Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes - The Odyssey of Collecting: Photographs from Joy of Giving Something Foundation New York Tuesday, October 3, 2017 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    The Southworth & Hawes Studio, Boston
    By descent to Edward Southworth Hawes, Boston
    Likely Holman's Print Shop, Boston, early 1940s
    Collection of David Feigenbaum, Boston
    Sotheby's, New York, The David Feigenbaum Collection of Southworth & Hawes and Other 19th-Century Photographs, 27 April 1999, lot 43

  • Literature

    International Center of Photography, Young America: The Daguerreotypes of Southworth and Hawes, pl. 1601

  • Catalogue Essay

    This bravura whole-plate portrait was one of about 240 Southworth and Hawes daguerreotypes in the collection of David Feigenbaum (1917-1998) of Marblehead, Massachusetts, discovered after his death in 1998. This previously unknown group of daguerreotypes by these two formative American photographers constituted one of the largest holdings of their work and showcased the range and sophistication of their output. When found, most of the daguerreotypes were uncased and housed in slotted plate boxes. Their appearance at auction in 1999 represented the public debut of this unseen work and gave collectors an unprecedented opportunity to compete for material both rare and remarkable.

    It is almost certain that Feigenbaum purchased the daguerreotypes from Boston’s Holman Print Shop, with whom Dr. Edward Hawes, son of Josiah Johnson Hawes and nephew of Albert Sands Southworth, arranged to sell the daguerreotypes that remained in the Southworth & Hawes studio. The Print Shop advertised sales of the material in 1934 and 1935, and it is likely that the young Feigenbaum built his collection during this period. His choices were made with a modern eye that was attuned to both the technical perfection of the daguerreotypes as well as their aesthetic qualities.

134

A Woman in Bonnet & Shawl, with Her Seated Son

circa 1850
Daguerreotype.
Whole plate.

Estimate
$10,000 - 15,000 

Sold for $35,000

Contact Specialist
Rachel Peart
Specialist
+1 212 940 1246

Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Deputy Chairman, Americas

General Enquiries:
+1 212 940 1245

The Odyssey of Collecting: Photographs from Joy of Giving Something Foundation

New York 3 October 2017