An article from Reuters last week announced that a private collection of rare photographs will be going up for auction at Christie's (Rockefeller Center location) in April. According to the article, "The 70 prints, which were made mainly in the 1920s, were amassed by a private collector and focused on photographers influenced by the artistic revolution in Western Europe at the turn of the century." The photos were assembled by a South American collector, with the help of advisor Jill Rose, from 1979 through the late 1990's and are referred to collectively as "the deLighted eye."
Reuters describes a selection of the photos as follows:
"One of the highlights..., with a pre-sale estimate of $600,000, will be 'Nude,' a 1925 photo by Weston of his lover Miriam Lerner, a Los Angeles socialite...
"Several works ... are by Surrealist artist Man Ray. 'Untitled Rayograph,' a 1923 abstract photo is expected to sell for up to $350,000 and 'Francis Picabia, Grande Vitesse,' which shows the artist driving a fast car and was published in 1925, has a pre-sale estimate of up to $150,000.
"Stieglitz's 'From the Back Window -291- N.Y. Summer 1914,' one of a series of photos from his 291 gallery showing a view of New York, is expected to be another top seller with a pre-sale estimate of $200,000 to $300,000.
"Another cityscape from the collection is Edward Steichen's 'Bricks,' which was taken from his apartment on West 86th Street in New York and could fetch up to $300,000.
"A 1917 Vortograph, which is composed of repetitions of forms in a triangular arrangement, by Alvin Langdon Coburn titled 'The Eagle,' and once part of the collection of the George Eastman House in Rochester, N.Y."
I searched online after having read the Reuters article and discovered that there is also a book entitled Modernist Masterworks to 1925 : From "the deLIGHTed eye", a Private Collection, published by ICP which I assume is of the same collection although it cannot be inclusive since the publication date given is 1985.
The article below was originally published on February 22, 2013 under the title The Best Photo Exhibit of 2013
Last month, I posted about "The deLighted eye," a collection of rare photos that is to be auctioned at Christie's Rockefeller Center. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to spend a half hour alone (with a gallery attendant and two security guards) as I viewed the exhibit on Christie's 20th floor. Take it from a photographer -- this is a knockout show, perhaps the best I've seen in the city in the last five years.
The credit for this wonderful show goes to the Chilean architect Carlos Alberto Cruz who, with the assistance of Jill Rose, assembled the collection in the first place. I know nothing about the man other than what's online, but he has shown uncanny discernment in putting these photographs together and discovering relationships among them that give this display of 1920's photography a unifying force.
Many of photography's greatest names are represented at the exhibit, but usually by lesser known masterpieces. Man Ray is here with Grand Vitesse (1924) with its handwritten inscription to Francis Picabia and its distorted racing car image reminiscent of Lartigue's famous 1912 photo of the French Grand Prix. Tina Modotti's Texture and Shadow (1929), a photo of what looks like a rumpled bedsheet, is a wonderful abstract of texture, light and shadow printed in palladium. Edward Steichen's Bricks (1922), shot from his apartment on West 86th Street, is another study of light and texture created this time from the bare brick walls of a neighboring building. László Maholy-Nagy's Fotogramm (1925) is a tour de force of modernist abstraction. And finally, Adolf de Meyer's gorgeous 1907 bromoil print Chrysanthemums, from an earlier period, is a perfect example of the pictorialist aesthetic.
Other masterpieces include a "rayograph" (1923) by Man Ray as well as his famous portrait of Marcel Duchamp (1921) taken for the Monte Carlo banknote scheme. František Drtikol is represented by Nude Abstraction (1924) that clearly shows his signature use of light and heavy shadow among off-kilter planes. And there are works by lesser known photographers such as Francis Bruguière who created the striking montage Experiment (1925) while working on the film The Way.
Although today is the last day of the current exhibit on the 20th floor, the standard pre-auction viewing will be available at Christie's from March 29th through April 3rd while the actual auction is to be held on April 4, 2013.
No comments:
Post a Comment