SOTHEBY'S. - Lot 271

SOTHEBY'S. Photographs. New York, Sotheby's, April 18, 1997 auction (Sale 6973). Large quarto, paperback, illustrated cover. An important public auction catalog devoted exclusively to photography, organized by Sotheby’s New York on April 18, 1997. This auction brought together several prestigious sources, notably works from the collections of Emil Zoler, James E. Sanders, the descendants of Heinrich Kühn, the W. B. Post Collection, the Josef Breitenbach Trust, as well as duplicates from the George Eastman House. The catalog illustrates and describes several hundred lots spanning the entire history of photography, from the 19th-century pioneers to the great modern masters. The entries, which are particularly well-documented, include provenance, technique, dimensions, exhibition history, and bibliography where applicable, as well as estimates for each work. It features photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Heinrich Kühn, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Edward Weston, Paul Strand, Walker Evans, Man Ray, Berenice Abbott, André Kertész, Brassaï, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ansel Adams, Harry Callahan, Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander, Robert Frank, as well as numerous other major photographers. Beyond its commercial value, this volume serves as an invaluable reference tool for collectors and historians of photography. The Sotheby’s catalogs from the 1990s reflect the structure of the international photography market at a time when large historical prints were fetching unprecedented prices at auction. Today, they remain essential bibliographic references for the study of provenance, print condition, and the evolution of market values. Condition: Very good copy.