Snapshots from Paris Photo, Part 1

While we weren’t able to visit Paris Photo this year, that doesn’t mean we weren’t dying to know what went on. With the help of a couple of intrepid correspondents armed with their snapshot cameras, we’ve been able to cobble together a thoroughly random sampler of highlights. From a larger pile of images taken in booths and around the fair, I’ve edited the group down to the small selection below (caption information is below each image). In the visual overload of an art fair, what catches one person’s eye may be overlooked by the next person, so calling this “representative” of what was on display may or may not be entirely accurate. So why these and not others? Who knows, I’m just happy to get a glimpse of the fun.


Jaroslav Rössler at Howard Greenberg

Pierre Dubreuil at Barry Friedman

Baron Adolph de Meyer at Robert Klein

Daido Moriyama at Priska Pasquer


Margaret Watkins at Robert Mann
V. Dijon at Robert Hershkowitz

Ruud van Empel at Flatland

Tina Barney and Lee Friedlander at Janet Borden. For those gallery folks out there who have heard me drone on about the tyranny of the standard white wall, check out the exuberant pink walls in this booth!

A fan in a gorilla suit at the Martin Parr book signing.
Walker Evans at Edwynn Houk

Hamiltons booth
László Moholy-Nagy at Stephen Daiter
Toni Schneiders at Bernheimer

Sze Tsung Leong at Yossi Milo

Phaidon booth

Later this afternoon, I’ll be posting Parts 2 and 3 of this series, a similarly eclectic gathering of pictures from some of the photo exhibitions around Paris during the fair.

Auction Results: Photographs, November 26, 2010 @Christie’s King Street

The results of Christie’s King Street sale of Photographs last week in London were generally fair to middling. The Total Sale Proceeds came in within the estimate range, although nearer the bottom than the top, and the Buy-In rate hovered in the low thirties. Half of the Penn lots on offer failed to find buyers, a somewhat negative surprise in the otherwise frothy market for his work.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
Total Lots: 159
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £781600
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £1141800
Total Lots Sold: 108
Total Lots Bought In: 51
Buy In %: 32.08%
Total Sale Proceeds: £818250
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):
Low Total Lots: 105
Low Sold: 73
Low Bought In: 32
Buy In %: 30.48%
Total Low Estimate: £320800
Total Low Sold: £236100
Mid Total Lots: 47
Mid Sold: 31
Mid Bought In: 16
Buy In %: 34.04%
Total Mid Estimate: £506000
Total Mid Sold: £388750
High Total Lots: 7
High Sold: 4
High Bought In: 3
Buy In %: 42.86%
Total High Estimate: £315000
Total High Sold: £193400
The top lot by High estimate was lot 51, Irving Penn, Picasso (B), Cannes, 1957/Later, at £60000-80000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at £58850.
83.339% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate. There were a total of eight surprises in these sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
Lot 3, Chris Killip, Youth on wall, Tyneside, 1976, at £2750 (image at right, middle, via Christie’s)
Lot 10, Cecil Beaton, Cherry blossom, early 1950s, at £3250
Lot 34, Sam Haskins, Sunday, early 1960s, at 2500
Lot 40, Peter Beard, Lolindo Lion Charge, 1964, at £23750
Lot 64, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Grand Prix d’ACF, 1912/Later, at £11250
Lot 95, Ellen Von Unwerth, Christy Turlington, New York, 1996, at £10000 (image at right, bottom, via Christie’s)
Lot 114, Annie Leibovitz, Alice in Wonderland, Olivier Theyskens and Natalia Vodianova, Paris, 2003, at £8125 (image at right, top, via Christie’s)
Lot 151, Shirin Neshat, I am its Secret, 1993, at £10000
Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
8 King Street, St. James’s
London SW1Y 6QT

Auction Previews: Photography, with Contemporary Art, December 2 and 4, 2010 @Lempertz

Kunsthaus Lempertz has both a various owner Photography sale and a Contemporary Art sale that includes photography coming up in Cologne later this week. It’s the usual assortment of generally lower end European material, with a selection of works by Polke and the Bechers in the contemporary mix. Overall, there are a total of 217 lots of photography across the two sales, with a Total High Estimate of 541600€.
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Here’s the breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including 7500€): 205
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): 354600€

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between 7500€ and 35000€): 12
Total Mid Estimate: 187000€

Total High Lots (high estimate above 35000€): 0
Total High Estimate: NA

The top lot by High estimate is tied between three lots. Each is a group of 4 winding tower prints by Bernd and Hilla Becher (each individual image titled by location): lot 308 from 1966-1973, lot 309 from 1967-1975, and lot 310 from 1966-1973. Each of the lots is estimated at 20000-25000€.

Here’s the list of photographers who are represented by four or more lots in the two sales (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Harry Callahan (4)
Sigmar Polke (4)
Albert Renger–Patzsch (4)
Jan Saudek (4)
Umbo (4)

(Lot 765, Paul Strand, The Barn, Quebec, 1936/1960s, 7500€, at right, top, Lot 844, János Szász, Schulbal – Tanz Im Einklang, 1965, 1500€, at right, middle, and Lot 756, Man Ray, Domaine De Sade II, 1976, 3000-4000€, at right, bottom, all via Lempertz.)

The complete lot by lot online catalogs can be found here (Photography) and here (Contemporary Art).
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Photography
December 2nd

Contemporary Art
December 4th
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Kunsthaus Lempertz
Neumarkt 3
D-50667 Köln

Irving Penn: Archaeology @Pace/MacGill

JTF (just the facts): A total of 21 black and white photographs, framed in white and matted, and hung against grey walls in the divided gallery space. All of the works are platinum palladium prints mounted on aluminum, sized 16×24 or reverse, and made between 1979 and 1980. Nearly every image in the show comes in its own edition size, each ranging somewhere between 6 and 64 prints, with dozens of intermediate sizes. A catalogue of the exhibition has been published by the gallery and is available at the reception desk for $30. There is no photography allowed in the gallery, so the installation shots at right are via the Pace/MacGill website.

Comments/Context: That Irving Penn was a master of the photographic still life is probably a foregone, obvious conclusion for most collectors at this point. His flowers, frozen vegetables, melted brie, mozzarella, playing cards, cigarette butts, and street trash have all become truly iconic visual works. Not only did he discover new juxtapositions between objects that have rarely, if ever, been placed in the spotlight, but during his long career, he thoroughly and consistently redefined the edges and expectations of the entire genre.

This exhibit dives into some lesser known Penn still lifes from 1979 and 1980, all executed in luscious, tactile platinum rather than his more recognizable bold, saturated color. While his subjects might be loosely categorized as “junk”, and a good bit of dirt and rust lies scattered around, these images are nothing short of exquisitely elegant. Machined steel blocks and cylinders balance in piles that seem to defy the laws of physics. Hollow bones are stacked in towers. Plumbing fixtures with threaded ends, bent elbows and pipe fragments are arranged in rhythmic assortments that echo quiet Morandi paintings. Brooding skulls sit atop one another. Rusting, eaten away car parts become weathered medleys of debris.

Each one of these images is both a master class in composition and a bravura performance in printing. Regardless of the object’s former function or purpose, Penn has understood its physical qualities, its shape and form, and meticulously placed it in concert with its nearby companions. The geometric blocks become almost Cubist in their jumbled piles, sides and faces angled just so to create aesthetic balance and capture the light (or dark); who knew a concrete disk with a circular hole in the middle could be so unbelievably perfect? His masses of bones play with subtleties of organic curvature and texture, their surfaces mottled or worn smooth. The grey scale tonality in the prints runs the entire spectrum from pure white to pure black, with a consistent crisp grace that is truly staggering.

My conclusion is that while these works are perhaps lesser known, secondary images in the context of Penn’s overall output, their level of craftsmanship and original thinking is no less superlative. His assortments of found objects have been transformed into something sculptural, simultaneously intricate, delicate, and thoroughly engrossing.

Collector’s POV: The prints in this show are priced between $15000 and $180000, with a sweet spot between $20000 and $50000. Since Penn’s death, there has been a flurry of activity in the secondary markets, as collectors and institutions try to find the new equilibrium. Prices have ranged from $5000 to $400000 in recent years, with many lots moving up with surprising speed in the past few sales. A good proxy for the current Penn market can be found in the results of the Christie’s Penn sale in April (here and here).

Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

  • Reviews/Features: New Yorker (here), Photo Booth (here), Vogue (here)

Irving Penn: Archeology
Through January 15th

Pace/MacGill Gallery
32 East 57th Street
New York, NY 10022

Auction Preview: Photographie, November 25, 2010 @Villa Grisebach

Villa Grisebach has its various owner photographs sale in Berlin later this week, with its usual mix of European material on offer. A group of architectural studies by Walter Gropius are among the highlights. Overall, there are a total of 196 lots available in this sale, with a Total High Estimate of 634100€.

Here’s the statistical breakdown:
Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including 7500€): 182
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): 442100€
Total Mid Lots (high estimate between 7500€ and 35000€): 14
Total Mid Estimate: 192000€
Total High Lots (high estimate above 35000€): 0
Total High Estimate: NA
The top lot by High estimate is lot 1388, Hiroshi Sugimoto, U.A. Rivoli, New York, 1978/Later, at 20000-25000€.
Here is the list of the photographers who are represented by four or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):
Walter Gropius (6)
Lotte Jacobi (6)
Robert Capa (4)
Andreas Feininger (4)
Gisele Freund (4)
Stephen Shore (4)
The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.
(Lot 1387, Thomas Struth, North Garland Court II, Chicago, 1992/1993, 5000-7000€, at right, top, and Lot 1306, Ringl +Pit, “Comol“, 1931, 1000-1500€, at right, bottom; both via Villa Grisebach.)
Photographie
November 25thVilla Grisebach Auktionen
Fasanenstraße 25
D-10719 Berlin

Auction Results: Photographies Modernes et Contemporaines, November 9, 2010 @Yann Le Mouel

Yann Le Mouel’s various owner photography sale took place during Paris Photo last week, but the results were relatively flat for this selection of lower end material. The Buy-In rate was over 40% and the Total Sale Proceeds missed the Total Low Estimate by a decent margin.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 250
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: 349800€
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: 464130€
Total Lots Sold: 144
Total Lots Bought In: 106
Buy In %: 42.40%
Total Sale Proceeds: 297060€

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 245
Low Sold: 140
Low Bought In: 105
Buy In %: 42.86%
Total Low Estimate: 401130€
Total Low Sold: 239220€

Mid Total Lots: 5
Mid Sold: 4
Mid Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 20.00%
Total Mid Estimate: 63000€
Total Mid Sold: 57840€

High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: NA
High Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: 0€
Total High Sold: NA

The top lot by High estimate was tied between three lots, all at 10000-15000€: lot 91, Andreas Feininger, The Photojournalist, 1955, lot 214, Kimiko Yoshida, La Mariée abelam au masque d’initiation baba, East Sepik, Papouasie–Nouvelle–Guinée, Autoportrait, 2005, and lot 226, Peter Lindbergh, Naomi Campbell, Vogue US, Los Angeles, USA, 1990. The Feininger was the top outcome of the sale at 18000€; the Yoshida and the Lindbergh both sold for 15000€.
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89.58% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 9 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
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Lot 3, La Goulue, La Goulue et Grille d’Egat and La Goulue, le Port d’arme, 1890, at 480€
Lot 4, Pierre Louis Pierson, Portraits de la Comtesse Castiglione, 1861-1867, at 660€
Lot 23, Andre Kertesz, Melancholic Tulip, 1939/1984, at 3360€
Lot 53, Humphrey Spender, Unemployed: Tyneside, 1986/Later, at 2040€
Lot 119, Robert Doisneau, Theatre du Puces, 1953, at 3840€
Lot 121, Robert Doisneau, Photos Instantanees, 1953, at 2640€ (image at right, bottom, via Yann Le Mouel)
Lot 137, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sifnos, Greece, 1961, at 10800€
Lot 179, Bruce Davidson, East 100th Street, New York, 1966/2000, at 9000€ (image at right, top, via Yann Le Mouel)
Lot 212 Jean-Baptiste Huynh, Petit Garcon, 2002-2005, at 1800€
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Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
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Yann Le Mouel
22, Rue Chauchat
75009 Paris

Auction Results: Photographs, November 16, 2010 @Bonhams London

The results of the Photographs sale at Bonhams in London last week were generally uneventful, with a Buy-In rate over 40%, few positive surprises, and Total Sale Proceeds that missed the estimate range by a wide margin. Yawn.
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The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
Total Lots: 150
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £339300
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £477000
Total Lots Sold: 83
Total Lots Bought In: 67
Buy In %: 44.67%
Total Sale Proceeds: £213900
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):
Low Total Lots: 130
Low Sold: 74
Low Bought In: 56
Buy In %: 43.08%
Total Low Estimate: £285000
Total Low Sold: £160020
Mid Total Lots: 19
Mid Sold: 9
Mid Bought In: 10
Buy In %: 52.63%
Total Mid Estimate: £162000
Total Mid Sold: £53880
High Total Lots: 1
High Sold: 0
High Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 100.00%
Total High Estimate: £30000
Total High Sold: £0
The top lot by High estimate was lot 43, Frantisek Drtikol, Nude Study, 1927, at £25000-30000; it did not sell. The top outcome of the sale was lot 143, Nick Brandt, Cheetah and Cubs, Masaai Mara, 2003, at £14400. (Image at right, top, via Bonhams.)
88.06% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate. There were a total of 2 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
Lot 25, André Villers, Picasso wearning Peruvian hat, c1960/Later, at £9000 (image at right, bottom, via Bonhams)
Lot 27, André Villers, Picasso with revolver and hat of Gary Cooper, Cannes, 1958/Later, at £4800
Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
101 New Bond Street
London W1S 1SR

Auction Results: Photographies, November 19, 2010 @Sotheby’s Paris

When the top four Edward Weston nudes all failed to sell at the beginning of the recent Photographs sale at Sotheby’s in Paris, it probably looked like it was going to be a tough outing. Luckily Josef Sudek rode to the rescue, with all 7 Sudek lots on offer selling above their estimate ranges, a couple of the pigment prints jumping by more than 10X the pre-sale estimates. Needless to say, a new auction record was set for Sudek, and another was set for Manuel Alvarez Bravo. All in, these surprises (and others) helped to cover up the failure of the high priced Westons, and to bring the Total Sale Proceeds into the middle of the range.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
Total Lots: 152
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: 2286800€
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: 3228300€
Total Lots Sold: 101
Total Lots Bought In: 51
Buy In %: 33.55%
Total Sale Proceeds: 2704587€
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Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):
Low Total Lots: 39
Low Sold: 28
Low Bought In: 11
Buy In %: 28.21%
Total Low Estimate: 223300€
Total Low Sold: 243437€
Mid Total Lots: 98
Mid Sold: 64
Mid Bought In: 34
Buy In %: 34.69%
Total Mid Estimate: 1605000€
Total Mid Sold: 1589200€
High Total Lots: 15
High Sold: 9
High Bought In: 6
Buy In %: 40.00%
Total High Estimate: 1400000€
Total High Sold: 871950€
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The top lot by High estimate was lot 41, Edward Weston, Nu (Anita Brenner), 1925, at 150000-200000€; it did not sell. The top outcome of the sale was lot 89, Josef Sudek, Sans Titre (Etude de Nature-Morte), 1952, at 300750€, against an estimate of 18000-23000€.
86.14 % of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 16 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 11, Eugene Atget, Notre Dame, 1923, at 168750€
Lot 26, Edward Weston, Galvan Shooting, 1924, at 51150€
Lot 55, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Retrato de la Eterna, Mexico, 1935, at 228750€ (image at right, middle, via Sotheby’s)
Lot 68, Heinz Hajek–Halke, Erotik – Ganz Gross! (Erotisme Monumental!), 1928-1932, at 34350€
Lot 74, Heinz Hajek–Halke, Umarmung (Etreinte), 1947-1951, at 17500€
Lot 75, Heinz Hajek–Halke, Musik im Ather (Musique des Ondes), 1947-1950, at 17500€
Lot 83, Josef Sudek, Dans L’Atelier, Etude de Nu, c1952, at 22350€
Lot 85, Josef Sudek, Le Quai Ales, Panorama de Prague, c1955, at 42750€
Lot 86, Josef Sudek, Last Roses (Window of My Studio), 1956/1958, at 48750€
Lot 87, Josef Sudek, Arbre, Vue de L’Ile de Strelecky, 1958, at 39150€
Lot 88, Josef Sudek, Sans Titre (Vase et Rose Morte), 1952, at 228750€ (image at right, bottom, via Sotheby’s)
Lot 89, Josef Sudek, Sans Titre (Etude de Nature-Morte), 1952, at 300750€
Lot 92, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Rue Mouffetard, 1954/Later, at 18750€
Lot 126, Russell James, Gisele, Virgin Gorda, 2004, at 16250€
Lot 131, Balthasar Burkhard, Le Zebre, c2000, at 12500€
Lot 135, Marina Abramovic, Balkan Baroque, 1997/1998, at 30750€

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
76, Rue Du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
75008 Paris

Auction Results: Avedon: Photographies provenant de la Fondation Richard Avedon, November 20, 2010 @Christie’s Paris

The depth of the demand for the work of Richard Avedon proved to be staggeringly deep at Christie’s in Paris last week. It was a white glove outcome (every lot sold), with the Total Sale Proceeds clearing the Total High Estimate by more than 2000000€. An amazing 86.15% of the lots sold above their estimate range. However you slice it, it was a thoroughly impressive result.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
Total Lots: 65
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: 2271000€
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: 3395000€
Total Lots Sold: 65
Total Lots Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total Sale Proceeds: 5467250€
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Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):
Low Total Lots: 6
Low Sold: 6
Low Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total Low Estimate: 35000€
Total Low Sold: 72500€
Mid Total Lots: 40
Mid Sold: 0
Mid Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total Mid Estimate: 880000€
Total Mid Sold: 1820150€
High Total Lots: 19
High Sold: 19
High Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total High Estimate: 2480000€
Total High Sold: 3574600€
The top lot by High estimate was lot 16, Richard Avedon, Dovima with elephants, Evening dress by Dior, Cirque D’Hiver, Paris, August 1955, 1955/1978, at 400000-600000€; it was also the top outcome of the sale (and a new auction record for Avedon) at 841000€. The next highest lot was lot 11, Richard Avedon, The Beatles Portfolio, London, England, 8-11-67, 1967/1990, at 250000-350000€; it sold for 445000€.
98.46% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate. There were a total of 18 surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 3, Richard Avedon, Suzy Parker and Robin Tattersall, Dress by Dior, Place de la Concorde, Paris, August 1956, 1956/2002, at 217000€ (image at right, middle, via Christie’s)
Lot 23, Richard Avedon, Alberto Giacometti, sculptor, Paris, 3-6-58, 1958/1980, at 20000€
Lot 28, Richard Avedon, Pablo Picasso, April, 1958, 1958/1959, at 97000€
Lot 29, Richard Avedon, William Casby, born in slavery, Algiers, Louisiana, 3-24-63, 1963, at 56200€
Lot 33, Richard Avedon, Andy Warhol and Group, October 1969, 1969, at 301000€
Lot 34, Richard Avedon, Rudolph Nureyev, dancer, New York City, 5-31-67, 1967/1980, at $41800
Lot 35, Richard Avedon, Rudolph Nureyev, Paris, France, July 25, 1961, 1961/1999, at 39400€
Lot 45, Richard Avedon, Lauren Hutton, Great Exuma, the Bahamas, October 1968, 1968/1978, at 67000€
Lot 51, Richard Avedon, Samuel Beckett, Paris, France, April 13, 1979, 1979, at 92200€
Lot 55, Richard Avedon, John Ford, director, Bel Air, California, 4-11-72, 1972/1975, at 39400€
Lot 56, Richard Avedon, Chet Baker, singer, New York City, January 16, 1986, 1986/2002, at 39400€
Lot 58, Richard Avedon, Audrey Hepburn and Art Buchwald with Simone, Barbara Mullen, Frederick Eberstadt, and Dr. Reginald Kernan, Evening dresses by Balmain, Dior, Patou, Maxim’s, Paris, August, 1959, 1959/1997, at 73000€
Lot 59, Richard Avedon, Suzy Parker and Robin Tattersall, Evening Dress by Gres, Moulin Rouge, Paris, August 1957, 1957/1977, at 70600€
Lot 61, Richard Avedon, Malgosia Bela and Gisele Bundchen, Dresses by Dior Couture, New York City, March 13, 2000, 2000/2001, at 67000€ (image at right, bottom, via Christie’s)
Lot 62, Richard Avedon, Malgosia Bela, Body Jewel by Tom Binns, New York City, March 13, 2000, 2000/2001, at 49000€
Lot 63, Richard Avedon, Made in France, 2001, at 8750€
Lot 64, Richard Avedon, Richard Avedon: Portraits, 2002, at $16250
Lot 65, Richard Avedon, Richard Avedon, self-portrait, New York City, c1963, 1963/1993, at 103000€ (image at right, top, via Christie’s)

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

9 Avenue Matignon
75008 Paris

Auction Preview: Photographs, November 26, 2010 @Christie’s King Street

Christie’s has a lower end King Street sale of Photographs scheduled for later this week in London. It’s a mixed bag various owner auction, dominated by works from the collections of Norman Hall and New York gallerist James Danziger. Overall, there are 159 photography lots on offer, with a Total High Estimate of £1141800.

Here’s the breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000): 105
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £320800

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000): 47
Total Mid Estimate: £506000

Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 7
Total High Estimate: £315000

The top lot by High estimate is lot 51, Irving Penn, Picasso (B), Cannes, 1957/Later, at £60000-80000.
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Here is the list of photographers who are represented by five or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Irving Penn (10)
Robert Doisneau (6)
Horst P. Horst (6)
Jeanloup Sieff (6)
Edouard Boubat (5)

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here. The eCatalogue is located here.

(Images at right: lot 145, Irving Penn, Red Apples, New York, 1985/1995, at £25000-35000, top, and lot 91, Frank Horvat, Givenchy Hat, Jardin des Modes, Paris, 1957/Later, at £8000-10000, bottom, via Christie’s.)

Photographs
November 26th

Christie’s
8 King Street, St. James’s
London SW1Y 6QT

Leon Levinstein, Living in the Edge @Howard Greenberg

JTF (just the facts): A total of 56 black and white photographs, alternately framed in black or silver and matted, and hung in groups against light brown walls in the main gallery space and the book alcove. All of the works are gelatin silver prints, taken between 1952 and 1978. Sizes range from 9×11 to 17×14 or reverse, and no information was provided on image editions. Smaller exhibits of Levinstein’s work from Coney Island (8 images from 1955-1970) and from various foreign locales (7 images from Haiti, Mexico, and Spain, from 1958-1965) can be found in the small area outside Greenberg’s office and in one of the side viewing rooms. 2 portraits of Levinstein by Victor Obsatz and Harvey Shaman are also included in the show. (Marginal installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: This mini-retrospective of Leon Levinstein’s work is a natural gallery companion piece to the recent Hipsters, Hustlers, and Handball Players show at the Met (reviews linked below). It provides a broad sample of his street photography across several decades, and echoes many of the subjects, themes, and visual motifs seen in the museum exhibition.

The show begins with a cross section of peep show and flop house players: go-go girls, hookers and pimps brazenly loitering in doorways, and furtive men hanging around on sidewalks, flanked by bold store window graphics to entice them in. Levinstein’s pictures capture funky threads, short shorts, gritty salesmanship, and the boredom of waiting. A nearby group of pictures follows this fashion trend further, with passersby in foot-high white afros, zoot suits, bold stripes, flared pants, and fancy white shoes.

Many of the images in the show are faces and heads pulled out of the diverse chaos of street crowds, where hats, expressions, cigarettes and folds of skin tell individual city stories. Sometimes the angled compositions crop out the noise, centering full frame on a single face, while other images force the viewer to peer through layers of out-of-focus movement to identify an interesting subject. Levinstein goes on to fragment the action further, abstracting bodies into triangles of elbows and legs, or capturing arms in variety of tender embraces. His city throbs with energy and vitality, full of colorful personalities and fleeting human moments.

All in, this is a solid follow-up offering, unearthing a representative sampler of Levinstein’s work for those collectors that found themselves wowed by the Met exhibit and wanting to learn more.

Collector’s POV: The works in this show are generally priced between $6500 and $15000, with a variety of intermediate prices ($7500, $8000, $9000, and $12000). Levinstein’s prints have been intermittently available at auction in recent years, with prices ranging between $1000 and $9000.
Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
Transit Hub:
  • Reviews: New Yorker (here), Wall Street Journal (here, scroll down)
  • Met Exhibit Reviews: DLK COLLECTION (here), NY Times (here), New Yorker (here)

Leon Levinstein, Living in the Edge
Through December 4th

Howard Greenberg Gallery
41 East 57th Street
New York, NY 10022

Lucas Samaras: Poses/Born Actors @Pace

JTF (just the facts): A total of 118 color photographs, framed in black and matted, and hung against grey walls in a winding series of connected spaces. All of the works are pure pigment on paper, each sized 32×18 and printed in editions of 3. The images were made in 2009 and 2010. A catalogue of the exhibition is available from the gallery for $40. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Lucas Samaras has made a career out of transforming portraiture, extending its boundaries in new and unexpected directions. Long before the advent of Photoshop, he was playing with ways to alter reality, from distorted manipulated emulsions to wild colored stage lighting. His newest works continue to upend conventions, taking the standard beauty of the headshot portrait and digitally recasting it as a buoyantly ghoulish riff.
Gathering his subjects from the art world, Samaras has amplified the photographic drama by lighting the faces from below, creating weird shadows and exaggerated highlights. Many of his sitters have agreed to wear glasses, either normally or perched lower on their noses, adding another layer of reflection and refraction, often drawing angled shadows like horns or wings across their faces. While these effects might be enough to add an element of theatrical performance, it is Samaras‘ splashes of outrageous color that create the eye-popping oddities. In otherwise normal black and white images, metallic, opalescent color is selectively introduced, making irises bright yellow or lime green, the edge of a shirt neon blue or hot pink, the shadow under a chin a psychedelic rainbow of heat. Swirling oil slicks of color are poured into neutral backgrounds and shimmering streaks are applied to powerful, wrinkled faces like crazy eye makeup or lipstick. Normal faces become diabolical and demonic, surreal in their hidden malevolence. In one startling distorted portrait, a man’s neon yellow face peels away to reveal another layer underneath, his eyes blue in one layer and green in the next.
Samaras‘ approach has been applied to a parade of famous artists, collectors, curators, writers, gallery owners, and museum trustees, creating a gallery of well known faces, from Jasper Johns, Chuck Close and Cindy Sherman, to Leonard Lauder, Agnes Gund and Glenn Lowry, seen not with perfect respect, but with a tinge of playful malignancy. It’s a thoroughly entertaining approach, for those both known and unknown, as the series of everyday faces becomes something altogether more alien and sinister. The show is certainly one of the most gleefully mischievous exhibits I’ve been to in quite a while, showing once again that Samaras has a nearly endless reserve of ways to undermine traditional portraiture.
Collector’s POV: All of the works in this show are priced at $16000 each. Samaras‘ work has not been widely available in the secondary markets in recent years, with only a few lots coming up for sale here and there. Aside from the recent Polaroid sale, where a new record was set for his work ($194500) and many of his other vintage images sold for five figure prices, Samaras’ work has been relatively affordable, with most lots selling at auction for under $10000.
In my view, these Samaras portraits have the potential to be the next hot commission, the must have of the moment for many collectors. I suppose that for those that take themselves too seriously, there is the potential to hate these pictures. But for others with a more playful sense of humor, a portrait in this freakish style could become an amazingly fun family heirloom.
Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)

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