|
|
|
Marlene Nathan Meyerson (1940-2017) was a Texas-born philanthropist who made lasting contributions to civic and cultural life in Dallas and New York. In Dallas, she was active in the Junior League, a Life Member of the National Council of Jewish Women, and a leader in AMFAR's local AIDS research efforts. The city's I.M. Pei-designed symphony hall bears the Meyerson name. In New York, she was a devoted supporter of the Jewish Community Center Manhattan, which was renamed in her honor in 2018. A collector of contemporary and photographic art, she also held leadership roles at SITE Santa Fe, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art. Her legacy reflects decades of thoughtful, hands-on engagement with the artists and institutions she valued.
|
|
Nigel's Picks
Nigel Russell | Director, Photographs, New York
|
We are fortunate to have three of Berenice Abbott's science photographs in this auction from the Estate of Marlene Meyerson, Dallas. Berenice Abbott's science photographs represent a groundbreaking fusion of art and scientific inquiry. In 1957 Abbott joined Physical Science Study Committee at MIT. This initiative, funded partly by the National Science Foundation and spurred by the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik, aimed to reform science education in the United States. Abbott was invited to develop photographic illustrations for new high school physics textbooks. Using innovative techniques such as stroboscopic photography and meticulously staged experiments, she produced images that not only illustrated complex physical concepts with clarity but also conveyed an aesthetic elegance.
Abbott believed that photography could be a powerful educational tool, and her work made abstract phenomena visible and accessible to a broad audience.
|
|
|
Laura's Picks
Laura Paterson | Consignment Director, Photographs, New York
|
The auction includes two photographs by award-winning Magnum photographer Jim Goldberg from his compelling series "Rich and Poor". From 1977-1985, in an attempt to highlight what he saw as huge economic disparities in San Francisco, Goldberg photographed a number of its residents and then offered each of them the chance to add their own commentary, resulting in images that resonate with emotional intensity.
Writing later about the series Goldberg stated, "I'm confronted daily by the fact that conditions for the 'Rich' and the 'Poor' haven't changed much since the book was first published, but I can't let go of the desire, the impulse, to want to believe in a society where things really will get better. And, if nothing else, I hold out the hope that my photographs and all the people I met can at least still speak for themselves."
|
|
Holly's Pick
Holly Sherratt | Director, Modern & Contemporary Art
|
|
Michael Kenna's Pier Eight, San Francisco
(2000) captures a still moment along the city's edge, where a curved railing and solitary lamppost face the open water. The long exposure softens the bay and sky into a quiet haze, while the sharp detail of the structure gives the image a strong sense of place. The faint lights across the horizon suggest the photo was taken at night or in the early hours before sunrise-those in-between times Kenna often seeks out. Born in England, he moved to San Francisco in the late 1970s and worked with Ruth Bernhard, one of the city's most respected photographers. His prints are small, which feels especially important here. The scale invites you to come close, to slow down, and take in the details with the same care Kenna brought to making the image. Pier 8 itself is one of the lesser-known
piers along the Embarcadero, historically used for more industrial purposes, not tourism or recreation. As someone who lives in the Bay Area, I recognize this stretch of the waterfront-not as a landmark, but as space that most people pass by. Kenna turns it into something worth pausing for.
|
|
|
|
Nigel Russell
Director, Photographs,
New York
NigelR@HA.com
(212) 486-3659
|
|
|
Laura Paterson
Consignment Director,
Photographs, New York
LauraP@HA.com
(212) 486-3525
|
|
|
Holly Sherratt
Director, Modern &
Contemporary Art
HollyS@HA.com
(415) 548-5921
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
