EDWARD BURTYNSKY Manufacturing #17, Deda Chicken Processing Plant, Dehui City, Jilin Province, China, 2005

As a centerpiece of the October Photographs auctions, Phillips is pleased to announce the single owner sale, Innovators of Photography: A Private East Coast Collection. Assembled over the last 30 years, the collection contains key works by leaders in the fields of 20th and 21st Century photography. From Diane Arbus and William Eggleston to Man Ray and Robert Frank, these pioneers helped establish photography as an art form and their innovative approaches to the medium set the stage for the photographers who followed, such as Edward Burtynsky, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Pieter Hugo and Lalla Essaydi, who are also represented in the collection. 

The sale is highlighted by a dye transfer print of William Eggleston’s masterwork Memphis, 1969-1970, one of the photographer’s most celebrated pictures, estimated at $250,000 - 350,000. Taken from an almost child-like point of view, the tricycle dominates the picture, with the complimentary colors of the blue-green frame, and bright cherry red handlebar, leaving the viewer to contemplate the composition’s balance of color and form, and the transformation of the subject from mundane into the monumental. Adding to its rarity, the print on offer was printed in the 1970s, prior to the widely known edition of 20 executed in 1980, and further, was created from the original Kodachrome transparency, which was lost sometime after that edition was produced.

Three other dye transfer prints by Eggleston will be offered, including, Huntsville, Alabama, 1971 at $80,000 - 120,000, Jackson, Mississippi, 1969-1970 at $50,000 - 70,000, and Sumner, Mississippi, 1969-1971 at $30,000 - 50,000. All four prints are illustrated in William Eggleston’s Guide, the accompanying monograph for Eggleston’s seminal 1976 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the institution’s first publication of color photography. 

A rare, lifetime print of Diane Arbus’ A family on their lawn one Sunday in Westchester, N.Y., will be offered at $250,000 - 350,000. Framed with her signature square Rolleiflex camera format, Arbus challenges the 1968 stereotypical family portrait by selecting this disengaged moment, as if the subjects have forgotten the presence of her lens. Additional highlights include Man Ray’s portrait of Marcel Duchamp, circa 1920-1921 for $50,000 - 80,000, an exceptionally rare print highlighting the duo’s close collaborative friendship.

Other classic highlights include Robert Frank’s, London, 1951 at $40,000 - 60,000, Irving Penn’s platinum palladium print of Two Women in Black with Bread, Morocco, 1971 at $50,000 - 70,000, and Lee Friedlander’s striking New York City, 1966, in which Friedlander leaves behind his “self-portrait” as a shadow on the back of a woman’s fur coat, estimated at $25,000 - 35,000. 

Contemporary works will be offered such as Pieter Hugo’s Jatto with Mainasara, Ogere-Remo, Nigeria, 2007, from his well-known series The Hyena and Other Men at $30,000 - 50,000, and Edward Burtynsky’s Manufacturing #17, Deda Chicken Processing Plant, Dehui City, Jilin Province, China, 2005 at $25,000 - 35,000, both touching upon socioeconomic issues throughout the world. Regency, San Francisco, 1992 from Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Theaters series and Alex Prager’s 11:45pm, Griffith Park, 2012 capture a more dramatic aesthetic at $30,000 - 50,000 and $12,000 - 18,000, respectively.

Additional contemporary works include Andrew Moore’s The Yellow Porch, Sheridan County, NE, 2013 at $12,000 - 18,000 which captures the visual contrast between a cheery yellow porch and the harsh western plains landscape from his series Dirt Meridian, a photographic study along the divide of the eastern and western halves of the United States. The collection also features four iconic pictures by Sandy Skoglund, each showcasing her exemplary hand-crafted installations and sculptures, such as Revenge of the Goldfish, 1980 for $25,000 - 35,000 and Fox Games, 1989 on offer for $15,000 - 20,000.

A pre-sale highlight viewing will run 10– 16 September at 30 Berkeley Square, London as well as a full viewing which will run concurrently with the various owners Photographs auction (also to be offered on 8 October) from 26 September– 7 October at 450 Park Avenue, New York, NY.

Image above: EDWARD BURTYNSKY, Manufacturing #17, Deda Chicken Processing Plant, Dehui City, Jilin Province, China, 2005.