June 26, 2020Swann CommunicationsPhotographs & Photobooks A Toast to Daile Kaplan, Swann’s Doyenne Emerita Read more about A Toast to Daile Kaplan, Swann’s Doyenne Emerita At the end of this month Daile will be stepping away from her role as Vice President and head of Swann’s Photographs & Photobooks Department.
Read more about Mexican Photography: Graciela Iturbide, Flor Garduño & the Influence of Manuel Álvarez Bravo May 19, 2020 Photographs & Photobooks Mexican Photography: Graciela Iturbide, Flor Garduño & the Influence of Manuel Álvarez Bravo The Whitney Museum of American Art’s exhibition Vida Americana: Mexican Muralists Remake American Art posits Mexico’s valuable artistic legacy. José Clemente Orozo, Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, towering artistic…
Read more about “Make me the most beautiful set of books you’ve ever seen.” October 9, 2018 Photographs & Photobooks “Make me the most beautiful set of books you’ve ever seen.” The North American Indian by Edward S. Curtis An ambitious photographer’s happenstance meeting on the side of a mountain sets into motion a chain of events that spurs an…
Read more about Swann Summer Reading List 2018 June 28, 2018 Swann Swann Summer Reading List 2018 Our Summer Reading List is back for 2018! Here’s what some of us are cracking into in the off-season. Nicholas D. Lowry, President & Principal Auctioneer Noah Charney and Ingrid…
Read more about Photographer Lewis Hine & The Invention of the Photo Story January 29, 2018 Photographs & Photobooks Photographer Lewis Hine & The Invention of the Photo Story Daile Kaplan Reflects on Lewis Hine’s Legacy Swann Vice President and Director of Photographs & Photobooks Daile Kaplan is the preeminent scholar of Lewis Hine. Her books on his work…
Read more about Do You Speak Photography? October 10, 2017 Photographs & Photobooks Do You Speak Photography? This post was written by our Vice President and Director of Photographs & Photobooks, Daile Kaplan. Photography is ubiquitous in visual culture. Whether you prefer contemporary works by Alec…
Read more about Black and White All Over: The Riddle of Classical Photography August 17, 2017 Photographs & Photobooks Black and White All Over: The Riddle of Classical Photography The following was written by Vice President and Director of Photographs & Photobooks, Daile Kaplan: I love looking at photographs in both black-and-white and color iterations. Long before streaming…
Read more about Daile Kaplan on The Thrill of Photographic Discovery July 14, 2017 Photographs & Photobooks Daile Kaplan on The Thrill of Photographic Discovery With the recent NPR coverage questioning whether an anonymous photograph actually depicts Amelia Earhart on a wharf in Jaluit Atoll, photography’s role as historic evidence is once again in the…
Read more about Vernacular Imagery, Photobooks & Fine Photographs December 18, 2014 Photographs & Photobooks Vernacular Imagery, Photobooks & Fine Photographs Swann’s second sale devoted to Vernacular Photography showed the strength of this growing segment of the photo market, with strong results for esoteric material. The top vernacular lot was…
Read more about The Hall-Harte Archive of Suffragist Photographs December 3, 2014 Photographs & Photobooks The Hall-Harte Archive of Suffragist Photographs We are delighted to offer a suffragist archive of rare and important photographs documenting “The Liberty Bell Tour, Votes for Women.” The march was organized by Louise Hall and her life-partner Ethel…
Read more about Nick Brandt, Activist-Photographer: “I Stick with Nature” August 29, 2014 Photographs & Photobooks Nick Brandt, Activist-Photographer: “I Stick with Nature” The delicate condition of the natural world is vividly brought to life by Nick Brandt, who organized the Big Life Foundation to protect wild animals in East Africa. This British…
Read more about Records & Results: Vernacular Photographs April 21, 2014 Photographs & Photobooks Records & Results: Vernacular Photographs Last week Swann Galleries held an auction devoted to Vernacular Photography, which was the first sale of its kind. Two items led the auction–bringing $22,500 each–and they could not…
Read more about Avery Willard Model Visits Swann April 15, 2014 Photographs & Photobooks Avery Willard Model Visits Swann New discoveries are often made during our auction previews. Sometimes a guest will identify a place depicted in a work of art, or recognize a name in an inscription. One…
Read more about Cyanotypes: Into the Blue March 25, 2014 Photographs & Photobooks Cyanotypes: Into the Blue The cyanotype or blueprint process has a poetic quality that embodies a painterly aesthetic and is defined by particular visual characteristics, in this case, a distinctive and rich “prussian blue”…
Read more about What is vernacular photography? March 24, 2014 Photographs & Photobooks What is vernacular photography? What is vernacular photography? According to our director of Photographs & Photobooks Daile Kaplan, it is photography taken for the sake of the photograph.
Read more about The Photobook Library of Bill Diodato: An Eye on the American Scene February 19, 2014 Photographs & Photobooks The Photobook Library of Bill Diodato: An Eye on the American Scene The vast American scene has long captivated photographers. Some took to the road while others focused on the urban street. The portrait studio also emerged as a site of aesthetic…
Read more about The Photobook Library of Bill Diodato: Provocateurs & Innovators February 19, 2014 Photographs & Photobooks The Photobook Library of Bill Diodato: Provocateurs & Innovators As collector Bill Diodato knows, photography begins with the birth of the photobook. Long before the white wall or editioned print–and more than century before galleries and museums exhibited pictures–photographers…
Read more about Mark Michaelson: Crime Becomes Collectible, Mugshots for Sale September 16, 2013 Photographs & Photobooks Mark Michaelson: Crime Becomes Collectible, Mugshots for Sale Murder and mayhem have long fascinated photographers and film aficionados, and are also inextricably linked with collectors of vernacular photography. But, how did the mugshot become a fine-art collectible? For…
Read more about Early Photographs of Asia from the Estate of Fong Chow February 5, 2013 Photographs & Photobooks Early Photographs of Asia from the Estate of Fong Chow Swann Galleries’ February 26, 2013 auction of Fine Photographs features several early photographic albums filled with images of Asia that come from the Estate of Fong Chow. Chow (1923-2012) was…
Read more about $1.44 Million for Edward S. Curtis’s The North American Indian October 5, 2012 Photographs & Photobooks $1.44 Million for Edward S. Curtis’s The North American Indian Yesterday Swann sold a complete set of Edward S. Curtis’s The North American Indian for $1,440,000–the highest priced item ever sold at New York’s premiere auction house for works on…
Read more about Irving Penn and Alexandra Beller November 30, 2010 Photographs & Photobooks Irving Penn and Alexandra Beller Irving Penn is associated with fine photographs of fashionable women. An innovative artist and master technician, Penn recognized that editorial photography was but one form of representation and moved effortlessly…
Read more about Feminism, Surrealism and the Theater in Claude Cahun’s Photographs November 23, 2010 Photographs & Photobooks Feminism, Surrealism and the Theater in Claude Cahun’s Photographs The majority of photographer Claude Cahun’s imagery is associated with the feminist Surrealist movement. Her artwork focuses on issues related to gender and identity, with a particular emphasis on sexual…
Read more about Yesterday’s Top Lots: Fine Photographs & Select Photobooks October 20, 2010 Photographs & Photobooks Yesterday’s Top Lots: Fine Photographs & Select Photobooks The Fine Photographs & Select Photobooks auction yesterday, October 19, 2010, saw much interest in a large selection of photojournalism, as well as a photograph by Annie Leibovitz of John…
Read more about Daile Kaplan on Ansel Adams & the Value of a Photograph August 24, 2010 Photographs & Photobooks Daile Kaplan on Ansel Adams & the Value of a Photograph With the unfolding story surrounding a box of photographic negatives discovered in California, which were originally reported to have been taken by esteemed photographer Ansel Adams, many questions have popped…
Read more about Gordon Matta-Clark: Walls Paper, Deconstructed May 18, 2010 Photographs & Photobooks Gordon Matta-Clark: Walls Paper, Deconstructed Gordon Matta-Clark, whose work is featured in the Photographic Literature portion of Thursday’s sale, brought an inspired and playful quality to his highly experimental and diverse art projects. All speak…
December 3, 2009 Photographs & Photobooks The Photobook and Conceptual Art Sol LeWitt, Autobiography, illustrated with more than 1,000 reproductions of LeWitt’s sequential photographs of his apartment and possessions, first edition, New York, 1980. Estimate $1,500 to $2,500. Conceptual Art first…
December 2, 2009 Photographs & Photobooks Ansel Adams’s ‘Moonrise’ at Auction December 2009 Ansel Adams’s position in the pantheon of master photographers is assured by his magisterial studies of the American landscape. Swann is pleased to offer Moonrise Over Hernandez in two iterations—a…
Read more about William Henry Fox Talbot: Father of Modern Photography October 13, 2009 Photographs & Photobooks William Henry Fox Talbot: Father of Modern Photography Swann’s October 22 Photographs auction offers several salted paper prints by William Henry Fox Talbot, which date from the early days of photography. Depicted in lush brown tones and compelling…
October 5, 2009 Photographs & Photobooks Diane Arbus and the American Art Scene Among the highlights in our October 22 auction of Photographs & Photographic Literature are portraits by Diane Arbus of key figures in the American Art Scene for a 1966 story…