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• Archive Newsletters
• Issue #143
• Article

On Thursday, May 29th at 3pm Villa Grisebach will begin this year's spring sales with a photography auction that will include approximately 300 classic and contemporary photographs.

A special emphasis has been placed on rare and extraordinary vintage German photographs from the 20th century, e.g. a large print by Aenne Biermann titled "Anthurie" (1927-29) from the estate of the artist (6,000-8,000 euros), a composition with nude as a light-montage enlarged through silk by Heinz Hajek-Halkes, 1930-36 (4,000-6,000 euros), Edmund Kesting's "Aschermittwoch 1945" (Ash Wednesday 1945) from the series "Totentanz" (Dance of Death) (4,000-6,000 euros) or Otto Steinert's "Pont Neuf, Paris" from 1949 (6,000-8,000 euros).

Further highlights of classic photography include, among others, Martin Munkácsi's "Leni Riefenstahl beim Skilaufen" (Leni Riefenstahl skiing) from 1930-31 (10,000-15,000 euros), Paul Strand's "St. Hippolyte" from 1950 (10,000-15,000 euros), Horst P. Horst's "American Nude" (8,000-10,000 euros), four "Wassertürme" (Watertowers) by Bernd and Hilla Becher (8,000-10,000 euros), Behn Shahn's "A deputy with a gun on his hip during the Sept. 1935 strike in Morgantown, West Virginia" (6,000-9,000 euros) or Roman Vishniac's "Warsaw" from 1937 (6,000-8,000 euros).

Many other well known photographers are featured in the sale, such as Hans Bellmer, Andreas Feininger, André Kertesz, Albert Renger-Patzsch and August Sander, but interesting discoveries can also be made, for example, the portfolio "Africa Orientale Italiano" by Georg Schultze from 1939 or a portrait of Lilian Seeley (a large waxed gum print) by George H. Seeley (5,000-7,000 euros) from 1910.

Highlights from the contemporary photography selection include Peter Lindbergh's Portfolio from 2001 with 10 platinum-palladium prints of his most famous images (42,000-48,000 euros), followed by Hiroshi Sugimoto's "Fagus Shoe Last Factory--Walter Gropius" (14,000-16,000 euros), William Eggleston's dye transfer "Dust Bells, Green Bureau" (12,000-15,000 euros) and Tracey Moffatt's "Something More #5" (10,000-15,000 euros). Furthermore, outstanding photos by Robert Mapplethorpe, Sarah Moon, Shirin Neshat, Helmut Newton, Bettina Rheims and Jörg Sasse are also featured.

A printed catalogue is available from the auction house, and it can also be viewed on their website a few weeks before the actual auction. A preview exhibition of selected works from the collection will be held at Villa Grisebach Auktionen GmbH, Fasanenstraße 73, 10719 Berlin from May 24-28, Sat.-Tue. 10am-6:30pm, Wed., 10am-5pm. For details, see http://www.villa-grisebach.de . For more information, contact Franziska Schmidt (head of the photography department), phone: +49 30 885915-27; fax: +49 30-885915-4627 (from the U.S. dial 011 then the number); or email: f.schmidt@villa-grisebach.de .