E-Photo
Issue #180  3/14/2011
 
Be-hold Auction On March 23rd, But Previews Held During AIPAD At Salmagundi Art Club

Be-hold is holding a catalog/internet auction of photographs on March 23rd and will preview the auction items in New York City from March 17-23 at the historic Salmagundi Art Club.

There is a strong selection of 20th-century photographs by California artists, including Edward Weston (1937 photographs for LIFE), Brett Weston, (including some specially selected photographs he printed for an exhibition at Aperture), William Dassonville, Wynn Bullock, Jack Welpott , Judy Dater (a group of rarely offered photographs), Robert Heinecken, Oliver Gagliani, Neal White, and Todd Walker.

There is an interesting selection of early German material including a 1920s photograph by August Sander, a striking pair of "oil pigment" portraits by Hugo Erfurth, a production still from the expressionist film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" and an Eiffel Tower abstraction by Else Thalemann.

Pictorialism is well represented. There are some personally gifted photogravures by George Davison, beautiful photographs by Leonard Misonne, and photographs by Max Thorek and A. Aubrey Bodine.

19th-century photography offerings include daguerreotype portraits by Root and Gurney, a pair of outstanding ambrotypes of Clayville, NY, and an oversize whole-plate tintype of an artisan working on framing a photograph. Travel scenes include a large mammoth-plate albumen scene in Cairo by Frith, and scenes in India by Dr. John Murray, including early waxed paper negatives.

Unusual material includes an important archive of Railroad Construction in Alaska in 1916-17. There is a very striking large glass positive by Edward Curtis, probably used in the production of his large photogravures, which is in a specially designed illuminating frame. An extremely early and rare photograph by Robert Capa of a Hungarian gymnastic event has the Hungarian credit stamp of Endre Friedmann. That was Capa's name before he left Hungary at the age of 18 (he took the name Robert Capa two years later) so this is the work of a juvenile prodigy, who was already a professional photojournalist.

An interesting 1940s street scene in Spanish Harlem is a small vintage gem (2-1/4 x 4 inches), which is signed and annotated by Helen Levitt on the verso. There are vintage works by Ilse Bing and the interesting fashionable New York City photographer Zaida Ben-Yusuf. Other photographers whose works are offered include Disfarmer, Josef Breitenbach, Angus McBean, Weegee, Karsh, Winogrand, Kertesz, W. Eugene Smith and Harry Callahan. And there are other surprises.

The material is presented on the http://www.be-hold.com website, along with simple procedures to register and to leave bids, as well as to bid on line as the auction proceeds on March 23rd. There is also a form to subscribe to the printed catalogue that has a new improved format. The printed catalogue is well worth the modest subscription fee of three issues for $50 in North America (U.S. and Canada) and $70 internationally.

All the material will be on display from March 17th-March 23d at the historic Salmagundi Art Club, 47 5th Avenue, between 11th and 12th Streets, in New York City. The timing makes it easy for those in New York City for the AIPAD fair to attend the preview. Preview hours are 1-7 pm weekdays and 1-5 pm weekends. The auction itself will start on Wednesday March 23d at 4 pm EST. Although this is a catalog/internet auction, it will be conducted at the Salmagundi Club, and anyone who wishes can attend and participate directly. Larry Gottheim, at Be-hold, can be contacted at behold@be-hold.com , and at 1-914-423-5806.

In addition to the exhibition of the auction material, Larry will also be presenting an exhibit of works from his outstanding collection of cyanotypes, "My Blue Heaven." Some cyanotypes will be offered for direct sale.

Right after the auction, Larry Gottheim will be going to Tampa, FL, where he will conduct a benefit auction for the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts on March 29th. See: http://www.fmopa.org/photomojo11.htm , for details.