PHOTO AUCTION PREVIEW
01.06.–12.06.2015
About 300 photographs will go under the hammer on 12 June at the most comprehensive WestLicht Photo Auction to date. One of the centerpieces of the Auction is a selection of works by leading names from Russian history of photography, such as Alexander Rodchenko, Yevgeny Khaldei, Max Alpert, Varvara Stepanova, Gustav Klutsis and El Lissitzky. Among the collection’s highlights exhibited in the preview is Rodchenko’s portrait of Lilya Brik 1924, protagonist and muse of the Russian avant-garde.
Few other pictures embody Cartier-Bresson’s »decisive moment« like his photograph known as Derrière la Gare Saint-Lazare from 1932. Showing a man’s attempt to cross a giant puddle with a leap, it is a brilliantly captured poetic moment among the drabness of a Parisian wasteground. The auction preview also showcases first class works by some of Cartier-Bresson’s fellow Magnum colleagues, like Robert Capa, Marc Riboud or René Burri.
Aktionshose: Genitalpanik (Action Pants: Genital Panic) by VALIE EXPORT from 1969 is one of the most well-known works of the feminist avant-garde in Austria. This now legendary act of empowerment featuring explicit trousers and a machine gun is available as an early gelatin silver print.
Austrian photography again is well represented with works by Madame D’Ora, Rudolf Koppitz, Trude Fleischmann, Inge Morath and Ernst Haas. A special focus is on four vintage prints by Austrian artist Alfons Walde. Only recently has the world famous painter been discovered as a passionate photographer – an exhibition at WestLicht in Winter 2014/15 introduced his erotic photographs to a wider public.
The auction preview offers an intriguing tour through the history of photography and addresses both specialized collectors and the general public.
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