November 8, 2012

Eisenstaedt, Weston, Weegee Lead Photography Event at Heritage Auctions

NEW YORK - Images by the giants of 20th century photography, including Children at a Puppet Theater by Alfred Eisenstaedt, Panamint’s Death Valley by Edward Weston, and Horst’s Corset, Paris, 1939, are expected to lead Heritage Auction’s Nov. 17 Photographs Signature® Auction, scheduled to take place at The Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion (Ukrainian Institute of America), located at 2 E. 79th Street (at 5th Ave.).
 
Highlights include a private collection of photographs by Weegee, aka Arthur Fellig, the gumshoe photojournalist who captured the lower East Side during the 1930s and 40s. The collection, curated across 10 lots, was given to his close friend Rose Schubert - a fellow member of the Photo League - and is being offered by her family. This is the largest selection ever offered by Heritage. 
The works by Weegee (American, 1899-1968) represent some of the photographer’s most iconic images, according the Heritage experts.
 
“This is a wonderful selection of Weegee’s work that has never been offered before from the collection,” said Rachel Peart, Consignment Director for the company. “The 45 photographs in the auction span dozens of subjects and primarily come from the 1940s, when Weegee was capturing New York’s nightlife and crime scenes.”
 
Expected to lead the selection is one of Weegee’s most famous images, The Critic, shot in 1943 for LIFE magazine. Weegee turned what could have been a simple portrait of two grande dames at the opera to a scene by inviting a disheveled Bowery dweller to a red carpet opening. The image is captioned and inscribed by Weegee himself: “Once a year this warmed up corpse, is at the opera with her jewels, Weegee,” and is expected to bring $10,000+.
 
Another group of anticipated Weegee images is Victory, Commissioner and Couple in the Bowery Bar, circa 1945, with the lot of three expected to bring $10,000+.
 
Additional landmark images include Untitled No. 7 from Sally Mann’s Deep South series (estimate $20,000+), Amber Valetta by Peter Lindbergh (estimate $20,000+), Times Square by Lou Stoumen ($1,000+), and Marilyn Minter’s Deluge, a stunning example of her bright, oversized images (estimate $20,000+). A gelatin silver print by Henri Cartier-Bresson, titled Henri Matisse in Vence, is expected to bring $8,000+. It is a fresh-to market find and was recently discovered in a private collection where it remained after it was produced and sold in 1974.
 
Additional highlights, but are not limited to:
 
 Fill’er Up, Mariacarla by Roxanne Lowit (estimate $18,000+).
 
Givenchy Hat by Frank Horvat (estimate $16,000+).
 
Geraldine Chaplin by Richard Avedon (estimate $12,000+).
 
Domestic Nude, No. 7 by Helmut Newton, (estimate $12,000+).
 
Heritage Auctions is far and away the largest auction house founded in the United States, and the world’s third largest, with annual sales of more than $800 million, and 750,000+ online bidder members. For more information about Heritage Auctions, and to join and receive access to a complete record of prices realized, with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit HA.com
 
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