Phillips is honored to present the second installment of 'The Odyssey of Collecting: Photographs from Joy of Giving Something Foundation' this October in New York. Assembled over several decades by Howard Stein, the founder of Joy of Giving Something Foundation, the collection offers significant breadth and depth — with images ranging from photography's earliest history in the 1800s to pieces by significant artists working in the medium today.
This sale tells several stories, and foremost among them is the history of the continually evolving medium of photography. The range of eras, movements, genres and techniques illustrate how photography has changed since 1839. A number of photographers are represented in depth — including László Moholy-Nagy, Alfred Stieglitz, Harry Callahan and Robert Heinecken — and the story of their changing use of the medium is richly demonstrated. These photographs also document the personal journey Howard Stein embarked upon from the 1980s, beginning to collect when the modern market for photography was just coming into its own.
Mr. Stein had the passion to create a world-class collection, and he had two worthy guides in Lee Marks and Alice Rose George. But without curiosity about the medium, and a finely-tuned eye, the journey would have been a very different one. It is our hope that this offering, presented on 3 October, will inspire others to embark upon their own odyssey of collecting.