Auction No.271
on 31 May 2017, 6 pm
Over 200 lots of modern and contemporary photography will be auctioned at Grisebach in Berlin on Wednesday, 31 May.
The auction's top lot is a vintage or early silver gelatine print of Albert Renger-Patzsch's "Bäumchen" (1929) in the format 38.4 x 27.8 cm. The strong presence and sophisticated composition of the motif, the technical virtuosity and the visionary gaze of the photographer are what make this famous picture so unique (estimate € 40,000/60,000). Karl Blossfeldt's systematic photographs of plants, in which he emphasised the plastic appearance and graphic details of his objects, also have a firm place in the history of photography. A rare vintage print of the "Chrysanthemum segetum" leaf (1915/25) is offered at an estimate of € 25,000/30,000.
In an unusual and artistically masterful depiction, the American photographer Margaret Bourke-White staged two production parts for a locomotive around 1930. The photograph "Borsig Locomotive Works, Berlin" (€ 20,000/30,000) was probably taken as part of a photo reportage. Bourke-White was considered an early pioneer in this field and became known above all for her work for LIFE magazine.
Further highlights of the photography auction are two photomontages by El Lissitzky for the magazine "USSR im Bau" around 1937 (€ 5,000/7,000 each), Berenice Abbott's "Nightview, New York" (€ 8,000/12,000), Jaromir Funke's "Still Life III Vera Violetta" (€ 8,000/12,000), two vintage photographs by Umbo (Otto Umbehr), taken with the first German "fisheye camera" (€ 5.000/7,000), the photogravure "The Steerage" (1907) by Alfred Stieglitz, probably the most famous motif from his ground-breaking magazine "Camera Work" (€ 6,000/8,000) as well as photographs by Aenne Biermann, Andreas Feininger, Robert Frank, Otto Steinert, Josef Sudek and Yva.
21 photographs from the time of the division of Germany are collected in a special section of the auction: Differences and similarities between the living environments in East and West, impressively illustrated in photographs by Christian Borchert, Kurt Buchwald, Arno Fischer, Leonard Freed, Bernard Larsson, Joachim Richau, Evelyn Richter and Frank Thiel, among others.
Helmut Newton's "Nastassia Kinski and Marlene Dietrich doll, Hollywood" (€ 12,000/15,000) is one of the main lots in the Contemporary Photography section, followed by Beate Gütschow's monumental fictional city view "S#26" (€ 10,000/15,000). Further highlights include Sherrie Levine's 1990 Blossfeldt adaptation "After Karl Blossfeldt" (€ 6,000/8,000), Thomas Florschütz's "Diptychon Nr. 133" (€ 5,000/7,000) and Rineke Dijkstra's young bullfighter "Vendas Novas, Portugal" (€ 4,500/5,500), as well as works by Sibylle Bergemann and others. Works by Sibylle Bergemann, Matthias Hoch, Candida Höfer, Daniel Josefsohn, Robert Mapplethorpe, Judith Joy Ross, Thomas Ruff and Tom Wood.
Previews
Berlin, 26 to 30 May 2017
Grisebach, Fasanenstraße 25, 27 and 73
Fri to Mon 10 am to 6 pm, Tue 10 am to 3 pm
Auctions
Berlin, 31 May to 3 June 2017