The Paul Walter Collection had all the components to be another blockbuster sale for Sotheby's London special May auction: a big name collector and some strong images. This time English images were the predominant country represented, rather than France as it was in the Jammes sale. And indeed the Walter's collection did deliver, bringing in just over two million pounds sterling, including the steep buyer's premium. That is a pretty healthy average when spread out over the 174 lots that actually sold.

One thing that took the buzz out of this auction though was that much of the material had serious (or minor) condition problems, most of which were not visible in the catalogue. I was stunned to see even heavy foxing marks that somehow became invisible in the catalogue (lot 73). While this was not the rule, certain prints certainly "improved" in the reproductions as red predominated over yellow in the printing. The printing may be something that the auction house has really no control over, but some of the prints looked like a photo editing program such as Photoshop was overused. This was a case of the catalogue clearly looking better than the reality of the prints themselves, although the curating/writing was mostly excellent throughout.

The weak condition problem was a repeat of the situation at the MoMA sale at Sotheby's New York at the end of April (see the previous newsletter #30), where some of the material was clearly "seconds" or had condition issues. Like the MoMA sale, this auction did, however, offer some extraordinary buying opportunities if you were cautious, patient and opportunistic. It also makes one think what the prices might be for really great prints of rare 19th century work.

The other issue that hampered the results was that the images, in many cases, were simply not Walter's best pieces, which went earlier to MoMA in the mid-1980s or sold at auction previously (His Indian collection, which was one of his core interests, sold several years ago in London.). There were, of course, extraordinary exceptions.

Despite all of this, the results were still very strong with little left on the table. The sale sold over 78% by lot and even more by pound sterling result. Unlike in New York, where many of the top collectors were blocked from bidding at the Sotheby's MoMA photography sale due to potential conflicts of interest and a MoMA-issued "request" to those on its various boards to not bid, Walter's sale drew both collectors and dealers alike. And they seemed reluctantly hungry. There was no dominant player at this auction, but several participants spent well into six figures.

The first real battle shaped up over a study of trees by Giacomo Caneva (lot 5). It was a nice salt print, estimated at 4,000-6,000 pounds. Three bidders were active: collector Bruce Lundberg, and dealers Charles Isaacs and Mack Lee. When the dust had settled, it had gone to Malvern, PA dealer Charles Isaacs for a whopping 23,500 pounds including the premium (all other prices for this sale will also include the premium).

Lot 31 the 15 Frith mammoth plates of Egypt, Sinai and Jerusalem, was hammered down at 39,500 pounds to the phone. That is over $4000 per plate: pretty stiff when you consider that the best five plates had already been removed.

Talbot's photogenic of samples of lace circa 1839 (lot 39) hit 73,900 pounds. New York dealer Hans Kraus edged a phone bidder on this one.

Lot 47, which was another photogenic drawing of lace from 1840-42 by Nevil Story-Maskelyne, sold to the phone for 55,700 pounds. This time dealer Hans Kraus was the underbidder, bidding very slowly indeed. A few wags in the audience felt that Hans was being a bit too cautious, because the price did still seem reasonable for such an important piece. But then no other dealer was bidding.

But Kraus was to come back on the very next lot, which was of the Newhaven Pilot by Hill and Adamson. He had lost out to dealer Lee Marks at Christie's New York two years ago. Marks, probably bidding for collector Howard Stein, had paid just under $80,000 at that time, setting a world record for a Hill and Adamson at auction. The Walter's print, while excellent, was, in my opinion, not nearly as good as the one at Christie's, but then Kraus "only" paid 31,550 pounds for it--about 60% of the price at Christie's.

A lovely Capel Cure Split Tree sold for a record 22,350 pounds to Hans Kraus over Lee Marks. The pre-auction estimate was a very low 2,000-3,000 pounds, an obvious come-on by the auction house, considering they picked this image to be one of the 20+ prints from this auction to be shown on the road.

Roger Fenton hit some records here for non-Crimean images beginning with lot 85, an orientalist study of two men, which sold for 47,650 pounds against an estimate of 15,000-20,000 pounds.

But it was lot 90, The Billiard Room, Mentmore, a print only "attributed to" Fenton but reportedly from Fenton's own "Grey Paper Album", that was to generate most of the excitement at this sale. Prior to the sale, nearly everyone admired the image and it had been reproduced in many articles previewing the auction. The lot had a ridiculously low estimate of only 15,000-20,000 pounds. It was clear there was interest, but it was less clear who would be the real "players" for the image in the end.

Earlier in the action both collector Michael Mattis and Hans Kraus had helped to move the bidding along. Then the print became the object of a bidding war between the Michaels: Michael Sachs at the front of the room and Michael Wilson at the rear. To actually see Michael Wilson bidding was itself an unusual event. On most occasions it is his London-based curator Violet Hamilton who bids for Wilson. Sachs was clearly frustrated when the bidding broke over the 200,000-pound mark. Now it came down to Michael Wilson and a phone bidder. At a record (for Fenton and perhaps for a single English photograph) 250,000 pounds (278,500 pounds with the premium), the phone bidder (perhaps Sheik Al Thani?) finally gave up the fight. When I went to congratulate Wilson, he looked over at Weston Naef of the J. Paul Getty Museum and said coyly, "I was bidding for a friend." The Getty had walked away with the prize image of the London spring auctions.

Malcolm Daniels at the NY Metropolitan, who is working on an upcoming Fenton exhibition, told me later that in his mind "there is no doubt that the work is by Fenton." I would have to agree but also note that I do not really think it makes a bit of difference, considering how strong the image is any way.

Lot 94, the only Fenton still life in the sale and perhaps the only one to come up at auction in recent years, was withdrawn. Apparently, the Royal Photographic Society felt that it might be one of their missing still lifes that were stolen in the 1970s.

Lot 95, another Fenton of E. Ross, Winner of the Queen's Prize, set off another spate of bidding. Lee Marks lost out to phone bidder L020 when the hammer price got to 53,000 pounds (61,450 with the premium).

Michael Sachs, bidding for the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, brought a lovely print by Lewis Carroll of Xie Kitchin on a Sofa for 58,000 pounds. It actually looks cheap now after the Carroll sale in June.

Records were also broken for Julia Margaret Cameron on lot 105, a beautiful life-size portrait of Kate Keown. The print hammered down to Lee Marks, probably bidding for Howard Stein, for 155,000 pounds (174,000 pounds with premium) against a persistent phone bidder and an estimate of 40,000-60,000 pounds.

An average print of Sir John Herschel brought 51,100 from a phone bidder, who was also bidding against another phone bidder. This was one that looked better in the catalogue than in reality.

Lee Marks, again probably for Howard Stein, bought Cameron's rare Dejach Alamayou, King Theodore's Son (one of her Singalese portraits), for 41,900 pounds.

Many of the other Cameron images were either a bit boring or not in the best condition. I felt that way even about lot 123, a copy of her Idylls of the King, which sold to the phone for 26,950 pounds.

Another surprise was the beautiful seascape by Colonel Henry Stuart Wortley (lot 134), which went to a phone bidder for 46,500 pounds over New York dealer Jill Quasha.

The Louis Roberts were largely disappointing when viewed, except for his tree study (lot 142), although this did have a stripe of fading on the left side. Hans Kraus won over a phone bidder at 58,000 pounds.

The next lot, a Charles Nègre of the Ramparts at Arles, went to Michael Sachs, who was bidding for the Tel Aviv Museum of Art once again. The price was 37,300 pounds.

Lot 150, Gustave Le Gray's The Broken Wave, Sete, was bought in at 58,000 pounds: one of the few disappointments of the sale. Although it had what looked to be a repaired scratch, it was not a bad print. It just seemed to lack a little punch, and its pre-auction estimate of 80,000-120,000 pounds felt a little aggressive.

There was not much high level action until lot 198, when Hans Kraus and Lee Marks bid up an interesting Evans' steps. No, not the famous one, but one entitled "Winchelsea: Steps to Queen Elizabeth's Well". This platinum print was finally knocked down to Kraus for a total of 30,400 pounds.

Another nice Evans, this time a photogravure of Lincoln Cathedral's Turret Stairway, brought a final bid with premium of 24,650 pounds from a phone bidder over Lee Marks again.

The final "big" lot of the sale was number 219, a portfolio of Leni Riefenstahl images of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which sold to the phone for a total of 51,100 pounds.


 

The regular Sotheby's London spring photography auction was a better than average outing, selling just a little less than two-thirds by lot but bringing in a total of 1,157,410 pounds. Most of the buy-ins were due to poor condition.

German painting dealer Daniel Blau took the first high-priced lot (number 308), a group of 61 Maxime Du Camp prints of the Middle East, for a total of 62,600 pounds, which includes the buyer's premium. All the prices below will include this premium unless otherwise noted. The prints were exceptionally rich.

A so-so Tibetan album by John Claude White still brought 30,400 pounds.

New York dealer Janet Lehr bought a nice portrait of Mrs. Herbert Duckworth, nee Julia Jackson (lot 317) for 29,250 pounds.

Where were all the Earl of Craven fans when the next lot, Wild Dayrell, Derby Winner 1856 by Craven, took in a paltry 432 pounds? The print was weak and the image was not much, but...

A beautiful and important whole-plate daguerreotype of Lyon from 1846 or before by Jean Pierre Thierry went for 44,200 pounds to Connecticut dealer William Schaeffer. It was one of the nicer items in the sale in my opinion.

After the failure of the Le Gray Broken Wave in the Walter's sale, I wondered what would be the fate of the next lot a Gustave Le Gray Cloudy Sky--Mediterranean with Mount Agde, especially since it too was only an average print. I also wondered if it had not been restored as well, but that was less certain. But the print did well, bringing in 119,000 pounds from a phone bidder over active bidding in the room.

The next lot, another Le Gray, this time a rare Paris scene but a yellow and poor print, failed to sell and was bought in at the 64,000-pound level. The market for great Le Grays is still very strong, but the weak prints and/or images just cannot command the upper (or even middle) level prices.

There was a very nice group (38 lots) of Eugene Atget prints, and the condition was for once very fine for the most part and while prices reflected that, the feeling was that most of the bidders got bargains. It was the best string of lots for the house that afternoon.

The top Atget image (at least by bid price) went to dealer Lee Marks. Lot 382, Porte de Choisy, Zoniers, a marvelous modernist view of a wagon covered in a patchwork of cloth scraps, sold for a total of 29,250 pounds. Frankly that was a true bargain.

Lot 398 a negative filmstrip of a horse by Etienne Marey failed to go and was bought in at 34,000 pounds. That is 40,800 pounds with the buyer's premium--a rather steep price even for so rare an item.

Moving a little more into the 20th century, Lot 405, an oversized multiple gum print of Rudolf Koppitz's Movement Study, brought 97,000 pounds from a phone bidding exchange.

Collector Thomas Walther bought lot 422, a whimsical portrait of Marcel Duchamp "while his hair and face were in a white lather during a shave and shampoo," for 58,000 pounds.

Walther then bought the next Man Ray lot, a contact strip from Emak Bakia, as well, for 14,875 pounds.

A Renger-Patzsch Das Baumchen (Tree, lot 430) dated 1928, but looking later, got the black lamp exam from Sotheby's and passed (did not glow). It went to the phone for 17,750 pounds. A second print of a tree (but a different image from the first) that did glow only brought 4320 pounds, although it also was not quite as strong an image as the other. Not glowing on commercial photographic paper does not necessarily mean a print is earlier than 1955, but glowing does mean that the print is after that date. I now think that auction houses and dealers should run paper analysis, not just black light, on all prints above $20,000 that have any question about vintage.

The next high roller action took place on the very controversial Edward Weston prints. There was serious restoration on both prints, yet both did very well.

Collector Walther was back again on Steel, a platinum image that marks Weston's transformation from a pictorialist to a modernist. The pre-auction estimate was a very low 15,000-20,000 pounds. Walther battled New York dealer Edwynn Houk for the prize. In the end, Walther had bought it for 104,700 pounds. Here is the kicker: Walther had just sold the image to MoMA (along with the other 300+ masterworks), but he loved it so much he just had to buy another one.

Houk came back and bought the next Weston, a nude study of Margarethe Mather, for 33,850 pounds. This print had even more extensive restoration than the first.

Finally, the last lot (505 and the inside back cover as well) by photographer Chris Von Wangenheim, which was simply entitled "Erotic Subject", got into a bidding war between the phone, Rick Wester (formery of Christie's and now of Gagosian Gallery), and appraiser Monika Half (formerly of Christie's). When it was over, Wester had bought the 1970s sexually charged print for 2880 pounds, well over the estimate of 800-1200 pounds. His somewhat embarrassed explanation was that he knew the photographer and had always admired him and his work. Gadfly Michael Mattis--never at a loss for a good quote--had to have the last laugh, deeming the lot: "a seminal image from an up and coming photographer."


 

Christie's South Kensington had a slightly better outing this time than Sotheby's. The sell-through rate was 71.25% and the total take including premium was 1,165,717 pounds. Both numbers were a hair better than their competitor on New Bond Street, and Christie's did it on its old standby: 19th century photographs. Only two lots of consequence were 20th century and one of those just barely. Pre-sale estimates were demolished in many instances. As I've said many times, forget the auction house estimates if you are serious about buying something. They are rarely a good guide.

Lot 6 was a three-volume set of salt prints of glassware. Containing 343 prints from paper negatives, the group went well past its estimate of 15,000-20,000 pounds. After a brief bidding battle between French dealer Marc Pagneux and Hans Kraus, Pagneux won the lot for 64,250 pounds including the premium (all prices below will include the premium). This was the fifth highest lot of the auction.

Lot 52 provided some levity as Hans Kraus bought his own production of the Pencil of Nature for a world record auction price (at least now it is) of 763 pounds, helped up by many of his friends in the business.

It was not until lot 81 that prices again took off. The lot was a group of mixed daguerreotypes with an estimate of only 1500-2000 pounds. A number of us eyed the lot with care. There were three very early (one dated 1841) and unusually small views of Ledbury and some interesting and early portraits. The eventual price turned out to be 22,325 pounds. Irish collector Sean Sexton bought the lot.

The next lot also brought considerable action. The catalogue description read in part "portrait of a gentleman, identified as Charles Dickens." It was hammered down finally to a phone bidder for 39,950 pounds. Obviously there were a lot of believers.

Lot 86 was a daguerreotype of the Japanese castaway Sentaro, one of only 15 surviving daguerreotype portraits of Japanese known (most in Japanese institutions). The image had been consigned by London-based Old Japan after attempts to sell it in Japan had failed. However, there was considerable exposure and consternation in the Japanese press about the image in the days preceding the auction. In any case, the image sold very well, reaching 37,600 pounds and going to a phone bidder. Could it be that the image found a Japanese home after all?

Gustave Le Gray's Forest of Fontainebleau sold for 65,350 pounds with lots of interest in the room and on the phone. Likewise a seascape (lot 99, Le Soleil Couronné) sold to the phone for 75,250 pounds.

But the next two seascapes were really mediocre prints. The first passed and the second (a Great Wave) sold to the phone for a mere 18,000 pounds, a far cry from the record set at the Jammes sale with the same image.

Lot 102 had some serious problems of its own, but the phones battled over this one and it finally sold for 69,750 pounds.

For once it was Christie's with the excellent Talbot prints. Lot 124, High Street Oxford sold to dealer Robert Hershkowitz. Then Lot 125 Articles of Glass sold over the phone for 42,300 pounds. Lot 126 Articles of China, which was initially bought in (a crime considering how nice a print it was) apparently sold afterwards. It had been estimated at 35,000-45,000 pounds without the premium.

San Francisco dealer Robert Koch picked up a very nice Lewis Carroll (lot 136) for 28,200 pounds (another steal after the results of the Carroll sale in June).

Two nice Julia Margaret Cameron's did well. Violet Hamilton, bidding for James Bond film producer Michael Wilson, bought lot 146, an unmounted but very nice print and image for 17,625.

Lot 147, another good and scarce Cameron print was the battleground for Robert Koch and Hans Kraus. It sold to Koch for 47,000 pounds.

At lot 173 Rick Wester took over the auction reins at a photography auction apparently for the last time. As noted previously, Wester has moved on to Gagosian Galleries in NYC. Rick has an auction style of his own that is smooth and fun. I have always thought that he and Philippe Garner of Sotheby's London were the two premier auctioneers in the photo trade. While he did not have a lot to work with here (the morning session had the more high-powered lots), he still did it with grace and style: the mark of a true professional. I told him afterwards that he would indeed be missed on the podium.

An important album of Felice Beato images of India did very well (16,450 pounds) against the estimate of 4000-6000 pounds. It, and many others of the Indian items, went to phone bidder 939.

Astronomy images always seem to do well, and so lot 226, a Henry Freres print of a nebula, fit the pattern and sold for 15,000 pounds. But then the next two lots of their work bought in.

Scenes of crime (lot 254) sold for 65,350 pounds against an estimate of only 12,000-18,000 pounds. The price on these 169 prints shows the strength of the archive vernacular market these days. Most of the images were grotesque to the extreme.

Ansel Adams provided the last big action with a Parmelian portfolio of the High Sierras going for 25,850 pounds.

As Wester gave up the gavel, he said the crowd, "Thank you all and I look forward to seeing you all on the other side of the podium." It was a better ending to this chapter of Rick Wester's life than New York's auction could give him. He clearly enjoyed himself here at the London auction. We all look forward to his work on the dealer side of the business, especially if he brings to it the same passion he had at Christie's.


 

The same regional UK auction house that had great success last year with some exceptional material from the Craven's estate came up with a little bit more, plus an assortment of odds and ends to make a real photography auction out of it. Bearne's Auctioneers again previewed in London and sold in Exeter.

Bearne's is clearly trying to make a run at the photography art market. This year's catalogue had considerably better printing than last year's. What remains to be seen is what they will use as a draw for next time.

While the non-Craven material was very erratic in quality, there was at least one major lot: a complete set of Edward Curtis volumes of the North American Indian with 725 photogravures (as opposed to the called for 720). It got a lot of attention from the normal American sources (Santa Fe dealer Andrew Smith was actually in attendance), but apparently a consortium of two UK book dealers (Max Reed and Bernard Shapiro) and one American (William Reese) purchased the set for 440,000 pounds sterling plus the premium (17.625% up to 29,999 pounds and 11.75% thereafter), a new world record at auction. The group currently has it for sale for $1.25 million.

Two studies of gnarled tree trunks by Craven went to the phone. Lot 223, which was the study in the best condition, sold for 56,000 pounds plus the premium. The next lot, which was similar in color but heavily foxed and stained, sold for 19,000 pounds.

The real excitement of the day was over the fabulous but obviously expensive Craven Memorial Album. The images were magical and the condition was superb for the most part. With 109 prints, this album clearly showed that the Earl of Craven should rank with the top early English photographers. His portraits of children put many of the Lewis Carroll images to shame.

With only one bidder (utilizing two phones at the auction, one perhaps for his adviser) bidding against a reserve, the album sold for its low estimate of 500,000 pounds sterling plus premium. To my mind, it was a very reasonable price for the high quality of the material. The buyer was reportedly Saoud Al Thani, the sheik from Qatar who shook up the UK photo market over the last few years. Al Thani had bought heavily at the last Bearne's auction.

While basically four lots drove the auction, Bearne's still managed to edge out both Sotheby's and Christie's regular sales, bringing in well over 1.3 million pounds sterling with the premium.

 

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has acquired the remaining photography collection of Julian Levy from Levy's widow, Jean Farley Levy. The 2,000-plus images include the work of over 130 artists. The acquisition was part gift and part purchase made possible by a contribution from Lynne and Harold Honickman, who are longtime Philadelphia residents and supporters of the museum. It is the first significant acquisition of photography by the museum since the Stieglitz gifts. Coming on top of the selection of Katherine Ware as curator of photography less than two years ago, the purchase perhaps signals a renewed interest in this area by the museum's director Anne Harnoncourt. Unlike most similar institutions, the museum has made few significant purchases of photography up until now, depending largely on its past relationship with Aperture for additions to its collection. Although the Art Institute of Chicago received many of the top images in the collection back in the late 1970s, this new acquisition still has many fine images, including Charles Sheeler's Side of White Barn and Atget's Versailles. Levy had one of the first photography galleries in the U.S...

Christie's East will move to Rockefeller Center, and the auction house is thinking of selling off most of its London properties and consolidating and moving its entire operation to Somerset House near Trafalgar Square or some other location. On the other hand, rumors of Sotheby's London photography operations moving to its new salesroom in West London are apparently inaccurate. Expert Philippe Garner told me recently there is no current plan to move the department from its New Bond Street location...

Photographer and writer Eudora Welty has passed away. She was 92. In 1973 Miss Welty was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for her novel, The Optimist's Daughter. Random House published a collection of Welty's pictures of the 1930s depression in 1971 called One Time, One Place: Mississippi in the Depression. Welty even had an email program (Eudora) named after her because the software developer liked a short story by Welty...

A great new book and resource, Pioneer Photographers of the Far West, a Biographical Dictionary, 1840-1865 by Peter Palmquist and Thomas Kailbourn is now available for $125 in hardbound copy from Carl Mautz Publishing at 530-478-1610. You can email Carl at cmautz@nccn.net. He is the American distributor. As a special deal to our readers, he will send the book out postage free in the U.S., if ordered within the next 30 days, but you have to tell him about seeing it in the newsletter. The book contains very substantive biographies of over 1500 photography-related people, mostly photographers. The introduction is really a major history of early photography for the region. There are some interesting illustrations (250 in all), particularly in the introduction, but it is the information-loaded biographies that make this such an invaluable new reference.

 

If you haven't recently looked at our website, you should check out the inventory. Over 2300 images are currently up on the site. Major changes are in the works for the site over the next several months. You will find new articles on Buying Photography and a complete new list of the Best Photography Collecting Books in the Collecting Issues and Resources area. The calendar has also been recently updated.

The IPhotoCentral site is at: http://www.iphotocentral.com. You can click on this URL address with your browser open to take you to the site.

Calendar of Events

To have your event listed for free, send your information to: anovak@comcat.com or the address at the bottom of this newsletter. We now offer logo links to the event's web site and/or special extended event listings with full web-page pop-ups as a paid option for galleries, museums, exhibits managers, auction houses, etc. Contact me at 215-822-5662 for details.