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• Issue #219
• Article

Half-plate daguerreotype of a hunter.

Tomorrow, October 13th, the expert Christophe Gœury and the Millon Auction House will present four unique collections that span the history of photography from the 19th century to today.

The auction will begin with a selection of more than 20 daguerreotypes from a long-time collector of daguerreotypes. These will range from a full-plate view of ruins in the Near East taken by Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey during his Grand Tour between 1841 and 1844, to half-plate views of the construction of a Lyonnais bridge in the 1850s, as well as one of the first views of Marseille around 1845 and several quarter-plate portraits of soldiers, scholars and families, among others.

Madame X's collection of rare 19th-century albumen prints of Morocco by A. Cavilla, Léon Davin, Leon & Levy, James Valentine and George Washington Wilson follow. This collection of 60 albumen prints of animated market squares, architectural details and portraits are an exceptional and unique ensemble taken at a time in the 1870s when it was dangerous as a tourist and as a professional to travel.

"Nocturne", the immense Brassai tapestry made in 1968 up for auction at Millon.

The auction continues with a collection of works and correspondence by Brassaï, which were accumulated over a lifetime and a long friendship by his friends Léo and Babeth. One of the key lots in this collection is "Nocturne", the immense Brassai tapestry made in 1968. Following the 1956 exhibition "Language of the Wall: Parisian graffiti photographed by Brassaï" at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York, Brassaï had the idea to use his photographs to make collages, which he then used as models for the creation of an edition of tapestries. Made of about 23 of his graffiti photographs taken between 1933 and 1956, this tapestry was woven around 1965 in a workshop in the Marais in Paris under the direction of the textile-artist Yvette Cauquil-Prince (1928-2005). The original carton (image reversed) of this tapestry was sold during the Brassaï succession (Millon & Associés, October 2006). To date, only three of the four copies of this tapestry originally scheduled for completion are known: one is in the Brassaï family's private collection, another is listed in a private American collection. And this is the third copy. This tapestry, numbered 1 to 4, is the first of this edition.

The auction will close out with a fourth collection, Michel Sola's collection of photographic journalism acquired over several years working as editor in chief of Paris Match. Nicknamed "l'oeil de Paris Match" (the eye of Paris Match), Sola was a friend to reporters such as Sebastiao Salgado, David Douglas Duncan, Marc Riboud, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Raymond Depardon, Benedict Gysembergh, as well as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau. Sola's particular and poignant vision helped to define which images would be associated with the most important events and conflicts of the 20th century.

The public auction preview and auction will be held in Salle VV - 3, rue Rossini, 75009 Paris (Metro: Richelieu-Drouot, lignes 8 & 9). Hours are as follows: Tuesday October 13th, 2015 11am – 12pm (Paris time). The auction itself will be held on Tuesday, October 13th, 2015 at 2:30pm (Paris time).

The auction can be viewed live on http://www.drouotlive.fr . The catalog is available online at http://www.millon.com.

Millon's Département Photographies is run by the expert Christophe Goeury (mobile: +33 (0)6 16 02 64 91; email: chgoeury@gmail.com) assisted by Natalia Raciborski (nsiclis@gmail.com). The auction house is located at 19 rue de la Grange Batelière - 75009 Paris, France; Tel : +33 (0) 1 48 00 99 44; Fax : + 33 (0) 1 48 00 98 58; email: photographie@millon-associes.com. For all questions and additional information please contact the department, which is multi-lingual.