Larry Gottheim's 45th Be-hold catalog/internet auction will end June 3rd. His recent affiliation with iCollector and eBay Live has encouraged an expanded range of offerings, particularly in 20th-century material, so the catalog more fully reflects the range of photographic imagery from daguerreotypes to the 1980s.
The auction provides an excellent opportunity to purchase well-selected, fully documented authentic material priced at $5,000 and well under.
There are 31 lots of daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, including an iconic ambrotype self-portrait of a photographer with his daguerreotype camera, right at the 1850s transition between these processes. A daguerreotype of a gentleman posed on the roof of what might be a college, and a handsome full-plate ambrotype of a man, are possible self-portraits. There are groups of carte-de-visites, from a descendant's collection, of self-portraits of the daguerreotypist and early photographer C. D. Fredricks. Other photographic-related material includes a charming cabinet card of two women photographing two other women doing a dance, a complex self-portrait by the Seattle photographer La Roche at the edge of a crevasse in an Alaskan glacier, and a great stereo view, a "Winter View from my Window" by Carl Meinerth, daguerreotypist and photographer from Newburyport, MA. Another important self-referential stereo view is Muybridge's "Moonlight Effect from Rincon Hill." There is also a mysterious abstract Bauhaus-like shadow configuration of a photographer and camera.
Portraits of notable personages include an 1860 carte-de-visite of Lincoln, and an 1862 cdv of Kit Carson with Colonel Perrin. There are several portraits of important literary figures, including a previously unknown cabinet card of Walt Whitman, as well as a fine one by Sarony of Whitman and one of Oscar Wilde. A portrait of Dylan Thomas by Bill Brandt is a vintage 1941 print; and a 1965 portrait of Samuel Beckett by Gisele Freund was printed about a decade later.
There is a great deal of material pertaining to the American Indian, historical as well as pictorial. A small but brilliant ambrotype, possibly by Whitney or Upton, shows a mixed blood Minnesota Ojibwa sporting snow goggles. There are cabinet and boudoir cards of Indian subjects by a number of photographers whose names begin with "B"--Barry, Bliss, Bonine, Buehman, as well as one by C. R. Savage. Several fine platinum print portraits by F. A. Rinehart are followed by a beautiful hand-colored one by Heyn. There are two large and one small orotones in their original frames by E. S. Curtis. Other Indian subjects are by Carl Moon and Richard Throssel, who was the only pictorialist who was part-Indian (Crow.)
Artistic pictorialist photography includes by works by Von Gloeden (three large prints that do not rely on his typical erotic subject matter), Raymond Hanson, Eleanor Park Custis, Nikolas Muray and Doris Ulmann. Artistic documentary photographs are represented by carefully selected works by Hugo Brehme, Lewis Hine, Margaret Bourke-White, Gordon Coster, Morris Engel, Todd Webb, Jerome Liebling and Larry Fink. There are also works by James Van der Zee, Ilse Bing, Peter Hujar, John Pfahl, Robert Rauschenberg, Linda McCartney and others.
Material can be previewed by appointment, and in New York City on May 24-26, with a reception on May 24th from 5-8 pm at the Affinia 50 Hotel, 155 E. 50th St. at 3rd Ave. The bidding, via eBay Live, should bring the excitement of a live auction to the proceedings. Information about the preview, catalog subscription, scans of the material and bidding instructions can be found at http://www.be-hold.com , which will be updated in mid-May with the new catalogue. Print versions of the catalogues and results reports can be ordered by subscription for $50 per three copies shipped to North America, or $70 international. Single sample copies can be purchased for $20 each, including the results report. To contact Larry Gottheim, call 1-914-423-5806 or email him at behold@be-hold.com .
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