Spring Auction Photography

Following a highly successful photography auction last autumn featuring the first part of the Margulies Collection, Lempertz is offering another 70 top-tier works of photographic art from the collection of the Miami-based art collector Martin Z. Margulies in its spring auction. The photography collection of this businessman and philanthropist focuses on works of social relevance. Notable examples include the works by Lewis Hine, who, from 1906, documented child labour in the USA for the National Child Labor Committee (lots 503, 504). Along with Berenice Abbott (lot 530), Walter Rosenblum (lots 557–559), Arnold Eagle (lot 563), Helen Levitt (lots 552–556), W. Eugene Smith (lot 628), and Aaron Siskind (lots 582/583), Hine later became a part of the Photo League, a group of politically engaged photographers who found their subjects on the streets and in the disadvantaged neighbourhoods of New York.

Also notable for its humanistic perspective is the monumental work 'Conversation with the Dead' by Magnum photographer Danny Lyon, a moving 76-image documentation of life in Texas prisons during the 1960s (lot 648, € 20/30,000).

Also notable for its humanistic perspective is the monumental work 'Conversation with the Dead' by Magnum photographer Danny Lyon, a moving 76-image documentation of life in Texas prisons during the 1960s (lot 648, € 20/30,000).

In addition to photographic works that place people at centre stage, the Margulies Collection also encompasses those movements in American photography of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s known in photographic history as the 'New Topographic Movement', 'New Documents', or 'New Color Photography', which focus on the suburban environment. The works by Lee Friedlander (lots 645–647), Garry Winogrand (lot 635), and Stephen Shore (lots 636–644) - as well as those of non-American photographers influenced by them, such as Wilhelm Schürmann (lots 692–696) - are worth mentioning here.

A particular highlight of the auction is a vintage print by Irving Penn depicting a father kneeling beside his child, who is seated on a swivel stool and staring stoically at the viewer (lot 581, € 15/20,000). The photograph was taken in 1948, when Penn, following a fashion shoot for 'Vogue' in Peru, visited the ancient Inca capital of Cuzco in the Andean highlands, where - fascinated by the visual presence of the indigenous population - he spontaneously rented a local photographer’s studio for three days and took portraits of the locals in exchange for payment. Presenting themselves proudly in their folklorically colourful as well as, at times, humble clothing, Penn accorded the people the same artistic attention he otherwise reserved for his famous glamorous portraits of the beautiful and powerful. Some of the masterful photographs were published in Vogue in 1949. The Cuzco series marks the beginning of Penn’s ethnographic interest as a photographer.

Other highlights include three wildlife photographs by Nick Brandt from the Maasai Mara National Park, printed using the pigment print process (lots 707–709, from € 5/6,000 to € 15/20,000) as well as a fashion photograph in the cool, understated style of the 1980s by Peter Lindbergh ('Cara Young, Kate McHale + Amanda Cazalet in front of the Duisburg Copper Smelter'), taken against an industrial backdrop for ‘Vogue Italia’ (lot 687, € 6/8,000).

Iconic motifs of post-war German photography are gathered in the 18 photographs by ‘fotoform’ representatives Peter Keetman, Toni Schneiders, Siegfried Lauterwasser, and Ludwig Windstosser (lots 587–604). These are from the collection of Roland Angst, the Berlin gallery owner and photobook publisher (Only Photography), who passed away in 2022. Their diversity and quality reflect the proven connoisseurship of this experienced photography enthusiast.

Auction 1291 Evening Sale

The monumental 56-part photographic work ('The Island Series') by Ólafur Eliasson from the Margulies Collection is one of the season’s highlights, to be auctioned in the Evening Sale following the Photography Auction on 6th June (lot 50). In this work, the photographer circles the rugged and fragmented island landscape off the coast of his native Iceland from the water, arranging the images - sorted by size and proximity to the subject - into a tableau on a staggered grid within what appears to be a systematic order.

Auction 1269 Day Sale: Contemporary Art and Photography

Various works of contemporary photography will be auctioned as part of the Day Sale on the second day of the auction (6th June): Four black-and-white photographs, also from the Margulies Collection, feature motifs from the Ruhr region from the series 'Unconcious places' by Thomas Struth (lots 381–384). Also by the same photographer and representative of the Düsseldorf School of Photography are a 'Gerhard Richter' portrait (lot 386, € 30/40,000) and a photograph of the Chicago Stock Exchange (lot 385, € 8/10,000). 
Two male nude torsos by Andy Warhol (lots 416, 417) stand alongside two digitally reworked NASA photographs by Thomas Ruff from his 'Cassini' series (lots 378, 379) and a unique photogram of a carpet of flowers by Adam Fuss (lot 420), representing the thematic and formal diversity of the photography selection in the contemporary sector.

Jan Bykowski
Press and PR
bykowski@lempertz.com
Tel. 0049 (0)221 925729 -57