Auction: Fine Photographs, March 24, 2011 @Swann

Swann kicks off the New York Photographs spring auction season with a modest various owner sale next week. As usual, it contains a broad mix of lower end black and white material, mostly from the 20th century, with a selection of both vintage and later prints. Overall, there are 162 lots available, with a total High estimate of $1137300.

Here's the statistical breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 143
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $742300

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 19
Total Mid Estimate: $395000

Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 0
Total High Estimate: NA

The top lot by High estimate is lot 9, Linnaeus Tripe, Photographs of the Elliot Marbles; and Other Subjects; in the Central Museum Madras, 1858-1859, at $35000-45000.

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

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Edward Weston (9)
Berenice Abbott (6)
Ruth Bernhard (5)
Harry Callahan (5)
Ansel Adams (4)
Henri Cartier-Bresson (4)
Alfred Cheney Johnston (4)
O. Winston Link (4)
Ilse Bing (3)
Wynn Bullock (3)
Edward Curtis (3)
Mario Giacomelli (3)
Stephen Shore (3)
Weegee (3)

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(Lot 101, Alma Lavenson, Union Oil Tanks, Alameda, 1931/1987, at $4000-6000, image at right, top, lot 122, Roy DeCarava, Man Coming up Subway Stairs, 1952/1996, at $10000-15000, image at right, middle, and lot 145, Jaroslav Rossler, Untitled (light study), 1947, at $3000-4500, image at right, bottom, all via Swann.)

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

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Fine Photographs

March 24th

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

Roy DeCarava Dies

Roy DeCarava, the pioneering and influential African-American photographer, died on Tuesday at the age of 89. DeCarava made dark, shadowy images of the day-to-day lives of Harlem residents and local jazz musicians at work. His photographs were in many ways the first to accurately capture authentic, warm moments from within the community, in contrast to the more sociological studies that had been taken of the neighborhood and its culture by outsiders. (Sun and Shade, 1952, at right, via Corcoran)

After a decent amount of searching, I have been unable to locate the gallery that consistently represents DeCarava's work/estate, so please add it to the comments if you know the answer.

DeCarava's luscious prints (full of deep, tactile blacks and dark greys) have only been intermittently available in the secondary markets in the past five years; prices have ranged between $5000 and $25000. DeCarava's book The Sweet Flypaper of Life, 1955, (a collaboration with Langston Hughes) has also become highly collectible.

Obituaries: NY Times (here), LA Times (here), Lens (here), Looking Around (here)