, Akeley Shop, New York,” 1923, printed no later than 1940, $10,200; Berenice Abbott’s portrait of James Joyce, 1928, printed circa 1940, $14,400; Henri Cartier-Bresson’s “Hyeres, France,” 1932, printed 1990s, $12,000, and “Bords de la Marne,” 1938, printed late 1980s, $15,600; DeCarava’s “Hallway,” 1953, printed 1982, $11,400; and Gary Winogrand’s untitled (from “Women are Beautiful”), 1968, printed 1981, $10,800.
Featured items from the important photobooks section of the sale were a rare complete run of Alfred Stieglitz’s short-lived art journal 291, named after his New York gallery, numbers 1‱2, March 1915⁆ebruary 1916, $31,200; Alvin Langdon Coburn’s New York, first edition, London & New York, 1910, $14,400; and Ed Ruscha, Twenty-six Gasoline Stations, first edition, Alhambra, California, 1963, $9,600.
All prices reported include the buyer’s premium. For information, 212-254-4710 or www.swanngalleries.com.
