Including Early French Masterworks from the
Hyman Collection And POLAROIDS from the Piero Bisazza Collection
To be Offered in London on 1 November 2018
LONDON
- 16 OCTOBER 2018 – Phillips’ Photographs
sale showcases many of the key moments in the history of photography and brings
to the fore leading contemporary artists of today. Available for sale only at
Phillips, the 20 lots in this edition of ULTIMATE range from rare masterpieces
to sold-out editions and unique collaborations. Leading this curation is Early French Masterworks from the Hyman Collection, featuring rare, important works by the first
practitioners of paper photography in France, and an exciting collaboration
with Magnum Photos presents exclusive works by Mikhael Subotzky, Cristina de
Middel, Alex Majoli, Newsha Tavakolian, and Jérôme Sessini. Following Phillips’
May 2018 offering of POLAROIDS from the Piero Bisazza Collection, which was
100% sold, this sale includes the final presentation from this collection, with
unique Polaroid prints by Helmut Newton, Andy Warhol, Nobuyoshi Araki and
others. Comprising 120 lots, the Photographs sale will take place on 1 November
at Phillips London.
Phillips is honoured to
collaborate with Magnum Photos this season, presenting six works exclusive to
ULTIMATE by five leading Magnum photographers who are bridging the gap between
photojournalism and art. The cover lot of the sale is Mikhael Subotzky’s final
smashed work, Self-portrait (with the
help of optometrist) R and L from
Retinal Shift, 2012, executed 2018. The artist said of this work, “I was
taking it back to this personal level – my eyes, my machines for looking, my
relationship to representation. It just felt obvious that I would smash that.”
Since 2011, Subotzky has selected 42 images for smashing and has made 69
smashed works in total. Making its world premiere this autumn at Phillips
London, the present lot will be the final smashed work he will ever produce.
Also on offer is Mikhael Subotzky & Patrick Waterhouse’s Windows, Ponte City, 2008-2010, a unique
polyptych comprising 84 individually framed photographs (estimate:
£60,000-80,000). These two works are accompanied by an in-depth interview with
the artists.
A unique triptych exploring our relationship with the
unknown, The Afronauts, 2012 by
Cristina de Middel is another work to feature in our Magnum collaboration. Further
Magnum highlights include Alex Majoli’s monochromatic Scene #1350, 2017, and Newsha Tavakolian’s Untitled from Listen,
2010-2011. One of six imaginary CD covers, Tavakolian’s work was created for
Iranian women singers who are not allowed to perform solo or produce their own
CDs due to Islamic regulations in place since 1979.
Debuting
at auction is Norman Behrendt with Blueprint,
a unique composition comprising 175 cyanotypes. Arriving in London in August
2017, Behrendt started exploring the ways in which different media outlets
visualise the issues surrounding Brexit. Focusing on videos found on social
media and YouTube, Behrendt would screenshot clips, crop these images and then
print them as cyanotypes. Displayed on the wall, the entire project measures
312 x 815 cm; Blueprint is
accompanied by a custom designed clamshell box, which neatly contains all 175
prints.
The
final lot in ULTIMATE is J. D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere’s Hairstyles, a unique polyptych of six photographs taken between
1968-1975. For over 30 years, Ojeikere photographed Nigerian women’s hairstyles
for all occasions from the everyday to the ceremonial, creating a visual
history that both recalled the past and captured the present. For Ojeikere, Hairstyles, conceived at a time when
photographers in Africa did not embark on non-commercial projects, was an
artistic and ethnographic celebration of Nigerian culture. The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago and Victoria and Albert Museum hold
other works from this series.
As
the Latin American photography market unfolds, Phillips is proud to present
another high-calibre selection of works by important Latin American artists.
Spanning Mexico, Peru and Argentina, these works represent the widely different
ways in which these artists respond to the complexities of life in the region.
A star lot is San Diego – Tijuana XI,
Frontera USA-Mexico, 2015, by Pablo López Luz. In this work, López Luz has
captured the US and Mexico border – the busiest land-border crossing in the
world – from a unique vantage point, presenting it completely devoid of human
presence.
In May 2018, Phillips premiered POLAROIDS from the Piero Bisazza Collection, which was 100% sold. The 21 lots featured in the November
sale represent the final presentation from this collection. Polaroids by Helmut
Newton consitute the largest number of works by a single artist. Newton started
using the Polaroid camera in the 1970s to test lighting conditions and see
instantly how a situation would appear photographically. In 1992 he decided to
officially position these works within his oeuvre and published Pola Woman, a personal project that
showcased his Polaroid prints. The Polaroids in the book were accompanied by
Newton’s short captions about the shoot or the model, emphasising his intimate
relationship to these images. Many of the Newton Polaroids found in the Piero
Bisazza Collection are the actual prints reproduced in Pola Woman. Such examples in the sale include Roxanne, Paris, 1977.
A
notable highlight of the Photographs sale is William Eggleston’s Dust Bells Volume II, which remains the
last portfolio the artist has compiled. In the late 1960s, Eggleston started
experimenting with colour, and his defining 1976 solo exhibition at the Museum
of Modern Art fundamentally shifted how colour photography was viewed, ushering
in institutional acceptance and helping to ensure Eggleston’s significant
legacy in the history of photography. In 2004, Eggleston published two
portfolios: Dust Bells Volume I and Volume II. The deep blues and powerful
reds found in Dust Bells Volume II, offered
here, is Eggleston at his finest as he attaches a thoughtful significance to
everyday objects and actions. Comprising 10 dye-transfer prints depicting life
in the South from 1965-1974, this portfolio is appearing at auction for the
first time.
The
sale offers further exceptional works by Irving Penn, William Klein, Pieter
Hugo and Robin Rhode.
Auction: Tuesday,
1 November 2018, 2pm
Auction viewing: 26 October – 1 November
Location: 30
Berkeley Square, London
Click
here
for more information.
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*Estimates
do not include buyer’s premium; prices achieved include the hammer price plus
buyer’s premium.
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