Photographs on sale to benefit the preservation of the personal archive of William Henry Fox Talbot kick off Sotheby’s various owner Photographs sale next week in London. A baker’s dozen of Horst later prints are mixed in with the eclectic, mostly black and white selection that makes up the remaining body of the sale, a mid 1850s Egypt/Algeria album from J.B. Greene as the standout find (that shockingly modern dark line horizon below is like a rotated Barnett Newman zip). Overall, there are 148 photography lots available in the sale, with a Total High Estimate of £2207000.
Here’s the statistical breakdown:
| Preview Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000) | 21 |
| Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of low lots) | £94000 |
| Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000) | 111 |
| Total Mid Estimate | £1223000 |
| Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000) | 16 |
| Total High Estimate | £890000 |
The top lot by High estimate is lot 92, Richard Avedon, Avedon/Paris, 1978, estimated at £120000-180000.
Here is the list of photographers with four or more lots in the sale, along with the number of lots on offer:
| Multiple Lots For Sale | |
|---|---|
| Horst P. Horst | 13 |
| Patrick Demarchelier | 5 |
| Charles Negre | 5 |
| Irving Penn | 5 |
| Otto Steinert | 5 |
| Elliott Erwitt | 4 |
| Robert Polidori | 4 |
| Massimo Vitali | 4 |
Other lots of interest include lot 30, John Beasley Greene, Album of Egypt and Algeria, 1852-1856, estimated at £100000-150000 (image above, left), lot 54, Otto Steinert, Schindeln, Schwarzwald, 1956, estimated at £12000-16000 (image above, middle), and lot 138, Robert Polidori, Construction of Reliance Industries Ltd. Refinery #1, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India, 2008, estimated at £10000-15000 (image above, right, all via Sotheby’s.)
The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.
