Auction Highlights: Fine Photographs — May 8, 2025

Our Spring Fine Photographs auction is rich in masters of the medium, working in all formats, including nineteenth-century panoramas, photo books, portfolios, and fine art prints. Iconic works such as Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Premiere at La Scala, Milan, 1934, printed circa 1990, Dorothea Lange’s A Sign of the Times (Depression – Mended Stockings, Stenographer, San Francisco), 1934, printed circa 1960, Gordon Parks’ American Gothic, Washington D.C., 1942, printed 1996, Brassaï’s Couple d’amoureux, quartier place d’Italie, Paris, 1932, printed circa 1970, and Roy DeCarava’s stunning portfolio of 11 (of 12) photogravures titled Roy DeCarava, 1950-79, printed 1991, showcase the rich range of fine art photographers throughout the century. 

We are also thrilled to offer Joshua Beal’s incredibly rare panorama of Lower Manhattan Beal’s Photographic View of New York, 1876. Astonishing both in scale and detail, this work prominently features the New York Tower of the Brooklyn Bridge. Other important American and European nineteenth-century photography can also be found, including Francis Frith’s The Great Pyramid and the Sphinx, 1858. Contemporary highlights include Alex Soth’s Charles, Vasa, Minneapolis, 2001.  

Photobooks also take a prominent seat in this sale, headlined by Hans Bellmer’s La Poupée, 1936—with 10 of 10 silver prints, the rare edition of 80 copies with the text printed on rose paper. Other important titles include Walker Evans’ collaboration with James Agee Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, 1941, this copy signed by Agee, Eikoh Hosoe’s Otoko to Onna [Man and Woman], 1961, and Roger Parry & Fabian Loris’ Banalité, 1930.