Kansas City, Missouri-Ralston Crawford, who celebrated the modern American industrial landscape in a precisionist style and captured the vitality of New Orleans jazz culture, is the subject of a photography exhibition opening at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City Oct. 26 through April 7, 2019. Structured Vision: The Photographs of Ralston Crawford, showcases the museum’s deep holdings of his work.

“Ralston Crawford’s photographs have a profound energy,” said Julián Zugazagoitia, Menefee D. and Mary Louise Blackwell CEO & Director of the Nelson-Atkins. “Throughout his career he juxtaposed creation and destruction, form and chaos. His body of work is wonderfully varied and reflects how complicated and rich one artistic sensibility can be.”

George Ralston Crawford (1906-1978) was born in Canada but grew up in Buffalo, New York, where his interest in docks, shipyards, bridges, and grain elevators blossomed. He was a sailor as a young adult and began studying art in the late 1920s, painting characteristically American subjects such as highways, bridges, and machines. His work was precise and geometric, emphasizing bold, simple forms.

“Ralston Crawford is an important artist in the Nelson-Atkins collection because he applied a painter’s eye to the challenge of making interesting photographs,” said Keith F. Davis, Senior Curator, Photography. “There is enormous variety in his work, from industrial subjects to street life and cemeteries of New Orleans. Some of his pictures are about pure geometry; others celebrate the improvisational vitality of everyday life. Ultimately, all of Crawford’s work is about the interrelationship of structure and change.”

Crawford worked actively from the 1930s through the 1970s. He absorbed and expressed the basic energies of the mid-twentieth century, from the era’s industrial might to the destructive power of war and the atomic bomb. He celebrated the most basic of forces: creation, decay, time, and change. He traveled extensively throughout his life to paint, produce lithographs, take photographs, and teach. In addition to key gifts from the Hall Family Foundation, the artist’s son, Neelon Crawford, was instrumental in increasing the Nelson-Atkins’s holdings of his father’s photographs.

The exhibition is accompanied by a new book, The Photographs of Ralston Crawford, written by Davis, providing a fresh, comprehensive look at Crawford’s photographs from 1938 through the mid-1970s, including both well-known works and previously unpublished images. This volume, published by Yale University Press, is distributed for the Hall Family Foundation in association with the Nelson-Atkins.

New York - Christie’s is thrilled to announce the auction of one of the most important manuscripts by the 20th century’s most famous thinker, Albert Einstein’s God Letter (Estimate: $1,000,000 - 1,500,000) on 4 December 2018. This letter, which is addressed to philosopher Eric Gutkind, combines Einstein’s thoughts on religion, his Jewish identity, and his own search for meaning in life. Written a year before Einstein’s death in 1955, it remains the most fully articulated expression of his religious and philosophical views.

Peter Klarnet, Senior Specialist Books & Manuscripts, Christie’s remarks: “Christie’s is honored to present this important Albert Einstein letter at auction as it concerns themes that have been central to human enquiry since the dawn of human consciousness, and it is one of the definitive statements in the Religion vs Science debate.”

Einstein wrote this remarkable private letter in response to Gutkind’s book, Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt. He offers his candid and unvarnished opinion that: “The word God is for me nothing but the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of venerable but still rather primitive legends. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can (for me) change anything about this.” And despite a strong cultural affinity with the Jewish people, Einstein did not exclude Judaism from his critique: he admired and loved his people, but is clear in his belief that they were not “chosen” above others.

The letter stands as Einstein’s clearest and most important expression of his views on God, Religion, and man’s eternal search for meaning. This letter will be on public view at Pace Gallery in San Francisco on 25 October, at our San Francisco Office by appointment 29-31 October, and open to the public 1 November and in our New York galleries ahead of the auction from 30 November to 3 December. Tour details can be found on our website.

Peter Harrington, one of the world’s largest rare booksellers, is attending the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair this October with 75 of its finest rare books, each of which has a fascinating history. The Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair is being held at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall from 10am - 6pm on Saturday October 13th and from 11am - 4pm on Sunday October 14th.

Pom Harrington, the owner of Peter Harrington, says “We are bringing with us some absolutely fascinating rare books which we have specially selected to be of interest to visitors to this fair. Do come and visit us if you can to see these incredible historic books and to talk to our experts on the stand.”

Items on display will include:

The Second Folio of Comedies, Histories & Tragedies by William Shakespeare (1632) which is the earliest practically obtainable edition of the greatest single volume in English literature ($358,000); 

A first edition of Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1934) which is inscribed by the author to his sometimes lover Margaret Case Harriman “For Margaret Harriman, who has inspired all my books this tale of our life together in Switzerland, France & USSR from Her Chattel F. Scott Fitzgerald July 1935” ($42,300);

A first edition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) inscribed by the author Mark Twain “To Miss Annie Price from the Author, with Merry Christmas 1887.” Annie Price was the niece of Twain’s fellow author Charles Dudley Warner ($117,000);

One of the 5,150 paperback first editions of Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone (1997) by JK Rowling ($6,500); 

A Tribute in Words & Pictures by Margaret Thatcher (2005) inscribed to her son, “Mark Lots of love Mum”. The book was produced for Margaret Thatcher’s 80th birthday but this copy wasn’t presented to Mark and was retained in her personal library ($5,800);

African Game Trails by Theodore Roosevelt (1910) first edition, inscribed by Roosevelt ($4,200);

A first edition of In His Own Write by John Lennon (1964). This was his first book, which was also illustrated by him and was signed by him too and is therefore exceedingly rare. It was also the first solo project by a member of the Beatles ($9,750);

Death in the Afternoon by Ernest Hemingway (1932). This first edition is inscribed by Hemingway, “To Bob Kriendler with best wishes from his friend Ernest Hemingway”. The recipient was Robert “Bob” Kriendler, who ran, with his brothers, the iconic speakeasy 21 Club, one of Hemingway's favorite New York watering holes. Bob Kriendler persuaded his brother Jack to stock the books of their famous author-customers and often, a customer who bought a book discovered that the author was in the club, so he could depart not only having eaten a good meal, but with a signed first edition ($19,500);

In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway (1924) which is his first collection of short stories. This is a first edition numbered 69 of the 170 copies printed ($71,600).

Dallas - An oversized dye destruction print of one of the most iconic magazine cover images ever shot is expected to be among the top lots in Heritage Auctions’ Photographs Auction Oct. 12 in New York, an event that could eclipse $1 million total sales. The auction includes 430 lots from the 19th century to the 21st century, with collections of images by several photographers, including Steve McCurry, Eliot Porter and Jonathan M. Singer.

Steve McCurry’s Afghan Girl, 1984 (estimate: $30,000-50,000) captured the attention of readers worldwide when it appeared on the cover of National Geographic magazine in June 1985. The striking image captured Sharbat Gula when she was a 12-year-old Afghan girl in a refugee camp in Pakistan, her sea green eyes showing simultaneous curiosity and uncertainty - she never had been photographed before - about the camera pointed in her direction.

“This is the most recognized photograph in the history of National Geographic - I have heard it called ‘the First World’s Third World Mona Lisa,’” Heritage Auctions Photographs Director Nigel Russell said of the 36-1/2-by-24-1/2-inch image that is signed in ink lower margin recto by the photographer. “Her expression reveals an intimate glimpse into the way she is affected by the world around her.”

The auction features eight images by McCurry, including Dust Storm, Rajasthan, India, 1983 (estimate: $15,000-25,000), another oversized (37-1/8-by-24-5/8-inch) dye deconstruction print that is signed and annotated in black ink mount recto. One of three artist’s proofs from an edition of 25 + 3 APs, the image shows eight women huddled together, shielding themselves from the flying sand.

McCurry’s Ahmadi Oil Fields, Kuwait, 1991 (estimate: $15,000-25,000) is a powerful image taken during the Gulf War showing the juxtaposition of nature and the manmade world, with camels grazing while oilfields burn in the background. This 25-1/2-by-38-inch artist’s proof, from an edition of 15 + 1, is signed and annotated in ink mount recto.

Other featured works include:

·         Robert Mapplethorpe Tulips, 1979 (estimate: $10,000-15,000)

·         Erwin Blumenfeld Suzy Parker Solarized Profile with Jewelry, New York, 1946-47 (estimate: $10,000-15,000)

·         Wang Qingsong China Mansion, 2003 (estimate: $10,000-15,000)

·         Edward Steichen Still-life with Sink and Soap, 1930 (estimate: $8,000-12,000)

·         Lászlo Moholy-Nagy Light Space Modulator, 1930 (estimate: $6,000-8,000)

·         Julia Margaret Cameron Kate Keown, 1866 (estimate: $5,000-7,000)

·         Richard Avedon Mike Nichols, circa 1960 (estimate: $4,000-6,000)

·         Man Ray Serge Lifar as Sergeant in Barabau, 1925 (estimate: $4,000-6,000)

The auction includes 12 lots by Porter, a 20th-century American photographer known best for his photographs of nature, including:

·         Western Landscapes (complete with twelve photographs), 1988 (estimate: $6,000-8,000)

·         Portfolio One: The Seasons (complete with twelve photographs), 1951-1961 (estimate: $6,000-8,000)

·         There Is My Own Spirit Portfolio (10 Photographs), 1934-1963 (estimate: $5,000-7,000)

A doctor who turned his interest in photography into a career that included receipt of the Hasselblad Laureate Award and the Carl Linnaeus Silver Medal, Singer is known best for his botanical images. This auction includes eight, including:

·         Red Tower Ginger, 2008 (estimate: $1,000-2,000)

·         Orchid, from the series Botanica Magnifica, 2008 (estimate: $1,000-2,000)

·         Orange Flower Unique, 2008 (estimate: $1,000-2,000)

·         Tulips, from the series Botanica Magnifica, 2008 (estimate: $1,000-2,000)

The images by Porter and Singer come from the 104-lot collection of Jeffrey M. Kaplan, which also includes several lots of photographs from Henri Cartier-Bresson, Andre Kertesz and Camera Work photogravures. Kaplan’s “love of nature is evident in his comprehensive collection of works by Eliot Porter and the large-scale color flowers of Jonathan M. Singer,” Russell said. “His egalitarian approach to collecting meant that a Camera Work photogravure or a portrait of a Hollywood actress would hang proudly next to a Henri Cartier-Bresson or a Robert Mapplethorpe. This approach is also apparent by his collecting of works by lesser-known photographers. With Kaplan, it is the image itself that is his prime consideration.”

Philadelphia—Freeman’s September 27 Books, Maps & Manuscripts auction, brought close to 500 lots of rare and important books, historical documents, prints, maps, and related ephemera to buyers and collectors. The sale, which was the first under new Department Head Darren Winston, totaled $342,550, with 80% of the lots sold, and 100% by value.

The day’s highlights included Lot 291, a first English edition of Common Sense by Thomas Paine, bound with his Plain Truth and several other complementary titles, which more than doubled its high estimate, selling for $28,750. Lot 58, An early 19th century complete collection of symphonies by Mozart and Beethoven soared past its presale estimate of $500-800, eventually selling after a spirited round of bidding for $12,500. The two volumes, which also included a collection of symphonies by Haydn, achieved over 15 times their estimate. An autographed letter signed by Alfred Nobel, from 1895 (Lot 392), also exceeded its presale estimate by a staggering margin, selling for $7,800 against an estimate of $500-800.

Lot 114, a first edition of Winnie-The-Pooh by A.A. Milne, signed by both the author as well as Ernest H. Shepard, the illustrator behind the darling characters in the Hundred Acre Wood, sold for $9,375, more than doubling its high estimate. A fantastic set in 24 volumes, by Charles Nodier, among others, entitled Voyages pittoresques et romantiques dans l’ancienne France, (Lot 246), is considered one of the most striking achievements in the history of printmaking, and represents one of the most monumental works of publication in France in the 19th century. It sold for $12,500. Of local interest, An Old Man’s Experience manuscript by Benjamin Franklin, sold for more than 30 times its presale estimate of $3,250, against just $100-150.

Lot 176, John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces, recently featured on an episode of PBS’s The Great American Read as a Top 100 classic, sold for $6,250, setting a new auction record for a first edition of this cult classic. The book is signed by Walker Percy, who helped see the book into print and wrote its foreword. Since its publication in 1980, only 21 copies have come to auction. Of the 21, only two were signed by Percy. Lot 142, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, sold for over five times its estimate, for $3,510.

A three-volume set of John James Audubon’s, The Quadrupeds of North America, from 1856 (Lot 264) was the third edition and the last to be produced by the Audubon family, by sons Victor Gifford and John Woodhouse Audubon, who decided to issue this octavo edition of the enormous folio Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (1845-1848), with the same text by John Bachman, during the last years of their father’s life. The lot sold for $10,000.

Freeman’s Books, Maps & Manuscripts Department is currently inviting consignments for their next auction, to be held in January. Suitable consignments will be accepted through October.

New York— On Thursday, October 18, Swann Galleries will offer the auction Artists & Amateurs: Photographs & Photobooks. A million-dollar lot leads the wide-ranging and high-value sale, which features historical and contemporary fine art photographers alongside standout vernacular material.

The sale is led by Edward S. Curtis’s The North American Indian. Complete with 20 text volumes, in original deluxe Levant binding, and corresponding portfolios, this set, #11, was among those reserved for J.P. Morgan, who later gifted it to the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. It is one of the earliest editions of Curtis’s magnum opus to be offered at public auction.

Curtis traveled extensively throughout the continental U.S. and Alaska and lived among Native peoples, which allowed him special access to document rituals and objects that inhabited this expansive region. In 1906 he secured a meeting with Morgan, who provided financial support for the monumental project. The North American Indian, 1907-30, is an unprecedented visual record, with thousands of beautiful images depicting the majesty of Native American culture. The set is expected to bring $1,000,000 to $1,500,000.

Earlier photographs documenting cultures include an album containing 200 hand-colored cartes-de-viste from Japan and China, including occupationals, military men, tattooed subjects, civic figures, criminals, aristocrats and tradeswomen, 1863-69. Artists in the album include Felice Beato, John Thomson and Frederick Sutton (estimate: $30,000-45,000).

Superlative vintage prints include Constantin Brâncusi’s Vu d’atelier, a circa 1928 silver print, featuring four of the artist’s iconic sculptures, is expected to bring $30,000 to $45,000.

From fine art and ethnography to exquisite amateur photographs: vernacular works include the album Bohemia Mid-Summer Junks, with 22 photographs of an exclusive male campground for the rich and famous, secreted in the California redwoods, and a binder containing 30 photographs of mafioso’s wives, mothers and gal pals including the infamous Bonnie (with Clyde), “Machine Gun” Kelly and a companion, and the glamorous Mrs. Al Capone ($2,000-3,000 and $1,000-1,500, respectively).

More contemporary fine art features a suite of 25 photographs by Malick Sidibé, in the artist’s custom frames and depicting the people of Bamako, Mali. Collectively the images convey the celebratory nature of “community” ($20,000-30,000).

A 1991 portfolio, with 12 Roy DeCarava’s hand-printed dust-grain photogravures, which include the artist’s iconic images of Harlem, is being offered at $50,000 to $75,000. While abstract works by Aaron Siskind are led by a suite of 50 original silver prints ($40,000-60,000). Further recent works by Zoe Leonard, Sally Mann, Marilyn Minter and Sandy Skoglund are also present in the sale.

Beyond the Curtis set, highlights among phtoobooks include contemporary Japanese artists. Highlights include Yasuhiro Ishimoto’s Aruhi Arutokor [Someday, Somewhere], Tokyo, 1958, comprised of black-and-white and color reproductions of Ishimoto’s compelling photographs of Tokyo and Chicago ($2,500-3,500); Eikoh Hosoe’s Embrace, Tokyo, 1971, boasts beautifully illustrated reproductions of Hosoe’s photos of the human body ($500-750); and Kazuo Kenmochi’s Narcotic Photographic Document, Tokyo, 1963, showcases images of Japan’s drug culture from the late 1950s to early 1960s ($800-1,200).

Also included are first editions of Richard Prince’s three books: Menthol Pictures, Menthol Wars, War Pictures, New York, 1980. The works are Prince’s first and rarest publication; they are offered together for $7,000 to $10,000.

Chicago — Potter & Potter Auctions is pleased to announce their upcoming Houdiniana sales event to be held on Saturday, October 20, 2018 starting at 10am at the company's gallery, located at 3759 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago, IL 60613. All items from this upcoming sale will be on display and available for preview on Thursday, October 18th and Friday, October 19th from 10:00am to 5:00pm in the Potter & Potter facility. 

True to its name, this sale offers a breathtaking array of materials and ephemera related to legendary magician Harry Houdini (1874-1926).  Although Houdini passed away more than nine decades ago, interest in his life story and legendary performances, as well as his impact on the entertainment industry, are still as strong as ever.  It’s go big or go home with lot #62, an eight-sheet (109” x 86”) color lithograph billboard from 1924 titled Buried Alive! Egyptian Fakirs Outdone. Master Mystifier. This can’t-look-away broadside advertises a sensational stunt that Houdini would never perform - an escape from a coffin buried under shovelfuls of heavy earth.  It pictures Houdini’s head floating above an Egyptian scene featuring the Sphinx.  It is estimated at $5,000-7,000.  Lot #95, a c. 1901 brochure titled Tremendous Success of Houdini is estimated at $500-750.  This four page publication from c. 1901 includes testimonials from London newspapers of various Houdini appearances at the Alahambra Theatre in 1900.  And lot #23, a pictorial newsprint brochure advertising Houdini’s performance at the Orpheum Theatre, is estimated at $250-350.  This c. 1914 rarity, titled The Justly World Famous Self-Liberator Harry Houdini, features a bust portrait of the magician on its cover.

There’s no denying Houdini’s appeal translated seamlessly across continents and cultures. Lot #22, a 1921 Spanish language cinema magazine promoting the films of Houdini is estimated at $200-300. The publication, Tras La Pantalla (After the Screen) includes halftone movie stills and drawings of Houdini. And lot #96, a 1903 Russian language color lithographed image of Houdini performing at the Yar is estimated at $250-350. It shows a caricatured Houdini on stage in locks and chains before an audience. The Yar was a Moscow restaurant that attracted elite social and political figures and featured top-tier entertainers. 

This sale’s offering of about 100 antique to modern magic book lots is bound to generate tons of interest.  Houdini scholar John Bushey specialized in Houdini pitch books and this sale includes some of the finest from his collection. Lot #1, a truly rare and incredible 1898 copy of Houdini’s own Magic Made Easy by Harry Houdini. King of Cards…Monarch of Shackles and Handcuffs is estimated at $3,000-4,000. It was published in Chicago by B. Schulman, and includes spirit photos of Houdini freed from shackles by a ghost, a merchandise catalog listing 62 props and apparatus, “Hints for Amateurs” and an ad for Prof. Harry Houdini’s “School of Magic” in New York.  Lot #208, a highly desirable first edition of S.W. Erdnase’s The Expert at the Card Table, is estimated at $6,000-9,000.   This 1902 book - considered an essential modern work on sleight of hand - is illustrated with over 100 drawings “from life” by Marshall D. Smith.  And lot #224, a rare copy of Burling Hull and Ormond McGill’s copiously illustrated The Encyclopedia of Stage Illusions is estimated at $400-600. Only 500 copies of this book were published in 1980; of these, many were suppressed due to copyright infringement.  

It’s all treats and no tricks when it comes to the apparatus available through this October Houdiniana sale.  Lot #290, a fine, turned hardwood cannonball vase is estimated at $4,000-6,000. It measures 19-1/2” high and is nearly identical in appearance to the one illustrated in the pages of Thayer’s Magical Woodcraft catalog from 1912.  Lot #327, a traveling ball vase set made at the turn of last century by Martinka, is estimated at $1,500-2,000. With this illusion, the performer lifts the lids, shows the audience red and blue balls, then replace the lids. Soon after, they again lift the lids to reveal that the red and blue balls have changed places.  And bird’s the word with lot #368, a modern vanishing bird cage made by Nielsen Magic of Las Vegas. This trick enables the performer to make a cage full of doves disappear silently, effortlessly, and smoothly with one move.  It is estimated at $1,200-1,500.

This sale’s selections of remarkable automatons should have collectors moving and grooving.  About a dozen fine examples are on offer, with several from French artist Pierre Mayer.  Lot #275, Mayer’s Blooming Orange Tree automaton and music box from 2005, is estimated at $3,000-5,000.  When the handle is turned, a small tree first grows flowers, then bears orange fruits. Finally, the orange at the top splits open to reveal a silk handkerchief pulled by two butterflies. This magnificently rendered piece is signed by the maker and is modeled after the famous automaton/magic trick of Robert-Houdin.  And lot #286, a c. 1990’s Satyr Head clockwork automaton from the Collectors’ Workshop of Middleburg, VA, is estimated at $4,000-6,000. Its design is based on 19th century models and consists of a heavily cast bronze satyr’s head with exposed works. When activated, the figure’s eyes and teeth move, the satyr’s grotesquely long tongue unfurls, and cards appear from his mouth and from between his horns. 

Potter & Potter Auctions enjoys a well-deserved reputation of being the world’s finest auction house for buying or selling magic-related archives.  For example, the company sold a Chicago Magic Roundtable 1946 scrapbook featuring signatures, brochures, business cards, photographs, letters, and newspaper clippings for $19,200 on a $2,000-3,000 estimate at its August, 2018 magic sale.  October’s auction also features outstanding magic collections. Lot #60, a group of ephemera related to escape artists from the first half of the 20th century is estimated at $800-1,200. This intriguing collection includes advertisements, signed publicity photographs, postcards, programs, letters, photographs, instructional booklets, and other ephemera, from performers including Doc Weiss, C.B. Yohe, J.H. Trudel, Murray, Nicola, Herbert Brooks, Earl Lockman, Maurice Raymond, Leon Hormori, and others. And lot #66, a small cloth autograph album signed by top talents from the 1909-1912 timeframe is estimated at $2,500-3,500. It includes inscriptions by 28 magicians, hypnotists, and ventriloquists, most notably Max Malini, Harry Houdini (signing “Harry Handcuff Houdini/The Original Handcuff King,” dated in his hand), Chung Ling Soo (signing “Sincerely Yours/Chung Ling Soo”, and adding Chinese characters), Dante (signing “Jansen”), and many others. 

This Houdini-themed comes full circle with comprehensive selections of posters, letters, props, photographs, and other antique magicana. Worth a second look is lot #61, a glass column double mystery clock after Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin. This fabulous example, estimated at $10,000-20,000 is handsomely decorated with a clear glass dial, a single arrow-shaped hand, Roman numerals, four griffins, and a pale emerald plush-covered base with gilt appliques.  In June, 2018 Potter & Potter sold a mid-nineteenth century Robert-Houdin glass column mystery clock for $36,000. Lot #149, a color lithograph, A Dream of Wealth. Chung Ling Soo, is estimated at $3,500-4,500.  This 30” x 20" linen-backed poster from 1915 features the magician producing endless quantities of coins and bank notes.  And finally, there’s no escaping lot #68, a pair of Providence Tool Co. Handcuffs from the Houdini—Wresch Collection. This marked, 19th century set of handcuffs includes its original key and is accompanied by a series of letters fully documenting its provenance and chain of ownership from the Houdini family onward.  It is estimated at $4,000-6,000.

According to Gabe Fajuri, President at Potter & Potter Auctions, “Houdini continues to inspire magicians and attract collectors - his memorabilia consistently commands high prices at auction. John Bushey was a personal friend, making this auction a bittersweet celebration of a truly passionate collector and scholar's lifelong pursuit of rare and desirable Houdini memorabilia.”

Los Angeles - For more than 40 years, Sally Mann (b. 1951) has made experimental, intimate, and hauntingly beautiful photographs that explore themes of memory, desire, death, the bonds of family, and nature's indifference to human endeavor. Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings, on view November 16, 2018-February 10, 2019 at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Center, is the first major survey of this celebrated artist to travel internationally, and the first to investigate how Mann's relationship with her native land, the American South—a place rich in literary and artistic traditions but troubled by history—has shaped her work. The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts. The Getty is the only West Coast venue for this international tour, which brings together 110 photographs, many exhibited for the first time.

Mann’s work—photographs of people, places, and things—is united by its focus on the American South. Drawing from her deep love of her homeland and her knowledge of its historically fraught heritage, Mann asks powerful, provocative questions—about history, identity, race, and religion—that reverberate across geographic and national boundaries.

“Sally Mann’s distinctive approach to photographing the South has earned her a special place in the history of a genre that includes many of the greatest names in American photography,” says Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “Her complex, evocative landscapes and intimate images of her family are reminiscent of classic work from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but she manages always to give her photographs an individual pictorial and emotive quality that makes them intangibly of our time. The work has a power - all the more impactful for its quiet and ethereal mood - that I am sure will leave visitors deeply moved.”

The exhibition is organized into five sections—Family, The Land, Last Measure, Abide with Me, and What Remains. It opens with works from the 1980s, when Mann began to photograph her three children at the family's remote summer cabin on the Maury River near Lexington, Virginia. Taken with an 8 x 10 inch view camera, the family pictures refute sentimental stereotypes of childhood, instead offering unsettling visions of its complexity. Rooted in the experience of a particular natural environment—Arcadian woodlands, rocky cliffs, and languid rivers—these works convey the inextricable link between the family and the landscape, and the sanctuary and freedom that it provided them.

The second section of the exhibition - The Land - continues with photographs of the fields and ruined estates Mann encountered as she traveled across Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi in the 1990s. Hoping to capture what she called the "radical light of the American South," Mann made pictures in Virginia that glow with a tremulous radiance, while those made in Georgia and Mississippi often appear bleaker. In these photographs, Mann also experimented with antique lenses and the 19th-century collodion wet-plate process for making negatives. Mann used similar techniques for her photographs of Civil War battlefields in the exhibition's third section, Last Measure. Cultivating the flaws she could achieve with this method for making negatives—streaks, scratches, spots and pits—she created metaphors for the South as the site of memory. These brooding and elusive pictures depict the land as history's graveyard, silently absorbing the blood and bones of the many thousands who perished in battles in Antietam, Chancellorsville, Cold Harbor, Fredericksburg, and Manassas.

The fourth section, Abide with Me, merges four series of photographs to explore how race and history shaped the landscape of Virginia as well as Mann's own childhood and adolescence. Expanding her understanding of the land as not only a vessel for memory but also a site of struggle and survival, Mann made a series of starkly beautiful tintypes between 2008 and 2012 in the Great Dismal Swamp—home to many fugitive slaves in the years before the Civil War—and along nearby rivers in southeastern Virginia. Mann's use of the tintype process— a collodion negative on a sheet of darkened metal that yields a rich, liquid-like surface with deep blacks - mirrors these bracken swamp and rivers. In these murky pictures, she conveyed the region’s entwined histories of sanctuary and oppression.

Mann also photographed numerous 19th-century African American churches near her home in Lexington. Founded in the decades immediately after the Civil War, when African Americans in Virginia could worship without the presence of a white minister for the first time, these humble but richly resonant churches seem alive with the spirit that inspired their creation and the memories of those who prayed there.

Also included in Abide with Me are photographs of Virginia "Gee-Gee" Carter, the African American woman who worked for Mann’s parents. A defining and beloved presence in Mann's life, Carter taught Mann the profoundly complicated and charged nature of race relations in the South. The final component of this section is a group of pictures of African American men rendered as large prints (50 x 40 inches) made from collodion negatives. Representing Mann's desire to reach across "the seemingly untraversable chasm of race in the American South," the series was inspired in part by the work of the choreographer Bill T. Jones. Lamenting the racism that has subjected African Americans to stereotyping, exploitation, and violence, Jones noted that “the body is the thing that . . . connects us, the body is bought and sold, and the body is definitely the thing that will divide us.” Mann sought to make photographs that address this paradox.

The final section of the exhibition, What Remains, explores themes of time and transformation through photographs of Mann and her family. Her enduring fascination with decay and the body's vulnerability to the ravages of time is evident in a series of spectral portraits of her children's faces and intimate photographs detailing the changing body of her husband Larry, who suffers from muscular dystrophy. The exhibition closes with several riveting self-portraits Mann made in the wake of a serious riding accident. Here, her links to southern literature and her preoccupation with deterioration are evident: the pitted, scratched, ravaged, and cloudy surfaces of the photographs function as analogues for the body's decay. The impression of the series as a whole is of an artist confronting her own mortality with composure and conviction.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog, presenting an in-depth exploration of the evolution of Mann's art, and two short films that illuminate the artist’s experimental and inquisitive approach to making images.

“Because the legacy of the South so profoundly continues to influence life throughout the United States, we are pleased to have the chance to bring this exhibition to Southern California. The artist’s meditative and meticulously crafted photographs encourage us to look more carefully at the places in which we live and the people in our lives,” says Mazie Harris, assistant curator of photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum. “Her pictures encourage us to attend to the ways in which our sense of family, place, and history inform our perspective on the world.”

Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings is curated by Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the department of photographs, National Gallery of Art, and Sarah Kennel, The Byrne Family Curator of Photography, Peabody Essex Museum.

Generously supported at the J. Paul Getty Museum by Gagosian.

Exhibition Tour

·         National Gallery of Art, Washington, March 4-May 28, 2018

·         Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, June 30-September 23, 2018

·         The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, November 16, 2018-February 10, 2019

·         Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 3-May 27, 2019

·         Jeu de Paume, Paris, June 17 -September 22, 2019

·         High Museum of Art, Atlanta, October 19, 2019 -January 12, 2020

Mumbai — Rare photographs, albums, stereoscopic cards and photography books are among the 103 lots to be auctioned by StoryLTD on 9 - 10 October 2018. Titled Fine 19th Century Photographs of India, the online sale features the work of some of the leading early practitioners of photography in the country, including Lala Deen Dayal, Samuel Bourne, and Felice Beato, among others. This is the first dedicated auction of vintage photography to be held in India.

A signed presentation copy of an album of royal portraits (lot 22), which once belonged to the famous cricketer Maharaja Ranjitsinji, leads the sale with an estimate of INR 6.5 - 7.5 lakhs (USD 9,095 -  10,490). Comprising 70 individual carbon and platinum prints, the album comes with its original red cloth covering with elaborately bordered gilt, and illustrates the eager interest shown by Indian royalty in this new medium in the mid-19th century. 

The lots in the auction follow the evolution of the photographic medium over nearly 100 years. Photography arrived in India in 1840, soon after the Daguerreotype was made publicly available, and frequent travellers both to and from the country ensured that it kept up with international developments. The auction includes photographs created using various techniques prevalent over these years, including albumen prints, silver gelatin prints, ambrotypes, platinum prints, cyanotypes and stereoscopic cards. The wide presence of photographers in India also meant that some of its most significant moments were documented, including the 1857 mutiny, the Durbars and coronations, and the changing sociopolitical and topographical framework of the country, leading up to Independence in 1947. 

Maharajahs and rulers were among the foremost patrons of photography, often commissioning photographers to take ceremonial portraits of themselves in all their finery. Lala Deen Dayal, one of the first and most prolific Indian photographers of his time, benefited from his employment in the court of the sixth Nizam of Hyderabad, and eventually received the honorary title "Raja" for his services. Among his vast and versatile oeuvre were numerous royal portraits, 81 of which are included in this auction as a set (lot 15) estimated at INR 5 - 7 lakhs (USD 6,995 - 9,795).

Other highlights include a large collection of cased stereoscopic views of India, Europe, North America and South Africa (lot 11), with a presale estimate of INR 3.5 - 4 lakhs (USD 4,900 - 5,595). A circa 1850s hand-tinted cased ambrotype (lot 5), an invitation and panorama of the 1911 coronation Durbar in Delhi (lot 45), and a rare book by Henri Cartier Bresson titled Beautiful Jaipur (lot 93) are examples of the diverse lots on offer that would enhance the collection of any collector of photography from the period.  

The auction will take place on 9 - 10 October 2018 on storyltd.com, and is preceded by viewings at the Saffronart gallery in Mumbai from 3 - 10 October 2018 (excluding 7 October). All lots can be viewed on storyltd.com.

New York - Swann Auction Galleries’ September 27 auction of Printed & Manuscript Americana was the highest-earning Americana auction at the house in the last six years, bringing $1.2M with 85% of lots selling. The day opened with a bustling auction room and a slew of bids for the morning session of The Harold Holzer Collection of Lincolniana and was proceeded by an equally successful afternoon session.

Top lots from noted Abraham Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer’s collection included Portrait of the beardless Lincoln, by John C. Wolfe, which brought in $40,000; a fourth edition of the famous “Wigwam Print,” the first standalone print of Lincoln, which sold for $21,250; and a commission of William O. Stoddard as secretary to the president signed by Lincoln, 1861, which brought a record $18,750 for a printed commission signed by the president.

The Lincolniana portion of the sale set several additional records, including one for any printing of the 16th president’s famous 1860 Cooper Union address at $5,000. Winfred Porter Truesdell’s important reference work, Engraved and Lithographed Portraits of Abraham Lincoln, 1933, brought $4,000; an Andrew Johnson impeachment trial ticket sold for $2,125; and Victor D. Brenner’s 1907 plaque, which served as the model for the Lincoln penny, was won for $4,500.

The sale did not slow during the afternoon session: the top lot of the auction was Francis W. de Winton’s diary, containing notes on pow-wows with Indians during an official tour of western Canada, which sold for $65,000.

Latin Americana was successful in this sale. The selection was led by Juan de la Anunciacón’s Sermonario en lengua mexicana, Mexico, 1577, a first edition book of sermons in Nahuatl, bringing in $30,000. Maturino Gilberti’s Thesora spiritual en lengua de Mechuacá, 1558, boasted $18,750; Juan de Palafox y Mendoza’s Historia real Sagrada, luz de principes, y subditos, 1643, sold for $11,250; and Juan Alonso Calderón’s Memorial historico, juridico, politico de la S. Iglesia Catedral de la Puebla, circa 1650, at $10, 625.

Among many institutional bidders, William & Mary College won a collection of letters by Louise E. Blackmar, a Methodist missionary in India, to her stateside siblings, 1873-82. The Society of the Cincinnati’s library won a pair of letters by Charles McEvers describing unrest and British artillery fire in 1775.

Rick Stattler, Director of Printed & Manuscript Americana at Swann Galleries, said of the sale, “This was one of the most successful sales in the history of Swann’s book department. The Holzer collection finished above the high estimate in the morning session, and the afternoon session brought $969,100, on its own merits, it would have been an exceptional Americana auction.”

Swann Galleries’ Printed & Manuscript Americana department holds sales twice annually with an additional specialized African Americana auction held in March. Swann Galleries accepts consignment on a rolling basis.