Phillips is honored to present, in lots 248 through 254, photographs from the collection of Inger and Osborn Elliott. The Elliotts cultivated an art collection worthy of praise in the heart of Manhattan. Their upper east side home served as a jewel box of taste, with brightly colored walls adorned with paintings, photographs, and drawings, all masterfully curated. The couple's diverse collection reflects their devotion to New York City's cultural, intellectual, and civic spheres, while also spanning a global reach of artistic styles and techniques.
Inger (1933-2024), originally from Norway, had a passion for photojournalism that brought her to Southeast Asia, where she documented the Vietnam War. She photographed for the Rapho Guillemette photo agency, as well as for Vogue, LIFE, Esquire, and Time magazines. She would later go on to found China Seas, a design firm specializing in batik textiles. Osborn (1924-2008), a revolutionary Newsweek editor and social advocate, served as Dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Trailblazers in their own regard, the Elliotts amassed a collection including rare, early works by Willem de Kooning, Wassily Kandinsky, and Milton Avery, among those by many other innovative modern and post-war painters, photographers, and printmakers.
Abbeville Press, Eisenstaedt on Eisenstaedt: A Self-Portrait, p. 33 Eisenstaedt, Eisenstaedt: Remembrances, p. 4 (variant) Viking Press, Alfred Eisenstaedt: Witness to Our Time, p. 55
PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF INGER AND OSBORN ELLIOTT
Rene Breguet serves cocktails at the Grand Hotel ice rink, St. Moritz
1932 Gelatin silver print, printed 1979. 12 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (31.8 x 24.1 cm) Signed and numbered 12/50 in ink in the margin; titled, dated in an unidentified hand in ink, copyright credit reproduction limitation and Time Inc. 'Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt' credit stamps on the verso.