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Nigel's Picks
Nigel Russell | Director, Photographs, New York
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Terry O'Neill's photograph of Brigitte Bardot smoking a
cigarette is one of the most iconic images of 20th-century celebrity
portraiture. Captured in 1971 on the set of The Legend of Frenchie King,
the photo portrays Bardot with tousled hair blowing across her face, her lips
pursed around a cigarette. The casual yet magnetic composition embodies
O'Neill's talent for catching his subjects in unguarded, intimate moments
rather than staged poses. Bardot's expression conveys both nonchalance and raw
sensuality, distilling her reputation as the ultimate symbol of 1960s and 1970s
French glamour.
Peter Tunney's Homage to Brigitte Bardot (2015)
reflects his signature commentary on pop culture. Tunney here pays tribute to
Bardot as a timeless muse of beauty, freedom, and rebellion with a double
exposure of another woman striking the same pose. By reimagining her through a
contemporary lens, he not only acknowledges her influence on fashion, cinema,
and modern femininity but also situates her within his broader exploration of
celebrity as myth.
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This photograph by John Dominis, taken for LIFE magazine in
1967, has remained controversial because of the ethical questions tied to its
making. The dramatic scene-depicting a leopard about to attack a baboon-quickly
gained recognition for its unflinching portrayal of nature's violence. Yet the
image's authenticity was later called into question when Dominis acknowledged
that it had been staged: a hunter had released a captured leopard into a troop
of baboons for the shot. Once this became known, Dominis faced significant
criticism and later expressed regret, explaining that staging photographs was a
common and accepted practice in the 1960s. The photograph in this auction is
special oversized dye-transfer print.
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Alexis Peskine's Alijana Moons 3, is a delightful
example of Afrofuturism. Afrofuturism emerged in the late 20th and early 21st
centuries as a cultural and artistic movement that combines science fiction,
technology, and African diasporic traditions to imagine liberated futures for
Black people. It reclaims history while envisioning alternative realities where
Black identity, creativity, and innovation are central to shaping the future.
This photograph is part of Ailjane
Moons, a series of four digital works created during Peskine's
residency in Senegal. The subjects are young men who served a Marabout-a Muslim
religious leader-by collecting alms. These boys, often indentured, used tomato
cans for donations and rice mats for sleeping. Peskine
designed their costumes to reflect their aspirations: dreams of becoming
astronauts.
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Laura's Picks
Laura Paterson | Consignment Director, Photographs, New York
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The cover of the catalogue features a vintage print of
Irving's Penn extraordinary The Hand of Miles Davis, 1 July 1986, a
wonderfully expressive and graphic shot of the
jazz superstar's left hand poised to play his imaginary trumpet.
This is one of two portraits from this sitting in the auction - the other is a
headshot showing Davis with a rapturous expression, cradling
his head in both hands.
The portraits were made when both photographer and sitter were at the height of
their respective careers and illustrate just how well Penn could distill his
subject matter (whether fashion, portraits or objects) to its essence, often
also adding a mischievous twist.
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The auction also features a strong selection of Robert Franks,
perhaps two of the most important of them from his ground-breaking series The
Americans - an early print of his very personal take on quintessential
Americana Barber Shop Through the Screen Door, McClellanville,
South Carolina, 1955, originally in the collection of The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York;
and an oversized print of his polemic against racial inequality.
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A self-taught photographer, Manuel Alvarez Bravo bought his first camera at the age of twenty while working in a government job. In 1927 he met Tina Modotti, who became a mentor and muse. She introduced him to a variety of other artists living in Mexico City, including her lover Edward Weston, who encouraged the younger artist to pursue his own very personal vision.
This lot, a portfolio of Alvarez Bravo's "greatest hits", including "Parabola Optica", "Los Agachados" and "Sistema Nervoso" are all reflective of the photographer at his finest.
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Holly's Pick
Holly Sherratt | West Coast Director, Photographs
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Provenance is more than a list of names; it is the record of
a work's passage through the collections and institutions that define the
history of photography. Few groups illustrate this more clearly than these
photographs by Robert Frank. City Fathers, Hoboken, New Jersey (1955-1956)
is an early work from The Americans, signed by Frank, inscribed by
Grace Mayer during her tenure as Curator of Photography at MoMA, and stamped by
the museum; it was likely produced for MoMA's landmark 1962 exhibition Harry
Callahan and Robert Frank and recently featured in Turning the
Page at Pier 24 Photography (2024-2025). London
(Belsize Crescent) once belonged to Margaret Weston,
daughter-in-law of Edward Weston and one of the most influential photography
dealers in the United States; at the height of the photography market, this
print was valued at more than a quarter of a million dollars. Barber
Shop Through the Screen Door, McClellanville, South
Carolina (1955) belonged to and was exhibited at The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, carrying the museum's stamp and acquisition inscriptions. The
Robert Frank section could stand as a museum exhibition on its own, further
strengthened by the inclusion of Charleston,
South Carolina (from The
Americans), Frank's most iconic
image, along with two important photographs from his 1958 travels with Jack
Kerouac, undertaken shortly after the publication of On
the Road.
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Toshiko's Picks
Cataloguer, Fine and Decorative Arts, New York
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Fixed point observation, or time-lapse, is one of the most powerful ways
photography proves its capacity for documentation. During a family gathering,
the "New Topographics" photographer
Nicholas Nixon took this image in 1975 of his wife Bebe and her three sisters
-the Brown Sisters. When he took another image of them the following year, he
proposed to have them taken every year, positioned in the same order. He must not
have realized that it would continue for over 40 years. Family portraits
are everyone's central subject in photography. We take pictures of our family
and friends, to try to freeze the present that quickly slips away every second,
often having in mind to look at them later as we cherish the happy moments of
the past. As seen in this first image of the series, Nixon captured a
striking young group portrait that tells the story of intimate sisterhood. When
you see the other images in order, year by year, as the sisters are positioned
the same, you will notice easily how gradually time creates rich layers of life
in each face. While life is short, the photographic document will live on.
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Henri Cartier-Bresson acquired a new 35mm Leica film camera
in1932. It was a hand-held eye-level camera that allowed you to take
photographs of exactly what you were seeing through the viewfinder. It operated
quickly and smoothly with precision. The same year, he had taken the famous Behind
the Gare St. Lazare with this Leica. He had the keen eye to capture the
very instance in which all the elements were in perfect composition, later to
be known as "the Decisive Moment" which was also the title for the American
version of his most iconic photobook published in 1952. In the very same year
he took Gare St. Lazare, he photographed this image titled Hyères,
in Southern France, where he was on holiday. In many of his photographs, his ability
to capture the decisive moment was strongly influenced by Cubist principles of
shape and composition, as well as Surrealist concepts such as the convergence
of disparate objects within a single frame. In this image, the spiral staircase
and curved railings convey motion as they lead the bicycle out to the left.
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Mya's Picks
Mya Adams | Cataloguer, Photographs, Dallas
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The moment this photograph came across my desk, I recognized
the bridge instantly-not from a casual stroll through Central Park, but from
something far more personal. Last summer, my best friend got engaged at this
very spot, not on the bridge itself, but right where that forefront tree is locacted. I wasn't even present for the proposal, but the
image of this bridge is etched so clearly in my mind that seeing it here felt
like a homecoming of sorts. This image was taken in 1959, Eisenstaedt carefully
chose this spot to set up equipment to capture this photograph. Now 65 years
later, this spot was carefully chosen, and now an incredibly important spot for
my best friends getting married in two months!
It's always special to come across works in our sales that
carry personal meaning. What is extra special is being able to recognize a work
that could mean so much to someone else. One day, I hope to be able to gift
this photograph to her.
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This season's catalog features a beautifully curated ballet
section. Among the several Eisenstaedts in the
section (and resisting the temptation to choose another of his works, as he
remains a personal favorite), I adore Neil Folberg's Four Dancers.
The photograph directly references the ballet pastels of
Edgar Degas, reimagining their timeless elegance through a contemporary lens. Folberg appears twice more in this Signature sale, with
additional works that pay homage to Impressionist masters Renoir and Van Gogh.
Across these pieces, Folberg demonstrates a
remarkable ability to translate the spirit of historic artworks into the
present, offering viewers a fresh yet faithful dialogue with the past.
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Nigel Russell
Director, Photographs,
New York
NigelR@HA.com
(212) 486-3659
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Laura Paterson
Consignment Director,
Photographs, New York
LauraP@HA.com
(212) 486-3525
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Holly Sherratt
West Coast Director,
Photographs
HollyS@HA.com
(415) 548-5921
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Toshiko Abe
Cataloguer, Fine &
Decorative Arts
New York
ToshikoA@HA.com
(212) 486-3523
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Mya Adams
Cataloguer,
Photographs, Dallas
MyaA@HA.com
(214) 409-1139
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