Grisebach is delighted to offer over 120 lots from a prime photography collection in the United States on December 1st, 2021, as part of its Anniversary Auctions in Berlin. This spectacular trove of works, with a low-end estimate of EUR 1.3 million, includes works of museum-level importance and of breathtaking quality and beauty. That they will be put up for auction with us is a mark of confidence in the German market – and in our expertise.
The auction’s top lot is Helmut Newton‘s legendary diptych “Sie Kommen” (Dressed/Naked). Created in 1981 for French VOGUE, this is one of the iconic images of Newton’s oeuvre: Four women in the studio, striding forward in high heels – and nothing else! The second image shows the women stepping toward us in exactly the same arrangement, but this time, they are dressed. Viewing both images side by side makes us aware that nudity can be more than just erotic allure; it can also be a statement of self-confidence and verve (EUR 150,000/200,000). Another standout is “Dovima with Ele-phants,” created in 1955 by the consummate visualizer of absolute beauty, Richard Avedon: The top model Dovima, resplendent in a black evening gown with sash by Christian Dior, poses between two circus elephants. With an allegorical nod, the figures refer to the fairytale of “Beauty and the Beast.” The image often has been described as the most famous fashion photo of the 20th century, testifying as it does to a golden age of glamour (EUR 100,000/150,000).
Likely the best-known work by Rudolf Koppitz, the leading international exponent of the Symbolist style in photography, is the movement study Bewegungsstudie showing a group of dancers arrayed in a triangular composition. This signed bromoil print stems from 1925 and qualifies as a coveted rarity on the market (EUR 100,000/150,000). Besides these three iconic works, the collection also comprises many other outstanding pieces. There are documentary and journalistic photos by Dorothea Lange, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Margaret Bourke-White; works by US master photographers such as Robert Frank, Harry Callahan, and Edward Weston; a set of portraits of famous artists (George Braque, Georgia O’Keeffe, Igor Strawinsky) by the hugely influential Arnold Newman; the famous nature study of a sapling by Albert Renger-Patzsch Bäumchen; not to mention a large-scale “photogram” by László Moholy-Nagy from the year 1922 (EUR 75,000/90,000). Another highlight definitely worth mentioning is William Eggleston’s “Morals of Vision” from 1978. This set of eight colour images, their brilliance undimmed after over forty years, depicts landscapes and scenes of everyday life from the American Heartland. It is doubtlessly one of the collection’s most important works (EUR 40,000/60,000).