Edward Burtynsky - Photographs New York Tuesday, October 1, 2019 | Phillips

Photographs

New York Auction 1 October 2019

  • Provenance

    Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto

  • Literature

    Steidl, China: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky, p. 49

  • Catalogue Essay

    Edward Burtynsky has devoted his career to documenting human impact upon the planet. His work in China, begun in the early 2000s, has yielded some of the most dramatic photographs in an oeuvre replete with vivid imagery. Burtynsky approaches his subjects armed with in-depth research and then exploits photography’s unique ability to capture extreme detail so that no aspect of his subject goes unrecorded. A master technician, Burtynsky produces large format prints that contain more information than the human eye can process at once.

  • Artist Biography

    Edward Burtynsky

    Canadian • 1955

    Universally termed 'industrial landscapes', Edward Burtynsky's photographs are rooted in the complex, symbiotic and, at times, destructive relationship we have with the earth. In depicting his subjects, Burtynsky balances an exacting, documentarian objectivity with a breathtakingly finessed beauty. His oversized works, whose subjects include quarries in Vermont, shipyards in China and oil refineries in Canada, have a sense of grandiosity and monumentality. There is an initial visual appeal of vibrant colors, details and scale; however, on closer inspection, the environmental dilemma unfolds. They are introspective and meditative, capturing a 'contemplative moment' where landscapes provide visual and emotional resonance.

    View More Works

World View: Property from a Private Collection

159

Edward Burtynsky

Old Factories #1, Fushun Aluminum Smelter, Fushun City, Liaoning Province, China

2005
Chromogenic print, mounted.
38 7/8 x 49 in. (98.7 x 124.5 cm)
Overall 49 7/8 x 60 in. (126.7 x 152.4 cm)
Signed in ink, printed title, date and number 8/9 on an artist's label accompanying the work.

Estimate
$15,000 - 25,000 

Sold for $17,500

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Photographs

New York Auction 1 October 2019