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• Issue #269
• Article

Jacques-Henri Lartigue: Courses de Bob. One of a group of significant Lartigue images in very rare vintage prints.

On the occasion of Paris Photo week this November, Millon Auction house and expert Christophe Goeury will auction off the cream of the Alex Novak collection and Vintage Works, Ltd.'s inventory of French and other European photography.

The auction, which is entitled, "Alex Novak: Le Passion du Regard", will be held on Friday November 8th at 2pm, Salle VV, 3 rue Rossini 75009 Paris. Public Previews will be held Wednesday, Nov. 6 and Thursday, Nov. 7, 11am- 7pm; Friday, Nov. 8, 11 am-Noon. The catalogue is expected to be online by about Tuesday, October 15th, the same day that the print catalogue will be available.

Long-time photography dealer and expert in French photography Alex Novak has over the last 30-plus years assembled a collection of some of the most important images in the history of photography, trying to find the best example of each. He wrote the book, "19th-century French Master Photographers: Life into Art", and several photographs in the auction are illustrated there. There is also a significant group of 20th-century images by French and European masters.

Gustave Le Gray: Place de la Concorde, Paris, 1859.

Over 130 different photographers in 308 lots will be on offer. Some of the highlights include:

--A large group of 16 of Gustave Le Gray photographs—from landscapes, naval scenes and cityscapes—in near perfect condition.

--The largest and rarest album of the Franco-Prussia War of 1870-71 by Gabriel Blaise with all images in mammoth-plate size. Only three copies are known, and this is the most complete and in best condition. Ironically Blaise also made the smallest photos of the war: photomicrographs to smuggle war dispatches by pigeon.

Nadar (and painted by E. Vieusseux): Charles-Albert Costa de Beauregard in Military Uniform with Sword. Unique painted albumen print from enlarged wet plate negative, 21-5/8 x 17-11/16 in. (550 x 450 mm), 1871.

--A unique painted enlargement (55 x 45 cm) by the Nadar studio of French war hero, Charles-Albert Costa de Beauregard in Military Uniform with Sword. Plus several other important photographs by Nadar and his brother Adrien, including well-known portraits of Composer Gioachino Rossini (Dedicated and Signed by Composer and Signed by Photographer) and French author Théophile Gautier. There is also an exceptionally rich and dark print of " Kuh von der Race in der Normandie (Cow with Man)" by Adrien in a Salt print vernis-cuir from collodion wet plate negative.

--Photography pioneer Hippolyte Bayard's full-plate daguerreotypes and early paper positives from the early to mid 1840s, including a salt print of Notre Dame, Paris during its early restoration effort in 1843. Many of the building’s iconic features date to the 19th-century restorations. These include the crossing spire that collapsed in the recent fire and was rebuilt.

--Five unique albumenized salt prints of Spain and Algiers photographed by Alphonse De Launay and printed by the Le Gray studio in very rich tones. De Launay was a student of Le Gray's.

Several vintage Man Ray photographs, including "Portrait of a Half-Hidden Man With Expressive Hands" are in the auction.

--Several vintage Man Ray photographs, including "Portrait of a Half-Hidden Man With Expressive Hands".

--Three very rare André Giroux circa 1855 salt prints. The "Groupe d'Arbres et Bâtiments au Bord de l'eau" is a particularly beautiful example and originally came as a private purchase from the late French dealer Leon Herschtritt.

--A very large and select group of 15 images by Charles Nègre, whom Mr. Novak considers, along with Gustave Le Gray, to be one of the most influential photographers of the 19th century.

--Five vintage Jacques-Henri Lartigue photographs, including his iconic and unique--outside of French institutional hands, "Courses de Bob", which some feel was one of the first "modern" photographs.

--A very rare vintage contact (25 x 20 cm) print of the iconic "Barefoot" by Horst. Only one other vintage print known.

--Three stunning albumen prints by Charles Aubry, including the classic and rare "Vines and Grapes".

--An early "Nude with Mirror" by Etienne Carjat, to date only known by its glass negative in the Bibliotheque National, Paris.

--Fifteen vintage prints by André Kertész, including some of his Paris nude distortions, including an additional one printed later. Many rare and published Kertesz images.

--A group of eight early Henri Le Secq salt prints, plus one magical and suspected Le Secq of an early salt print from a paper negative of a study of trees.

A number of important daguerreotypes are listed in the auction, including this ¼-plate of "Ruines de Lavardin" attributed to Albert Stapfer. This daguerreotype may be the first example of government-encouraged documentary photography.

--A number of important daguerreotypes, including the full-plate Bayard's mentioned above. There is the early 1840s ¼-plate of Pont du Carrousel and the Grande Galerie du Louvre, Paris; a 1/3-plate of a Nude with Long Hair and Comb; ¼-plate of Man with Rifle, Glass of Wine and Bottle, Woman and Dog; ¼-plate of A Wine Maker or Cooper Relaxing with a Glass and Bottle of Wine; a stereo daguerreotype by Bruno-Auguste Braquehais (attributed to) of a "Seated Female Nude with Veil"; and an early 1840s ¼-plate of "Ruines de Lavardin" attributed to Albert Stapfer. This latter daguerreotype may be the first example of government-encouraged documentary photography. There is also an oversized half-plate probably by Louis Hippolyte Joseph Delemotte or Jean-Baptiste Alary of "Le Port d’Alger, vu du terrain de manoeuvres".

--A rich 1853 salt print from a paper negative of "Luchon, River in Pyrenees Mountains" by Vicomte Joseph de Vigier. Another print reportedly sold privately for $75,000.

--Seven very good J. B. Greene salt prints from paper negatives, mostly of Egypt.

-- Antonio Giannuzzi's very rare and sought after salt print from a paper negative of Goher Shah Mosque, Mashhad, Iran. This body of work is considered some of the earliest known photographs of Iran, made in 1858-59.

--A true vintage photograph of Heinz Hajek-Halke's surreal "Dreaming Fish".

Édouard Baldus: Ramparts Destroyed by the Flood, Avignon, France. Salt print from paper negative, 13-1/4 x 17-1/2 in. (338 x 446 mm), 1856.

-- A very rare Édouard Baldus salt print of "Ramparts Destroyed by the Flood, Avignon". Baldus was actually prevented from printing these by the French government, which claimed the rights to them. A number of other important Baldus photographs are also in the auction.

--Fifteen vintage and later-printed Brassai photographs are offered, including a vintage print of the rare, but well-published Cochita's Dance.

-- Annette Messager's unique Feuilleton 2eme Episode: L'hesitation. Colorized cut-out silver prints on board and remounted (114 x 90 cm).

--Key images by Robert Doisneau and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

--Early Italian salt and albumen prints by Francesco Bonaldi & Tarreghetta, James Anderson, Alinari Brothers, Bisson Frères, Giacomo Caneva, Tomasso Cuccioni, Robert Eaton and Le Gray-Le Dien, among others.

Claude-Joseph-Desire Charnay: Self Portrait, Interior Courtyard, Great Palace, Mitla. Albumen print from wet plate negative, 10-1/4 x 15-1/2 in. (260 x 394 mm), 1859.

--A rich albumen print of Charnay's Self Portrait, Interior Courtyard, Great Palace, Mitla. Exceedingly rare in the large size and in this fine condition.

--Very rare and probably unique Maxime Du Camp albumenized salt prints of Egypt made by Du Camp or his assistant (not from the Blanquart-Everard portfolio). Other similar prints came up in the 2001 Etude Tajan auction, which set a record for a single Du Camp photograph at auction.

--A rare variant of the iconic Stone Cutter by Louis-Émile Durandelle. From his "Le Nouvel Opera de Paris, Sculpture Ornementale" series.

--A series of large albumen photographs of the Studio of the Painter Mariano Fortuny y Marsal (1838–1874). Mariano Fortuny y Marsal was undoubtedly the Spanish artist with the greatest international fame in the 19th century.

Rare vintage 1941 contact (25 x 20 cm) print of the iconic "Barefoot" by Horst.

Some of the major 20th-century photographers—most images in rare vintage or early prints--include: Laure Albin-Guillot, Jose Alemany, Eugène Atget, Ilse Bing, Blanc & Demilly, François-Frédéric Boissonnas, Edouard Boubat, Marcel Bovis, Brassai, Bill Brandt, Brassai, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Jean-Philippe Charbonnier, Bruce Davidson, Willem Diepraam, Robert Doisneau, Josef Ehm, Elliott Erwitt, Mario Giacomelli, Heinz Hajek-Halke, Horst, Izis, Pierre Jahan, Gyorgy Kepes, André Kertész, François Kollar, Rudolf Koppitz, Germaine Krull, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Helen Levitt, Jean-Francois Limet, Josep Maria Llado, Man Ray, Marcel Mariën, Annette Messager, Leonard Misonne, Roger Parry, Constant Puyo, Willy Ronis, W. Eugene Smith, Emmanuel Sougez, Edward Steichen, Josef Sudek, Maurice Tabard, Geza Vandor, André Villers, Christian Vogt, Andy Warhol, Sabine Weiss, Wols (Wolfgang Schulze), among others.

Charles Hippolyte Aubry: Vines and Grapes. Albumen print from wet plate negative, 10-3/8 x 13-3/8 in. (265 x 340 mm), 1864c.

The 19th-century masters in the sale include: Count Olympe Aguado, Richard Dykes Alexander, Alinari Brothers, James Anderson, Charles Aubry, Edouard Baldus, Hippolyte Bayard, Ludwig Belitski, Auguste Belloc, Adolphe Bertsch, Bisson Frères, Gabriel Blaise, Francesco Bonaldi & Tarreghetta, Giacomo Caneva, Etienne Carjat, Claude-Joseph-Desire Charnay, Charles Clifford, Alfred Coulon, Auguste Crétès, Tomasso Cuccioni, Eugene Cuvelier, Louis-Alphonse Davanne, Louis De Clercq, Alphonse De Launay, Vicomte Joseph de Vigier, Lt. Col. Henry Dixon, Maxime Du Camp, Roger Fenton, Antonio Giannuzzi, André Giroux, John Beasley Greene, Jean-Jacques Heilmann, Baron Louis-Adolphe Humbert de Molard, Colonel Jean-Charles Langlois, Gustave Le Gray, Henri Le Secq, Etienne-Jules Marey, Charles Marville, Felix Nadar, Baron Albert Victor Nau de Champlouis, Charles Nègre, Pierre Emile Joseph Pécarrère, Marquis de Rostaing, Auguste Salzmann, Scherer and Nabholz, Camille Silvy, Albert Stapfer, John Stewart, Adolphe Terris, Félix Teynard, Louis Vignes, among others.

Annette Messager: Feuilleton 2eme Episode: L'hesitation. Colorized cut-out silver prints on board and remounted, 44-7/8 x 35-3/8 in. (1140 x 900 mm), 1977-78. Provenance: Galerie Laage-Salomon, Paris (Exhibited 2000); Private collection. Exhibitions:: Paris, Galerie Gillespie-Laage, Le Feuilleton 1978; London, Arts Council of Great Britain, Artist & Camera (exhibition), 1980-1981. Bibliography: Camera & Artist, Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1980-81, p.46.

Information on the online Millon auction catalogue can be found at: https://www.millon.com/catalogue/vente3350-collection-alex-novak-la-passion-du-regard#catalog. Or just download the catalogue in English here: https://www.millon.com/en/auction/6693/catalog/view.

Printed catalogues can be requested from the auction house. You can also bid online at Drouot and Interenchères websites. Drouot's can be found here: https://drouot.com/en/v/158190-collection-alex-novak-la-passion-du-regard. Interenchères can be found here: https://www.interencheres.com/en-US/art-decoration/collection-alex-novak-la-passion-du-regard-641269. We recommend that you bid directly with Millon.

Almost all photographs are in exceptional condition and tonality. Full reports can be gotten from the excellent Millon auction team.

Contacts for the auction:

Expert, Christophe Goeury
chgoeury@gmail.com

Head of Department, Federica Barolo
photographie@millon.com
+33 (0) 1 87 03 04 70