Auctions | August 14, 2017

Series of Photography Sales from the MoMA Collection to Benefit the Acquisitions Fund

hihi.jpgNew York - Christie’s announces Photographs from The Museum of Modern Art, a selection of over 400 photographs to be sold at Christie’s New York starting with four highlights in the October 10th Photographs Day Sale. A subsequent series of online auctions will be held in October, concurrently with the live Day Sale, and in December 2017, as well as January and April 2018. The online sales are carefully curated to encompass several important themes and genres of the medium, including Pictorialism into Modernism, Women in Photography, and several sales on individual photographers will be featured. 

The works offered include iconic photographs by many of the most well-known names from the early 20th century to the post-war period, including Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Man Ray, Edward Weston, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Walker Evans, to name a few. The selection is led by two unique Rayograph works by Man Ray from 1923 and 1928, to be offered in the live auction in New York on October 10. All proceeds from the sales will go into an acquisitions fund for the Museum’s Department of Photography.

Highlights will be previewed during a multi-city tour, with exhibitions in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York starting in September 2017. Cataloguing and complete details of the sales will be available on Christies.com in September 2017.

Darius Himes, International Head of Photographs, Christie’s, remarks: “Christie’s is honored to offer for sale a selection of photographs from The Museum of Modern Art, New York. In 1940, the Museum became the first in the country to form a Department of Photography. Many of the artists represented in this series of live and online auctions will be deeply familiar to any student of photography, and are beloved on an international scale. These auctions represent a unique opportunity to support the Museum and own a piece of photographic history.”

Tour Dates and Locations:

Los Angeles | Highlights Exhibition | September 5-9

San Francisco | Highlights Exhibition | September 19-23

New York | Auction Preview | October 5-9

Upcoming Auctions:

October 5-11/12, 2017

MoMA: Pictorialism into Modernism

MoMA: Henri Cartier-Bresson

December 2017

MoMA: Women in Photography

January 2018

MoMA: Garry Winogrand

MoMA: Bill Brandt

April 2018

MoMA: Walker Evans

MoMA: Tracing Photography's History

Image: MAN RAY (1890-1976), Rayograph, 1928. Image/ sheet: 15 1/2 x 11 3/4 in. (39.2 x 29.8 cm.) Estimate: $150,000-250,000.