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The remarkable selection of photographs offered in this online auction comes from the collection of Peter C. Bunnell (1937-2021), the pioneering curator, teacher, and photographic historian. In 1971, while Curator of Photography at MoMA, Bunnell organized the exhibition Photographs by Robert Adams and Emmet Gowin, marking each photographer’s first show in New York City. Of Gowin’s work, Bunnell wrote in the press release, ‘his photographs give us an intensely subjective vision of his own private world.’
Gowin’s hometown of Danville, Virginia, serves as the backdrop for a significant portion of his oeuvre, as in the image on offer. Striking in its elegant simplicity and center-weighted composition, Post, Danville, VA, foregrounds the domestic structure of the porch post as contrasted to the organic, lush forms of the surrounding yard. Bunnell included Post, Danville, VA, in the exhibition alongside additional environmental vignettes and intimate portraits of Gowin’s beloved wife, Edith, and her family on their farm. Gowin’s rendering of a seemingly mundane fixture in such an intimate manner aligns with his interest in making pictures which resemble home snapshots, a genre he considers ‘one of the richest resources of strong images I know of.’
A selection of Gowin’s works in the exhibition Photographs by Robert Adams and Emmet Gowin, MoMA, 1972, showing Post, Danville, VA, sixth from the left. Two years after the exhibition, Gowin secured a teaching position at Princeton University following the completion of his graduate studies at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he had studied under Harry Callahan. The first ‘fine art’ photographer on faculty at Princeton, Gowin proved an integral part of the art department and was regarded for his ability to articulate the evocative qualities of the medium. Gowin and Bunnell became colleagues at Princeton as Bunnell served as Director of the Princeton University Art Museum from 1973 to 1978, and as Acting Director from 1998 to 2000, and was also the Museum’s Curator of Photography throughout the entirety of his tenure. Bunnell built a broad-ranging collection of photographs at the Museum, the firsthand examination of which became a central element of the student experience in his classes and seminars. Bunnell also assembled a personal collection of photography over the course of his long career that reflects his vast and deep understanding of the medium. Begun in the 1950s, before photography galleries and dealers were commonplace, Bunnell’s collection is a deeply personal one, put together with a sense of joy and curiosity that includes both icons and lesser-known gems spanning the history of photography.
Nearly all lots are sold with No Reserve and the proceeds will be distributed to six institutions with whom Bunnell was associated — Rochester Institute of Technology, Ohio University, Yale University, The George Eastman Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, and Princeton University Art Museum — to establish endowments to support the study of photographic history.
Provenance
Collection of Peter C. Bunnell, Princeton, New Jersey
Literature
Knopf, Emmet Gowin: Photographs, p. 23
Inside the Photograph: Further Selections from the Peter C. Bunnell Collection
17
Lot offered with No Reserve
Post, Danville, VA
1967
Gelatin silver print.
5 1/2 x 6 3/4 in. (14 x 17.1 cm)
Signed, titled and dated in pencil on the mount.
Estimate
$1,000 - 1,500 •
Sold for $2,286
Christopher Mahoney
Senior International Specialist
cmahoney@phillips.com
Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Deputy Chairwoman
vhallett@phillips.com
Inside the Photograph: Further Selections from the Peter C. Bunnell Collection
10 - 17 October 2023
1No Reserve
Minor White
Sandblaster, San Francisco
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000 •
Sold for $4,445
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2No Reserve
Minor White
Attic Door, 72 N. Union Street, Rochester, New York
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000 •
Sold for $1,397
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3No Reserve
Jerry Uelsmann
Reminiscing About the Future
Estimate $1,500 - 2,500 •
Sold for $2,413
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4No Reserve
Jerry Uelsmann
Untitled (House and Statuary Head)
Estimate $1,000 - 1,500 •
Sold for $2,159
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5No Reserve
Lynton Wells
AYYYY74
Estimate $1,000 - 1,500 •
Sold for $381
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6No Reserve
Eugène Atget
A la Biche, rue Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire
Estimate $1,500 - 2,500 •
Sold for $1,016
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7
Edward Steichen
Laughing Boxes, West 86th St., New York City
Estimate $12,000 - 18,000
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8No Reserve
Harry Callahan
Rome
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000 •
Sold for $1,016
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9No Reserve
Jerry Uelsmann
Totemic Aspen
Estimate $700 - 900 •
Sold for $2,159
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10No Reserve
Emmet Gowin
El Khazneh from the Siq, Petra, Jordan
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000 •
Sold for $4,826
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11No Reserve
Michael Kenna
Three Selected Images
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000 •
Sold for $1,397
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12No Reserve
Wynn Bullock
Three Nature Studies
Estimate $5,000 - 7,000 •
Sold for $2,159
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13No Reserve
Jerry Uelsmann
Five Selected Images
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000 •
Sold for $7,620
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14No Reserve
Harry Callahan
Collages
Estimate $6,000 - 8,000 •
Sold for $8,255
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15No Reserve
Harry Callahan
Cape Cod
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000 •
Sold for $1,270
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16No Reserve
John Szarkowski
Wind Change, Sarah Lake
Estimate $1,000 - 2,000 •
Sold for $635
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17No Reserve
Emmet Gowin
Post, Danville, VA
Estimate $1,000 - 1,500 •
Sold for $2,286
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18No Reserve
Emmet Gowin
Dry Wash and Watering Hole, Near the Very Large Array, Magdelena, New Mexico
Estimate $2,500 - 3,500 •
Sold for $4,064
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19No Reserve
Jerry Uelsmann
Four Selected Images
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000 •
Sold for $1,524
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20No Reserve
Minor White
Wall, San Luis, New Mexico
Estimate $5,000 - 7,000 •
Sold for $10,795
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21No Reserve
Minor White
For Edward Weston, 3 Jan. 58 (Fall Creek, Vicinity of Geneseo, New York)
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000 •
Sold for $8,890
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22
Edward Weston
Shell and Rock - Arrangement
Estimate $15,000 - 25,000
Sold for $13,970
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23No Reserve
Brett Weston
Yucca Valley, California
Estimate $2,500 - 3,500 •
Sold for $1,016
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24No Reserve
Brett Weston
Dunes, Nevada
Estimate $6,000 - 8,000 •
Sold for $7,620
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25No Reserve
Edward Weston
Three Selected Studies of Neil Weston, the Photographer's Son
Estimate $4,000 - 6,000 •
Sold for $445
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26No Reserve
Brett Weston
White Sands, New Mexico
Estimate $2,500 - 3,500 •
Sold for $1,524
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27No Reserve
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Alfred Stieglitz
Estimate $4,000 - 6,000 •
Sold for $5,715
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28
Alfred Stieglitz
Poplars, Lake George
Estimate $10,000 - 15,000
Sold for $33,020
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29No Reserve
Edward Steichen
Gertrude Käsebier
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000 •
Sold for $508
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30
Edward Steichen
Backbone and Ribs of a Sunflower
Estimate $12,000 - 18,000
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31No Reserve
Paul Strand
The Mexican Portfolio
Estimate $1,500 - 2,500 •
Sold for $1,080
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32No Reserve
Minor White
The Three Thirds (Pike, New York)
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000 •
Sold for $10,795
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33No Reserve
Minor White
Three Selected Images: Splintered Door (Macedon, New York)
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000 •
Sold for $5,715
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34No Reserve
Thomas Joshua Cooper
Five Selected Images
Estimate $5,000 - 7,000 •
Sold for $1,397
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35No Reserve
Ruth Bernhard
Skull and Rosary
Estimate $500 - 700 •
Sold for $826
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36No Reserve
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Brook in Nara
Estimate $2,500 - 3,500 •
Sold for $2,413
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37No Reserve
Henri Cartier-Bresson
The Tuileries Gardens, Paris, France
Estimate $1,200 - 1,800 •
Sold for $4,064
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38No Reserve
W. Eugene Smith
Burial at Sea, from the U.S.S. Bunker Hill Marshall Islands Campaign
Estimate $1,500 - 2,500 •
Sold for $1,778
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39No Reserve
Minor White
Parking Lot (Battery Street, San Francisco)
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000 •
Sold for $2,540
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40No Reserve
Lee Friedlander
Two Selected Images
Estimate $6,000 - 8,000 •
Sold for $3,556
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41No Reserve
Barbara Morgan
Martha Graham - Letter to the World (The Kick)
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000 •
Sold for $3,810
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42No Reserve
Barbara Morgan
Graham - "El Penitente" (Solo - Hawkins - "El Flagellante")
Estimate $800 - 1,200 •
Sold for $1,016
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43No Reserve
Ken Ohara
Three Selected Images
Estimate $1,000 - 2,000 •
Sold for $3,556
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44No Reserve
Aaron Siskind
Arizpe, Mexico 21
Estimate $1,000 - 1,500 •
Sold for $4,064
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45No Reserve
Elliott Erwitt
Venice
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000 •
Sold for $3,048
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46No Reserve
Minor White
Four Selected Images
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000 •
Sold for $2,794
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47No Reserve
Yasuhiro Ishimoto
Five Selected Abstract Studies
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000 •
Sold for $5,080
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48No Reserve
Yasuhiro Ishimoto
Five Selected Floral Studies
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000 •
Sold for $2,794
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