Hiroshi Sugimoto - Photographs New York Friday, April 5, 2024 | Phillips

Photographs

New York Auction 5 April 2024

  • “I set out to trace the beginnings of our age via architecture. Pushing out my old large-format camera’s focal length to twice-infinity―with no stops on the bellows rail, the view through the lens was an utter blur―I discovered that superlative architecture survives the onslaught of blurred photography. Thus I began erosion-testing architecture for durability, completely melting away many of the buildings in the process.”
    —Hiroshi Sugimoto

    • Provenance

      Sonnabend Gallery, New York

    • Literature

      Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshi Sugimoto: Architecture, p. 28

    • Artist Biography

      Hiroshi Sugimoto

      Japanese • 1948

      Hiroshi Sugimoto's work examines the concepts of time, space and the metaphysics of human existence through breathtakingly perfect images of theaters, mathematical forms, wax figures and seascapes. His 8 x 10 inch, large-format camera and long exposures give an almost eerie serenity to his images, treating the photograph as an ethereal time capsule and challenging its associations of the 'instant.' 

      In his famed Seascapes, Sugimoto sublimely captures the nature of water and air, sharpening and blurring the elements together into a seamless, formless entity.  This reflection of the human condition and its relationship with time follows through his exploration of historical topics and timeless beauty as he uniquely replicates the world around us.

      View More Works

242

Hiroshi Sugimoto

United Nations Headquarters

1997
Gelatin silver print, flush-mounted.
58 1/4 x 46 3/4 in. (148 x 118.7 cm)
Overall 72 x 60 in. (182.9 x 152.4 cm)
Signed in ink, printed title, date, and number 1/5 on an artist's label affixed to the reverse of the secondary mount.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$60,000 - 80,000 

Contact Specialist

Sarah Krueger
Head of Department, Photographs
skrueger@phillips.com
 

Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Chairwoman, Americas
vhallett@phillips.com

Photographs

New York Auction 5 April 2024