Provenance
Charles Sheeler to Robert and Nancy Fawcett, Ridgefield, Connecticut
Private Collection
Christie’s, New York, 5 April 1995, lot 46
Berry-Hill Gallery, New York, 2001
Catalogue Essay
With its clarity and clean lines, Charles Sheeler’s Boulder Dam presents a straightforward but nonetheless dramatic record of its subject. Built upon the Colorado River, between Arizona and Nevada, and heralded as a marvel of modern engineering, the dam was completed in 1936 and provided an unprecedented amount of electric power to California, Nevada, and Arizona.

This photograph has its origins in a 1938 assignment from Fortune magazine. Commissioned to produce a pictorial essay on American industrial power, Sheeler photographed structures throughout the United States that symbolized American innovation, achievement, and power. His images of airplanes, railroads, turbines, and dams, served as the basis for the six paintings illustrated in Fortune’s December 1940 issue. Boulder Dam, now known officially as Hoover Dam, was ideal subject matter for Sheeler’s assignment, and he photographed it extensively.

Boulder Dam bears out Sheeler’s belief in photography’s ability to “account for the visual world with an exactitude not equaled by any other medium” (Charles Sheeler: Paintings, Drawings, Photographs, p. 11). It was one of the prize-winning images in The Museum of Modern Art’s 1941 Image of Freedom competition, and was exhibited at MoMA, along with the other winning entries, from October 1941 to February 1942, then toured in the traveling exhibition.

The print offered here was given by Sheeler to his friends and Connecticut neighbors Robert and Nancy Fawcett. Robert Fawcett was a successful commercial illustrator who produced work for The Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, Look, and many other magazines. He is the author of On the Art of Drawing, a book still in print today: he also served on the faculty of the Famous Artists School and was a member of the National Academy of Design.

2

Charles Sheeler

Boulder Dam

1939
Gelatin silver print.
6 1/4 x 9 3/8 in. (15.9 x 23.8 cm)
Signed and inscribed 'To Nancy and Bob' in pencil on the mount.

Estimate
$40,000 - 60,000

Contact Specialist
Caroline Deck
Senior Specialist, Head of Sale

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, Part 1

New York 3 April 2017

1
Ansel Adams
Yosemite Valley
Estimate $30,000 - 50,000
Sold for $28,750
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2
Charles Sheeler
Boulder Dam
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
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3
Alfred Stieglitz
From ‘Room 3003’ - The Shelton, New York, Looking Northeast
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
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4
Frederick Sommer
Colorado River Landscape
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
Sold for $40,000
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5
Albert Renger-Patzsch
Spätherbst im Fichtenwald
Estimate $15,000 - 25,000
Sold for $27,500
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6
Willi Ruge
Berlin Fallschirmspringer from I Photograph Myself During a Parachute Jump
Estimate $20,000 - 30,000
Sold for $65,000
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7
Imogen Cunningham
Hand Weaving with Hand
Estimate $20,000 - 30,000
Sold for $30,000
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8
László Moholy-Nagy
Photogram studies for Goerz (negative and positive)
Estimate $150,000 - 250,000
Sold for $212,500
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9
Robert Heinecken
Jack Jones and the Lennon Sisters #1
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $37,500
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10
László Moholy-Nagy
Photogram
Estimate $150,000 - 250,000
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11
Josef Sudek
The Third Courtyard of Prague Castle
Estimate $20,000 - 30,000
Sold for $61,250
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12
Eugène Atget
Boutique Coiffeur, Boulevard de Strasbourg
Estimate $120,000 - 180,000
Sold for $125,000
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13
André Kertész
Paris (night scene)
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
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14
William Henry Fox Talbot
Oxford High Street
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $56,250
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15
Alfred Stieglitz
The Terminal
Estimate $120,000 - 180,000
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16
Harry Callahan
Detroit
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
Sold for $43,750
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17
Idris Khan
Bach. . . . Six Suites for the Solo Cello
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $50,000
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18
Zhang Huan
Family Tree
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
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19
Masahisa Fukase
Kanazawa from Ravens
Estimate $15,000 - 20,000
Sold for $37,500
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20
Alfred Stieglitz
Lake George
Estimate $70,000 - 90,000
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21
Charles Marville
Sky Study, Paris
Estimate $20,000 - 30,000
Sold for $22,500
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22
Gustave Le Gray
Troncs d’Arbres, Fontainebleau
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $200,000
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23
Charles Aubry
Untitled (study of leaves)
Estimate $60,000 - 80,000
Sold for $137,500
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24
Henri-Victor Regnault
Sèvres et ses environs, Manufacture, Porte orientale et cours d'Honneur
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $125,000
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25
Edward Steichen
The Spiral Shell
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
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26
Edward Weston
White Sands, New Mexico
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $68,750
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27
Imogen Cunningham
Magnolia Blossom
Estimate $180,000 - 220,000
Sold for $162,500
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28
Laura Gilpin
Sand Dunes
Estimate $20,000 - 30,000
Sold for $25,000
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29
Gustave Le Gray
Cavalry Maneuvres, Camp de Châlons
Estimate $70,000 - 90,000
Sold for $106,250
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30
Carleton Watkins
Cape Horn, Columbia River
Estimate $70,000 - 90,000
Sold for $156,250
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31
Charles Nègre
Arles, Porte des Châtaignes
Estimate $70,000 - 90,000
Sold for $62,500
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32
Félix Teynard
Karnak (Thèbes), Palais - Salle Hypostyle - Vue Transversale Prise du Point K
Estimate $30,000 - 50,000
Sold for $105,000
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33
Margaret Bourke-White
Rosenbaum Grain Elevators, Chicago, IL. (Our "temple view")
Estimate $30,000 - 50,000
Sold for $27,500
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34
Bernd and Hilla Becher
Grain Elevators
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $50,000
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35
Henri Cartier-Bresson
At the Curragh Racecourse Near Dublin
Estimate $25,000 - 35,000
Sold for $32,500
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36
Josef Koudelka
Romania
Estimate $20,000 - 30,000
Sold for $30,000
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37
Bill Brandt
Francis Bacon, Primrose Hill
Estimate $10,000 - 15,000
Sold for $40,000
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38
Charles Nègre
Self-Portrait in Orientalist Costume
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $37,500
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39
Julia Margaret Cameron
Sappho (Mary Hillier)
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $40,000
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40
Edward Steichen
Chéruit Gown (Marion Morehouse) (Mrs. E.E. Cummings)
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $50,000
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41
Peter Hujar
Chloe Finch
Estimate $15,000 - 25,000
Sold for $21,250
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42
Robert Frank
New York City Candy Store, 86th Street
Estimate $30,000 - 50,000
Sold for $75,000
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43
Roy DeCarava
Catsup Bottles, Table and Coat, New York
Estimate $7,000 - 9,000
Sold for $20,000
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The Odyssey of Collecting: Photographs from Joy...

New York 3 April 2017

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Provenance

Catalogue Essay

2

Charles Sheeler

Boulder Dam

The Odyssey of Collecting: Photographs from Joy of Giving Something Foundation, Part 1

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