New York – An unprecedented single-owner collection of 13 works by Paul Strand (1890-1976) will be offered at Bonhams’ Photography sale on October 11 in New York. One of the most influential photographers of the 20th century, Strand was a popularizer of ‘straight photography’ – an unmanipulated style which emphasizes capturing what the camera actually saw in sharp focus and detail. His most recognizable works revealed the reality of his subjects and were his way of trying to inspire social reform throughout the 1930s. The highlight of the collection is Central Park, New York, the only known vintage platinum print of Strand’s early Pictorialist study, estimated at $50,000 – 70,000.
The group of works come from the collection of Sarah Warren Hoffman, whose father Michael E. Hoffman was the longtime director of the Aperture Foundation, a nonprofit arts institution and publisher on fine art photography. Being associated with the foundation since the early 1960s, Hoffman was close friends with many of the photographers like Strand, whose photographs were as common as family pictures around their home. As a result, Warren Hoffman was gifted a spectrum of examples from his oeuvre. This includes portraits such as Young Farmer, Luzzara, Italy, an image of a young man softly smiling at the camera (estimate: $20,000 – 30,000) and Boy, Luzzara, Italy (estimate: $15,000 – 25,000), breathtaking landscapes like Grazing Horses, Taos, New Mexico (estimate: $15,000 – 25,000), and experimental snapshots of nature showcased in Cobweb in Rain, Georgetown, Maine (estimate: $20,000 – 30,000).
Additional sale highlights include:
- Time Exposed Portfolio by Hiroshi Sugimoto (b. 1948), a Japanese photographer known for works that explore memory and time. Estimated at $30,000 – 35,000, the portfolio consists of fifty Seascapes taken between 1980 – 1991.
- Cremaster 5: Elvalas, part of an influential series of five artworks that blur the line between feature length films and art installations, by Matthew Barney (b. 1967), estimated at $50,000 – 60,000.
- The Beach/Swimmers by Richard Misrach (b. 1949), one of the most influential American photographers of his generation who was an instrumental pioneer in the renaissance of color photography. It is estimated at $35,000 – 45,000.
