Auction: Fine Photographs, February 26, 2013 @Swann

The first focused Photography sale of the year takes place at Swann next week, with the auction house's customary eclectic mix of material up for bid. As always, the tilt is toward lower priced 20th century black and white work, both vintage and modern prints. An Edward Curtis portfolio is the headliner. Overall, there are 138 lots available, with a total High estimate of $1360000.

Here's the statistical breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 104
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $650000

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 32
Total Mid Estimate: $535000

Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 2
Total High Estimate: $175000

The top lot by High estimate is lot 22, Edward Curtis, The North American Indian, Portfolio #1, 1907, at $70000-100000.

The following is the list of photographers with 3 or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Alfred Eisenstaedt (7)
Ansel Adams (6)
Berenice Abbott (5)
Edward Curtis (5)
Brassaï (4)
Henri Cartier-Bresson (3)
André Kertész (3)
Gordon Parks (3)
Aaron Siskind (3)
Edward Weston (3)
Minor White (3)

Other works of interest include lot 33, André Kertész, Distortion #128, 1931-1933, at $30000-45000 (image at right, top), lot 46, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Trafalgar Square on the day of the Coronation of King George VI, London, 1937/1950s, at $20000-30000 (image at right, middle), and lot 58, Minor White, Mendocino #3, 1948, at $4000-6000 (image at right, bottom). All images via Swann.

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here. The 3D version is located here.

Fine Photographs
February 26th

Swann Auction Galleries
104 East 25th Street
New York, NY 10010

2012 AIPAD Review, Part 2 of 2

This is Part 2 of my 2012 AIPAD Review, covering the New York area galleries and a few others located in the larger Northeast (organized alphabetically). The rest of the galleries from around the world, as well as the background on the format I am using, can be found in Part 1 (here).

Bonni Benrubi Gallery (here): Matthew Pillsbury (2), Karine Laval (2), Massimo Vitali (1), Paolo Pellegrin (2), Abelardo Morell (4), Jim Marshall (3), William Gottlieb (2), Amalie Rothschild (1), Linda McCartney (2), Chris Payne (2), Simon Norfolk (1). In this intricate new work, Morell seems to be heading toward Sommer's cut paper collages. (priced at $5000)

Danziger Gallery (here): Robert Frank (8), Christopher Bucklow (1), Karen Knorr (2), Garry Fabian Miller (6), Hendrik Kerstens (2), Susan Derges (2), Chris Levine (1), Yuji Obata (4), Evelyn Hofer (4). My interest in Kerstens' portraits persists, and the two new images in the booth here hold the wall with authority. The aluminum hat is strangely lovely. (priced at $10000)

After seeing so much abstract work from Miller, I was surprised to discover these brand new photograms of flowers. They are small and delicate, in soft colors. (priced at $10000)

Keith De Lellis Gallery (here): Flip Schulke (1), Irving Penn (7), Horst P. Horst (2), Cecil Beaton (1), George Platt Lynes (1), Florence Meyer Homolka (1), Richard Avedon (1), Ruth Bernhard (3), Gleb Derujinsky (1), Margaret Bourke-White (3), Edward Steichen (4), Jorgen Roos (3), Eric Schaal (2), Nino Migliori (1), Herbert Matter (3), Brassai (2), Keld Helmer-Petersen (1), Arnold Newman (1), Weegee (1), Simpson Kalisher (2), Beauford Smith (3), Marvin Newman (1), Henri Cartier-Bresson (1), Alexander Rodchenko (1), Barbara Morgan (1). There was plenty of fabulous vintage work in this booth, anchored by a group of Steichens, with help from several Bourke-Whites and Bernhards. This 1925 Steichen boat (tucked on a side wall) was my favorite image in the entire fair. (priced at $125000)

Gitterman Gallery (here): Gita Lenz (2), Frederick Sommer (1), Edmund Teske (3), Arthur Siegel (1), Hiroshi Sugimoto (3), Adam Bartos (1), Ralph Eugene Meatyard (9), Saul Leiter (2), Robert Frank (1), Leon Levinstein (1), Nan Goldin (1), Edward Weston (1), plus 2 bins. A classic Weston industrial image - Middletown, OH steel smokestacks from 1922. (priced at $300000)

Howard Greenberg Gallery (here): Edward Steichen (2), Berenice Abbott (1), Jaromir Funke (1), Sid Grossman (5), William Klein (3), Bruce Davidson (4), Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1), Jerome Liebling (1), Martin Munkacsi (1), Robert Frank (1), Bill Brandt (1), Brett Weston (1), Dorothea Lange (1), David Goldblatt (1 diptych), Saul Leiter (7). This 1915 Steichen is one of the most iconic florals in photographic history; not to be missed. (priced at $275000)

Higher Pictures (here): George Dureau (5), Jessica Eaton (4), Emily Roysdon (12). I like that these new Eaton abstractions are getting more and more visually complex. (priced at $4000)

I hadn't ever heard of George Dureau until Kim gave me some background on him. Apparently, Mapplethorpe knew him in the early 1980s and admired his work. The aesthetic affinity is quite clear, especially in the made nudes of men with amputations. (priced at $4000)

Edwynn Houk Gallery (here): Joel Meyerowtiz (1), Vera Lutter (1), Robert Frank (1), Man Ray (1), Sally Mann (1), Bill Brandt (5), Alfred Stieglitz (1), Sebastiaan Bremer (1), Lee Friedlander (1), Dannyn Lyon (1), Herb Ritts (6), Stephen Shore (1), Robert Polidori (1). The series of close up Brandt eyes on the back wall of this booth was an unexpected treat.

Robert Klein Gallery (here): Jessica Backhaus (5), Francesca Woodman (8), Cig Harvey (4), Henri Cartier-Bresson (2), Walker Evans (2), Aaron Siskind (1), Mario Giacomelli (1), Brassai (1), Lee Friedlander (1), Berenice Abbott (2), Irving Penn (5), Harry Callahan (3), Edward Weston (2), Elliot Erwitt (1).

Hans P. Kraus Jr. Inc. (here): Louis-Emile Durandelle (2), Charles Soulier (2), Julia Margaret Cameron (3), Rufus Anson (1), William Henry Fox Talbot (6), Henri Courmont (1), Jospeh Vicomte Vigier (1), Eugene Cuvelier (1), Gustave Le Gray (1), Unknown (2), Edward Steichen (2), Guillaume Duchenne De Boulogne (1), Etienne-Jules Marey (1), Putnam & Valentine (1), Guillaume Duchenne De Boulogne and Adrian Tournachon (1), Andre Adolphe Eugene Disderi (1).

Robert Mann Gallery (here): Julie Blackmon (4), Leo Goldstein (1), Lisette Model (1), Dan Weiner (1), Weegee (1), Aaron Siskind (1), David Vestal (1), Fred Stein (2), Jorn Vahnhofen (1), Lewis Baltz (1), Robbert Flick (1), Henry Wessel (1), Richard Misrach (2), Jeff Brouws (1), Joe Deal (2), Michael Kenna (4), Chip Hooper (1), Minor White (1), Ansel Adams (1).

Yossi Milo Gallery (here): Sze Tsung Leong (1), Ezra Stoller (2), Lise Sarfati (2), Tim Hetherington (8), Doug Rickard (2), Alison Rossiter (3), Chris McCaw (2), Matthew Brandt (1), Pieter Hugo (1).

Yancey Richardson Gallery (here): Kenneth Josephson (4), Andrew Moore (1), Victoria Sambunaris (1), Laura Letinsky (1), Olivo Barbieri (1), Rachel Perry Welty (2), Bernd and Hilla Becher (1 set of 9), Sharon Core (4).

Julie Saul Gallery (here): Rineke Dijkstra (2), Justine Reyes (2), Charlotte Dumas (2), Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao (1), Reiner Gerritsen (1), Gonzalo Puch (1), Didier Massard (1), Sarah Anne Johnson (1), Miroslav Tichy (5), Gerard Petrus Fieret (2), Nikolai Bakharev (4).

Michael Shapiro Photographs (here): Irving Penn (3), Andre Kertesz (2), Josef Koudelka (1), Jaromir Funke (2), Henri Cartier-Bresson (1), Imogen Cunningham (1), Elmer Blew (1), Harry Callahan (1), John Gutman (1), Ansel Adams (2), Dorothea Lange (1), Edward Weston (2), Robert Frank (7), Walker Evans (1), Edward Steichen (1), William Klein (1), Minor White (4), and a wall covering selection of small Jefferson Hayman works. I thoroughly enjoyed the layered shadows in this cut paper Funke. (priced at $80000)

The crusted snow by White was an image I had never seen before and is apparently unique; I liked its sinuous figure/ground form. (priced at $18000)

Bruce Silverstein Gallery (here): Edward Weston (1), Lotte Jacobi (1), Edward Steichen (1), Robert Frank (1), Aaron Sikind (2), Lisette Model (4), Andre Kertesz (5), Constantin Brancusi (6), Trine Sondergaard (1), Ryan Weideman (6), Michael Wolf (2), Trine Sondergaard & Nicolai Howalt (5), Keith Smith (28). Bruce has a show of Brancusi photographs coming up, and from the looks of this small selection of prints, it's going to be a superlative exhibit. This shiny gem was priced at $250000.

While the idea is straightforward, I liked these enveloping snowstorm trees by Trine Søndergaard and Nicolai Howalt on the outside of the booth. The whiteout is supremely silent.

L. Parker Stephenson Photographs (here): Chris Killip (1), Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen (2), Walker Evans (1), John Cohen (4), Mike Disfarmer (1), Andre De Dienes (1), Erwin Blumenfeld (1), Claude Tolmer (1), Anton Bruehl (1), Gyorgy Kepes (1), Gordon Koster (2), W. Eugene Smith (2), Jan Yoors (3), Inge Morath (1). Parker spent some time giving me some further context on 1970s/1980s British photography and introducing me to the terrific early 1970s photographs of Byker by Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen. (priced at $2500/$3000)

Gallery 339 (here): Philip Toledano (1), Edward McHugh (4), Richard Kagan (2), Amanda Means (1), Ion Zupcu (4), Tetsugo Hayakutake (1), Martine Fougeron (2), Rita Bernstein (2), Yuichi Hibi (3), William Larson (2), Nadine Rovner (2).

Rick Wester Fine Art (here): Richard Avedon (2), Ralph Eugene Meatyard (2), Cindy Sherman (1 diptych), Bill Brandt (3), Joni Sternbach (2), Christian Vogh (1), Marilyn Minter (1), Andres Serrano (1), Laurie Lambrecht (1, 1 diptych), Sharon Harper (1), Sandi Fifield (1), Ken Schles (2), Irving Penn (2), Stephen Shore (1). As collectors of Brandt nudes, we are always on the look out for vintage prints that come out of the woodwork. This was the best Brandt nude I saw at the fair. (priced at $24000)

Sasha Wolf Gallery (here): Andrew Borowiec (6), Peter Kayafas (4), David Nadel (4), Katherine Wolkoff (8), Tribble and Mancenido (1), Paul McDonough (4), Eleanor Carucci (4), TrujilloPaumier (8).

Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery (here): Edward Burtynsky (2), Ola Kohlemainen (1), Jim Campbell (1), Niko Luoma (1), Susanna Majuri (2), Shirley Shor (1).

David Zwirner (here): A solo booth show of the work of Philip-Lorca diCorcia (11). Glad to see Zwirner showing at AIPAD and embracing the photography world. This small sampler spanned many of diCorcia's projects, including a couple of newer works.

2010 AIPAD Review, Part 3 of 4

Parts 1 and 2 of this multi-part AIPAD post can be found here and here.
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Laurence Miller Gallery (here): Helen Levitt (22), Stephane Couturier (2), Barbara Blondeau (3), Ray Metzker (11), Jan Dziackowski (3), Bruce Wrighton (3), Denis Darzacq (1), Burk Uzzle (3), Fred Herzog (2), plus 2 bins. I never tire of Metzker composites, and this one of nude silhouettes was spectacular; his recent abstracted reflections in car windows and hoods aptly named "Autowackies" were also worth a closer look. (Ray Metzker, Nude Composite, 1966/1982, at $125000.)

Robert Klein Gallery (here): Paulette Tavormina (3), Henri Cartier-Bresson (5 plus a glass case of books), Helen Levitt (2), Mario Giacomelli (3), Mark Cohen (8), Diane Arbus (1), Harry Callahan (2), Francesca Woodman (2), Ilse Bing (1), Edward Weston (3), Robert Steinberg (3), Victor Schrager (1), Arno Minkkinen (1), Jeff Brouws (9), Sebastiao Salgado (2), Lewis Hine (4). This booth was a broad mix of vintage and contemporary material. The Levitt phone booth below, with the child wearing striped sport socks squished against the expanse of patterned dress, is likely my favorite of her color images. (Helen Levitt, Untitled, New York, 1988, at $15000.)

Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery (here): Susanna Majuri (2), Bruce Davidson (3), Pertti Kekarainen (3), Hannu Karjalainen (6), Kalle Kataila (2), Ola Kolehmainen (1), Jim Campbell (1 lightbox), Shirley Shor (1 lightbox), Niko Luoma (2). This booth had echoes of the gallery's Armory show booth and its current Helsinki school exhibit, but I was most intrigued by the works by Jim Campbell and Shirley Shor - two more examples of the bleeding edge of contemporary photography. Campbell's crosswalk image looks static, but soon shadows of cars and pedestrians stream across and disappear, adding an elements of time and movement to a single frame. Shor's work shows the continuous assembly and disassembly of a portrait, with millions of pixels changing frenetically.

Monroe Gallery (here): Eddie Adams (1 triptych, 5 others), Bill Eppridge (3), Steve Schapiro (4), Irving Haberman (3), Mark Shaw (2), John Filo (1), Charles Moore (1), Jurgen Schadeberg (1), Stanley Forman (1), Carl Iwasaki (1), Bob Gomel (1), Vivian Cherry (1), Ida Wyman (1), Stephen Wilkes (5), plus 2 bins. This booth was filled with top quality photojournalism, and the image below from the aftermath of the assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy shows how a photograph can be tranformed into an amazing artifact - the only remaining original master print of this poignant moment has been ravaged by fire. (Bill Eppridge, Burned Master Shot of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Ambassador Hotel Kitchen, Los Angeles, CA, June 5, 1968, for museum consideration.)

Rick Wester Fine Art (here): Sharon Harper (1), Irving Penn (4), Josef Sudek (1), Emmet Gowin (2), Jehsong Baak (3), Pinar Yolaçan (3), Harry Callahan (1), Frank Gohlke (1), Jeff Mermelstein (8), Meghan Boody (2), Louis Faurer (portfolio), Garry Winogrand (portfolio), Aaron Siskind (portfolio). I first saw Pinar Yolaçan's powerful portraits at the ICP Dress Codes show, and I continue to think they are among the most startling and memorable contemporary images I have seen recently. (Pinar Yolaçan, Untitled, 2007, at $5000.)

Deborah Bell Photographs (here): William Eggleston (1), Marcia Resnick (8), Geroge Gardiner (4), Vito Acconci (2), Robert Frank (1), Esther Bubley (1), August Sander (3), Susan Paulsen (4), Sid Kaplan (2), Louis Faurer (3), Harry Callahan (1), Tod Papageorge (1), Garry Winogrand (1), Gerard Petrus Fieret (4), Man Ray (1), André Kertész (1), Brassaï (1).

Stephen Daiter Gallery (here): Paul D'Amato (5), Helen Levitt (1), Joe Schwartz (1), Barbara Morgan (1), Marvin Newman (3), Lewis Hine (1), Sid Grossman (2), Andre Kertesz (5), Aaron Siskind (2), Art Sinsabaugh (1), Gyorgy Kepes (1), Harry Callahan (1), Frederick Sommer (1), Kenneth Jospehson (3), Walter Peterhans (1), Wayne Miller (1), Irving Penn (1), Ralph Eugene Meatyard (1), Heinrich Kuhn (1), Brassai (1), Barbara Crane (4), Lynne Cohen (1), Barbara Kasten (1). I think Art Sinsabaugh's thin panoramic landscapes and cityscapes have aged very well and are generally underappreciated; I liked the radiating lines of the tilled furrows in this particular work. (Art Sinsabaugh, Midwestern Landscape #34, 1962, at $25000.)

Stephen Bulger Gallery (here): Richard Harrington (1), Jean Louis Blondeau (1), Dave Heath (2), André Kertész (3, 1 group of 5, and 9 Polaroids), Helen Levitt (1), Lutz Dille (1), Sarah Anne Johnson (1 triptych and 1), Gilbert Garcin (2), Les Krims (1), George Zimbel (1), Henri Cartier-Bresson (1), Bertrand Carriere (1), Eliane Excoffier (3), Alison Rossiter (3), Fausta Facciponte (1), Harry Waddle (1), Erin O'Neill Haydn (1), Robert Bourdeau (2), Volker Seding (1), Scott Conarroe (1), Sanaz Mazinani (1), Jeff Thomas (1), John Vanderpant (1), Mark Ruwudel (1). This was a packed, "one of each" booth; I liked the concentric circles and shadows of the Vanderpant pipes best. (John Vanderpant, Untitled (Drainpipes), c1930, at $10000.)

Bruce Silverstein Gallery (here): Randy West (2), John Wood (3), Frederick Sommer (12), Nathan Lyons (5), Leonard Freed (6), Rosalind Solomon (6), Dorothea Lange (3), Barbara Morgan (3), Michael Wolf (1), Todd Hido (2), Edward Weston (3), Aaron Siskind (3), Brett Weston (1). The three variants of Sommer's portrait of Livia were the standouts in this booth.

Danziger Projects (here): Robert Mapplethorpe (1), Annie Liebovitz (2), George Tice (1), Viviane Sassen (3), Paul Fusco (1), Mario Sorrenti (1), Jim Krantz (1), Christopher Bucklow (1), Julia Margaret Cameron (1), Cosmo Innes (1), Edward Weston (2), Seydou Keita (2), Ezra Stoller, (2), Adam Fuss (1), plus 2 bins. With its elegant simplicity, this has always been one of my favorite Mapplethorpe nudes. (Robert Mapplethorpe, Lydia Cheng, 1987/1990, at $55000.)

Galerie Baudoin Lebon (here): Nadar (1), Adolphe Braun (1), Edouard Baldus (1), Louis-Alphonse Dauanne (1), Francois Merille (1), Eugène Atget (2), Autochromes (2), Paolo Gasparini (6), Leo Matiz (1), Alberto Korda (1), Sameer Makarius (1), Barbara Brandli (6), JB Greene (2), Jacques-Henri Lartigue (1), Constantin Brancusi (2). There was a terrific wall of black and white images from 1970s Caracas in this booth. There was also a nice Atget shopfront with ghostly figures bustling past on the sidewalk. (Paolo Gasparini, Car + Soto, Caracas, 1968, at $5000.)

Picture Photo Space (here): Kunihiko Katsumata (8), Issei Suda (4), Hiroshi Osaka (5), Nobuyoshi Araki (4), Diane Arbus (1), Eikoh Hosoe (1), Helmut Newton (1), Garry Winogrand (1), Sally Mann (2), and a few others that weren't marked.

Barry Singer Gallery (here): Brigitte Carnochan (1), Irene Fay (1), Berenice Abbott (1), Jack Welpott (2), Dave Heath (2), Eugene Smith (3), Lou Stoumen (2), Edward Weston (1), Weegee (1), Carlotta Corpon (1), Laura Gilpin (1), Marc Riboud (1), Minor White (1), Brett Weston (2), Clarence John Laughlin (1), Lloyd Ullberg (1), André Kertész (1), Wynn Bullock (1), Ansel Adams (1), Irving Penn (1), Anne Brigman (1), Jan Saudek (1), Don Jim (4), Michael Garlington (2), Gyorgy Kepes (1), Edmund Teske (1), Kenneth Josephson (1). This was another excellent Minor White that I hadn't seen before or had forgotten; the range of tonalities was masterful. (Minor White, Parking Lot, San Francisco, from Sequence 9, 1952, at $15000.)

Continue to Part 4 here.

2010 AIPAD Review, Part 1 of 4

The 2010 AIPAD Photography Show in New York last week was once again the dominant event on the annual American photography calendar, at least for collectors like us. With 76 exhibitors (mostly galleries and private dealers, but with a few booksellers thrown in for good measure), AIPAD remains the single best place to see the entire breadth of photography, from 19th century to contemporary, on display in one place at one time in the United States; collectors, curators, and photographers from all over the world come to New York specifically for this show just to see what is on view and available.

I made three separate trips to the show this year: a visit to the Wenesday night opening, as well as more focused sessions on Thursday and Friday afternoons. In between an active review of the booths, I met with all kinds of people: collectors large and small, working photographers, musuem curators, and particularly gallery owners/dealers. For the first time ever, I think I spent more time talking (and listening and learning) than I did looking. This is not to say that I didn't end each day with a glassy eyed stare, earned through an overload of visual stimulation; I just interleaved meetings into spurts of booth scouring for a completely full calendar.

This 2010 AIPAD Review will be divided into 4 parts. The first three posts will be the customary booth reports, with lists of the photographers on view (the number of pictures by each in parentheses) and some additional commentary or a specific image (and its details) as further illustration. Given the scope of this fair, I have not attempted to create a complete count of everything on display - there was just too much; there will only be reports on about half of the booths, mainly chosen by pictures that really grabbed my attention or that I subjectively thought deserved some additional discussion; those that have been ommitted were not any less good necessarily, they just didn't stop me in my tracks enough to keep me from relentlessly moving on. As an aside, I seem to have developed a kind of strange x-ray vision (perhaps a byproduct of too much fair-going) - I scan the contents of a booth and often a single image stands out as though lit by an invisible spotlight, while the rest of the images fall back into the blurry and less interesting periphery. It's a kind of "aha" moment, when something unexpected, unusual, or exciting is discovered amidst the normal smorgasbord of work we've generally seen before. The final post in the series will try to step up a level or two and consider some of the ideas, patterns, and conclusions I've drawn from this year's fair; seeing such a plethora of photography isn't just about checklists and prices - there are larger themes present that cut across easy divisions/summaries and are worth a little bit deeper discussion.

For those of you who can never get enough and like to compare alternate viewpoints, a few additional AIPAD reviews worth checking out are those by collector/blogger Evan Mirapaul (here), gallery owner/blogger James Danziger (here and here), and Ken Johnson of the NY Times (here).

So let's get started. The galleries presented are in no particular order, although I've tried to spread some favorites out across the three posts. Apologies for the marginal images, as they are often marred by reflections or glare:

Paul Hertzmann (here): Lisette Model (1), Harry Callahan (1), Ilse Bing (1), Lucia Moholy (1), Eugène Atget (1), Brassaï (1), Imogen Cunningham (2), Francis Bruguière (2), Leo Dohmen (1), Consuelo Kanaga (1), Edward Weston (2), Margaret Bourke-White (1), Ansel Adams (1), Osamu Shiihara (3), Gertrude Käsebier (1), Dorothea Lange (1), Gerard Petrus Fieret (1), plus 4 bins. We have quite a few Cunninghams in our collection and I can say unequivocally that the Cunningham nude of Portia Hume (1930) below was the best picture I saw at AIPAD this year. We have seen this image illustrated in several books over the years, but we have never seen an actual print of this work (vintage or otherwise) anywhere; it was already sold by the time I got to the booth at the opening night party.

Michael Shapiro Photographs (here): Ansel Adams (2), Frederick Sommer (1), Minor White (2), Edward Weston (2), Dorothea Lange (1), Brett Weston (1), Florence Henri (1), Margaret Bourke-White (2), Eugene Smith (1), Kurt Baasch (1), Martin Munkacsi (1), Robert Frank (2), Manuel Alvarez Bravo (2), Edward Steichen (1), Helen Levitt (1), Berenice Abbott (2), Irving Penn (1), Danny Lyon (1), Henri Cartier-Bresson (1), Hannes Beckmann (1), and a group of vernacular images on the outside wall (UPDATE: I misidentified these images, see the comments). While many of the visitors were crowded around a vintage Frank in this booth, I most enjoyed the simplicity of the Minor White image below, with its contrasts of pattern and texture. (Minor White, Abstraction: The Bird with the Misplaced Heart, 1948, at $12500)

Howard Greenberg Gallery (here): Frank Gohlke (3), Robert Frank (2), Saul Leiter (4), William Klein (1), Louis Faurer (4), Ted Croner (4), Miroslav Tichý (5), Bruce Davidson (1), and a wall of Photo League work (13).

Lee Gallery (here): Paul Outerbridge (1), Pierre Dubreuil (1), Alfred Stieglitz (1), Heinrich Kühn (1), Robert Frank (1), László Moholy-Nagy (1), Walker Evans (1), Ilse Bing (2), Dorothea Lange (1), Carleton Watkins (3), Henry Bosse (2), plus 2 bins. The thing I like most about visiting the Lees is that I always feel like I depart smarter than when I arrived; they are friendly and welcoming, while also being deeply knowledgeable about the works they have available. Over several conversations during the fair, we had a debate about the 1929 Kühn rubber plant bromoil and its place in the context of 1920s German floral photography, considered the supply of top material in the market, covered some of the intricacies of Outerbridge's carbo process, and admired the intersecting lines and geometries (as well as what is presumably the photographer's shadow) in the Moholy image below (Untitled (Woman on Ship Deck, Finland), 1930, at $30000).

Edwynn Houk Gallery (here): Robert Polidori (3), Joel Meyerowitz (1), Stephen Shore (4), Sebastiaan Bremer (1), Vera Lutter (1), Man Ray (1), Brassaï (3), André Kertész (1), Bill Brandt (1), Manuel Alvarez Bravo (1), Imogen Cunningham (1). The Houk booth was an even mix of contemporary and vintage material. I had not seen the terrific Vera Lutter below before; it was large and eye catching in the center of the booth - a new look at a very overworked subject (Times Square VII, 2007, at $75000).

Amador Gallery (here): Robert Voit (7), Olaf Otto Becker (2), Taiji Matsue (2). In contrast to most of the overstuffed booths in this fair, the Amador booth was clean and fresh, with just a handful of large color images filling the walls. Anecdotally, I heard that there was significant interest (from museums and collectors alike) in the Voit cell tower trees.

Richard Moore Photographs (here): Ralph Steiner (3), Russell Lee (1), Jack Delano (1), Arthur Rothstein (1), Morris Engel (1), Weegee (2), Irving Penn (1), Ansel Adams (1), Helen Levitt (1), Bill Owens (1), Garry Winogrand (1), Lewis Hine (1), Margrethe Mather (1), Frederick Evans (1), Clarence White (1), Karl Struss (1), Frank Eugene (1), Arnold Genthe (1), Frances Johnston (1), plus 3 bins. The 1950s Ralph Steiner below was an image that I hadn't seen before; I liked the mixture of tonalities and layers of geometries, and it reminded me of a similar composition by Jeff Wall. (Ralph Steiner, Bissell Factory, Employee Washroom, 1959, at $5500)

Weston Gallery (here): Eugene Cuvelier (1), Edouard Baldus (1), Linnaeus Tripe (1), J.B. Greene (1), Frederick Evans (1), Anonymous (1 cyanotype pair), Roger Fenton (2), Antoine Claudet (1), Eugène Atget (1), Rod Dresser (1), Roman Loranc (2), André Kertész (8), Edward Weston (3), Henri Cartier-Bresson (1), Paul Strand (3), Johan Hagemeyer (2), Brett Weston (2), Edward Steichen (2), Wynn Bullock (2), Ansel Adams (2), Harry Callahan (1), and a few more in the back room. The best flower image at AIPAD this year was this delicate Hagemeyer. (Johan Hagemeyer, Talisman Rose, 1938, at $20000.)

Hemphill Fine Arts (here): Godfrey Frankel (3), William Christenberry (8), Don Donaghy (5), Franz Jantzen (1), Kendall Messick (1).

Yancey Richardson Gallery (here): Esko Männikkö (3), Alex Prager (3), Sharon Core (2), Andrew Moore (2), Mitch Epstein (2), Hellen Van Meene (4), Hiroh Kikai (3), August Sander (3), Rudy Burckhardt (2), Laura Letinsky (1), Lisa Kereszi (1). This booth was quite similar in concept to the gallery's Armory booth. The bold Epstein on the outside wall was the perfect antidote for those overwhelmed by the sea of black and white vintage photography at the fair. (Mitch Epstein, Liquidation Sale V, 2000, at $11000)

Eric Franck Fine Art (here): Norman Parkinson (5), Enzo Sellerio (3), Henri Cartier-Bresson (5), Paul Hart (2), Chris Killip (4), Graham Smith (4), Al Vandenberg (6), Antanas Sutkus (4), Rimaldas Viksraitis (4), Marketa Luskacova (2), Jindrich Streit (4), Josef Koudelka (3), Lottie Davies (3). Graham Smith was a new discovery for me. The image below has echoes of Brassaï's bar scenes, but with an English sensibility and a wonderful undertone of humor. (Graham Smith, I Thought I Saw Liz Taylor and Bob Mitchum in the Back Room of the Commercial, UK, 1984 at $5000.)


Photology (here): Helmut Newton (5), Carlo Mollino (8), Maura Banfo (4), Yasumasa Morimura (8), Andy Warhol (1), Robert Mapplethorpe (8), Gian Paolo Barbieri (5), Mario Schifano (4), Nobuyoshi Araki (4), Luigi Ghirri (4), Christopher Makos (11). A booth full of Polaroids by various artists.

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Continue to Part 2 here.

Eye, Mind, Spirit: The Enduring Legacy of Minor White @Greenberg

JTF (just the facts): 51 black and white images, displayed in the main gallery and the book alcove. (See installation photo at right.) Most are 9x7 (or reverse), with some larger 11x14 (or reverse) images and a handful of 4x5 contact prints. The exhibit is a mixture of vintage and later prints, with negatives starting in the late 1930s and continuing up through the early 1970s.

Comments/Context: When we consider the pantheon of great 20th century photographers, Minor White certainly deserves consideration. He made some of the century's signature images, in a style that was clearly all his own and with a level of craftsmanship that set the bar for the generations that followed. Beyond his picture making, he was a respected curator, a writer, a founder and editor of Aperture, and a teacher.

And yet as we look at this fine exhibit in 2008, it is easy to forget what a polarizing and controversial figure White was (and still is for many). For his adherents (and there were many), he was a spiritual guide, a high priest of the inner self, merging Zen Buddhism, the philosophy of Gurdjieff, and other mysticisms and metaphysics into an encompassing world view that began and ended with self consciousness. His approach was a complete break with virtually all of the traditions of photography, including the importance of subject matter. His students were on a serious journey of awareness, using photography as a tool for deepening their own personal understanding. His pictures took them to places they had never been before, and opened their eyes to new ways of thinking about image making and themselves.

For his detractors (and there were many as well), he was a dangerous quack, brainwashing his students into revering him as a god, and stifling any thoughts and opinions that deviated from his controlling mind set. Back in the early 1970s, many writers (including critic A.D. Coleman) passionately and ruthlessly dismantled White, calling him arrogant and anti-creative, marking his teachings insulting and offensive to the individuality of artists. The work of his followers was discounted as second rate knock-offs of the master (which was the point in a cult, after all). In today's context, White would have been placed in the New Age section, with dreamy music and incense, surrounded by Buddhas and self help books.

So now, more than 30 years after his death, how do we take the measure of this work, perhaps putting aside some of the back and forth of earlier days? As we walked around the exhibit, I was struck time and again by the pure technicality of these prints. A few of these are some of the most beautiful gelatin silver prints I have seen; the blacks are deep, the tonal range is subtle and nuanced, and the detail is astonishing, even if you can't make out the subject matter. These are not works that will function in our attention deficit age; they are the opposite - they require (and reward) a surplus of attention. I remember hearing a story about White's workshops, where he would put a matted image on a music stand and then force the group to meditate over the work for something like 20 minutes or more. Placed in that context, you can begin to understand what he was getting at with these images.

The show at Greenberg is well orchestrated and diverse. I was particularly intrigued by the print Abstraction, 1947, which to me was that singular image that showed White breaking from his previous mode of trying on the styles of other photographers (shown in half a dozen early works) to really finding his own voice. It is not necessarily a great image, just one that shows the transition to his eventual mature style. The images from the Sound of One Hand series are among the best, with a handful of other standouts sprinkled around the room. I think there are a significant number that are not nearly as strong and fail the test as stand alone images (they still however have value in showing his aesthetic more fully).

Two other shows at the gallery also help to fill out the picture on White. The first is a section of 16 images by White's followers, organized with the help of photographer John Goodman, shown in the two study rooms. While there are some decent images here, these works certainly feel derivative. There are also a handful of portraits of White near the end of his life by Abe Frajndlich, in the back gallery. These images really show what a character White was, with his shock of albino white hair and his androgynous looks; a little creepy I must admit.

Collector's POV: The lack of consensus on White may be part of the reason his work has not joined the others from the same period on the never ending price escalator. There are those who continue to love his work, but they are a relatively small audience; the rest of the world has forgotten the controversy, but isn't particularly moved by the pictures that remain. That said, with some smart targeted marketing by the gallery, this show is full of red dots; there clearly are enough White lovers out there to sell out the show. Prices range from $6000 to $45000, with most of the work near the lower end of the range.

Since White wasn't particularly focused on specific subject matter, he doesn't fit very well into our personal collection. That said, he did do some amazing flowers in a short period in the late 1950s. We have one in our collection (here) and it bears all the hallmarks of his amazing printing prowess. You have to get up close to see it, but it is a truly marvelous picture.

In sum, whether you fall on the positive or negative sides of the legacy of Minor White, this is a show worth seeing, as it seems unlikely that this many high quality pictures will be gathered together for an exhibit for a very long time. By the way, there is also a fine book on the exhibit, available at the gallery, with essays by Peter Bunnell and Nathan Lyons.

Rating: *** (3 stars) EXCELLENT (rating system defined here)

Eye, Mind, Spirit: The Enduring Legacy of Minor White
Through October 18th

Howard Greenberg Gallery
41 East 57th Street
Suite 1406
New York, NY 10022