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• Issue #97
• Article

The Fall photography auction at Bassenge has over 400 prints from the early days of the medium through to contemporary color photography. It can be found online at: http://195.143.237.194/Bassenge/engl/Katalog.asp?SID=14696417&KAT=F .

From the 19th century there are two rare large-format salt-prints by Èdouard Baldus: one showing damage in Lyons after the flooding of the Rhone River in 1856 (low estimate: 3000 euros), the other is a view of the "Viaduc de la Suize", also from 1856 (4000 euros).

There are two interesting prints by Adolphe Braun: "Tulips", 1858 (1200 euros) and "Man and Boy with Cow", 1860s (1500 euros).

A salt print by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, "Rev. Dr. James Julius Wood of Greyfriars' Church, Edinburgh", 1845 is estimated at 3000 euros. Two albumen prints of armor by Charles Clifford, circa 1857 (1500 euros), as well as an image by Louis-Emile Durandelle from the series "Le Nouvel Opéra de Paris, Sculpture Ornementale", 1870s/1880s (2500 euros), are classic examples of 19th-century object photography.

Fine examples of 19th century outdoor photography include classic landscapes by Timothy O'Sullivan, "Snake River Cañon, Idaho" (1500 euros), and T.M. Brownrigg, " On a Mountain Stream. Steive Bloom Mountains" (1500 euros), as well as a cityscape by Thomas Annan "Close, No. 136 Saltmarket" (2000 euros), and the Alpine view "La crevasse (Départ)" (2500 Euros) by Auguste Rosalie Bisson.

A wide range of ethnographic material is again being offered, including an image of expeditioners on Easter Island (400 euros), a group of images showing Botocudo Indians and other natives of Brazil and Bolivia by Marc Ferrez (600 euros), two lots with images of Indians in Peru and Bolivia, 1870s (400 and 500 euros), as well as several groups of attractive portraits of people of India by Scowen and Skeen (between 400-500 euros), a group of Arabian portraits by J. Pascal Sebah (500 euros) and images of the West Indies (300 euros). Japan and China are also well represented with several albums, as well as several groups of hand-colored albumen prints, 1870s/1890s (between 300-1500 euros).

Other important 19th-century photographers being offered include: Alinari, James Anderson, Ottomar Anschütz, Samuel Bourne and Charles Shepherd, Wilhelm Hammerschmidt, Georg Koppmann, August Kotzsch, Robert MacPherson, Carl Friedrich Mylius, Robert Rive, James Robertson, Hermann O. Rückwardt, Auguste Salzmann, Giorgio Sommer, Stephen Thompson and Léon Vidal.

The selection of 20th-century prints includes Berenice Abbott's "Flatiron Building, New York", 1938/printed 1960s (5500 euros). An unusual portfolio is "Das Apokalyptische Menu" 1992 by Christian von Alvensleben containing 13 beautiful dye transfer prints (10,000 euros).

Two prints by Eugène Atget are being offered: "Hotel Cheriseau" and "Knife Sharpener", both circa 1910 (1800 euros and 1200 euros).

Ilse Bing's signed vintage print "Looking West, New York", 1936 (2800 euros) should engage New York lovers. Two rich prints by Bill Brandt: "Late Evening in the Kitchen", 1934 and "Vastèrival, Normandy", 1954--both printed in the 1950s--are estimated at 3000 and 4000 euros respectively.

There are some very beautiful prints (all printed 1960s/1970s) by Josef Breitenbach showing the various phases and genres he worked in, such as portraits of Max Ernst (2500 euros) and Josef Albers, Black Mountain College (1800 euros), nudes including "Fanny" (2500 euros), "Female nude from above" (1800 euros) and "Reclining female nude (3500 euros).

Dorothea Lange's "Women packing apricots", 1938 and "Men idling around court house square", 1939 (2000 euros and 2800 euros), Edwin Locke's "Men Sitting Around" (1500 euros), as well as Margaret Bourke-White's "Sign Post", 1938 (3500 euros), are all representative of 1930s rural America imagery.

Jacques-Henri Lartigue's beloved Renée Perle in a brown-toned silver print from 1930 is estimated at 3000 euros.

The classic image of John Lennon embracing Yoko Ono, taken in 1980 at the Dakota by Annie Leibovitz is being offered as a Cibachrome artist's proof (10,000 euros). Robert Mapplethorpe's "Elliot & Dominic", 1979 (4000 euros) is an example of his more explicit work.

There are several vintage prints by Peter Keetman: "Spiegelnde Tropfen", 1950 (2000 euros), a group of unusual abstract images Keetman took using a moving light source, 1949-1952 (3000 euros), and "Autobahn at night", 1956 (1200 euros), as well as a later print of "Munich: Auer Dult", 1965 (3200 euros).

W. Eugene Smith's night view of Pittsburgh (4000 euros) is offered in a large rich print.

The German photographer Umbo is also in the sale with an extremely rare and unusual vintage print of the musical Clown 'Grock', 1928/29 (8000 euros) "clowning around" in his dressing room, as well as a later print of "New York, Third Avenue", 1952 (750 euros).

The original negative of Yva's "Legs" is a rarity and is offered together with an original vintage print, as well as four modern prints from the negative (6000 euros).

Contemporary work by Candida Höfer: "Haus der Natur, Salzburg", 1997 (2800 euros); Thomas Struth: "Sunrise in the mountains near Kiso-Fukushima" 1987 (4000 euros); and Annelies Strba: "Sonja with Samuel-Maria", 1994 (900 euros) are all good examples of more recent color photography.

Other 20th-century photographers include Cecil Beaton, Esther Bubley, Robert Capa, Jewgeni Chaldej, Immogen Cunningham, Madame D'Ora, Frantisek Drtikol, Harold Edgerton, Hugo Erfurth, Wilhelm von Gloeden, F.C. Gundlach, Heinz Hajek-Halke, Philippe Halsman, Raoul Hausmann, Paul B. Haviland, Heinrich Heidersberger, Konrad Helbig, Fritz Henle, Lewis Hine, Ewald Hoinkis, Eikoh Hosoe, George Hurrell, Michael Kenna, André Kertész, Rudolf Koppitz, Franz Lazi, Werner Mantz, Herbert Matter, Digne Meller-Marcovicz, Duane Michals, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Erich Salomon, Jan Saudek, Christian Schad, Gundula Schulze Eldowy, Friedrich Seidenstücker, Edward Steichen, Carl Strüwe, Wolf Suschitzky, Maurice Tabard, Herbert Tobias, Carl Van Vechten, Ica Vilander, André Villers, Weegee, Brett Weston and Paul Wolff.

If you have any questions, need to order a catalogue, or need condition reports, contact the auction's expert, Jennifer Augustyniak: phone: +4930 219 97 277; fax: +4930 219 97 105; or e-mail jennifer@bassenge.com .