Works from Renowned Pier 24 Photography from the Pilara Family Foundation Return to Sotheby’s This Fall

Works from Renowned Pier 24 Photography from the Pilara Family Foundation Return to Sotheby’s This Fall

Series Follows Landmark Auction in May with a Dedicated Live Sale Led by Rare Complete Set of Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Henry VIII and His Six WivesIntroduces Sotheby’s First-Ever Dedicated Sale of Vernacular Photography Showcasing the Breadth of the Collection and the Spirit of Connoisseurship at its Heart

Sale Proceeds to Benefit the Pilara Family Foundation in Support of Healthcare Research, Education, and the Arts

“The exceptional results and records set in May speak to both the unrivaled caliber and magnitude of the collection and clarity of Andy Pilara’s vision. We are thrilled to once again present works from this legendary Photographs collection in the fall, in what is sure to be another highly anticipated sale series.”

Emily Bierman, Sotheby’s Global Head of Photographs

NEW YORK, 21 September 2023 – This fall, Sotheby’s will continue a watershed series of auctions of photographs that together comprise one of the most significant and comprehensive collections of 20th century and post-war photography ever assembled. Pier 24 Photography from the Pilara Family Foundation Sold to Benefit Charitable Organizations will resume in September with a series of live and online sales curated to reflect the narratives and dialogues across the Collection.

The two-part spring sale series captivated top collectors around the world – attracting bidders from 23 countries – and set numerous benchmarks and records, achieving an astounding $10.6 million – representing 120% of the combined presale high estimate (see sales figures below). The exceptional sale results reinforce the unprecedented depth of the Collection, charting the historical intersection of modern art and photography and reflecting the power of the image in contemporary culture.

The Fall auctions will see a number of leading names from the spring sales return, including an unparalleled breadth of now unobtainable masterworks from many of the most influential photographers of the 20th century: Richard Avedon, Dorothea Lange, Lee Friedlander, Robert Frank, and Garry Winogrand, among others.

Pier 24 Photography from the Pilara Family Foundation Overview

The origins of the Collection begin in 2003, when the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) presented a groundbreaking retrospective of the work by renowned artist and photographer Diane Arbus. It was in this landmark exhibition that Andy Pilara found himself taken by the medium, absorbed by the emotional intensity of not only Arbus’ work, but also with the visceral power of photography and image-making. The experience would inspire Pilara and his wife Mary to acquire their first photograph, marking the genesis of a collecting journey spanning nearly two decades during which the Pilaras would build one of the most comprehensive and significant collections of 20th century and post-war photographs ever assembled.

In 2010, the Pilaras opened Pier 24 Photography, a world-class exhibition space located on San Francisco’s Embarcadero. As a testament to their dedication as photography collectors and their philanthropic spirit and desire to give back to their community, Pier 24 Photography was free and open to the public. Designed to showcase their expanding collection through a rotating program of curated exhibitions, Pier 24 welcomed not only the global photography and fine art communities, but also opened its doors to school children and students, while providing critical resources to emerging photographers through a visiting artist program, commissioned projects, and other awards.

As the Pilara Family Foundation transitions from an operating foundation to a granting foundation, all proceeds from the auctions will be directed to charitable initiatives in healthcare research, education, and the arts, and the Foundation intends to make further gifts from the Collection to various institutions.

A Selection of Highlights from Pier 24 Photography from the Pilara Family Foundation

Kicking off the sale series on 26 September, Sotheby’s will present Photographer Unknown, an online auction of works from the renowned Pier 24 Photography from the Pilara Family Foundation to be offered entirely at no reserve. These photographs, largely taken by individuals whose names are now lost to time, belong to an important element of the History of Photography: the vernacular. The Pilara Family Foundation’s collection of vernacular photography—including snapshots by hobbyists, hand-colored commercial portraiture, occupational photo badges, press imagery, boxing headshots, mug shots, and souvenir albums—are some of the best examples associated with the genre. Every photograph has a story, and these images are evidence of the many ways the medium has been utilized since its invention, from crime fighting, to documentation, to advertising.

Anchoring the fall series of auctions will be a dedicated live sale at Sotheby’s New York on 25 October. Celebrating one of the most significant collections of photographs to ever come to auction, the live auction will showcase key works by Richard Avedon, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Dorothea Lange, Robert Adams, and Edward Weston, among others. 

Additional works from the Collection will be offered in a dedicated online auction in December. All auction proceeds will support organizations devoted to healthcare research, education, and the arts.

Hiroshi Sugimoto

Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr

Leading the fall sales (est. $400/600,000) is Hiroshi Sugimoto’s complete set of seven portraits depicting Henry VIII, King of England, and his series of six wives, made after Madame Tussaud wax figures. Photographed against an empty black background, the photographs call into question the viewer’s relationship to history and time, blurring the lines between past and present. Sugimoto photographically resuscitates these wax corpses, breathing life into figures from a bygone era. This offering constitutes the only complete set of photographs from his most recognizable series, Portraits, that has ever come to auction, and of the Portraits series, this series of Tudor photographs are the best known. The only other complete sets of Henry VIII and His Six Wives are in institutional collections: the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and the Odawara Art Foundation, Kanagawa, Japan. 

Dorothea Lange

White Angel Breadline, San Francisco

Taken in 1933, during San Francisco’s depression years, White Angel Breadline became Dorothea Lange’s first significant image and remains among her most iconic (est. $100/200,000). It depicts the isolation of poverty with human dignity, as one man turns away from a breadline sponsored by a wealthy community widow known as ‘the White Angel.’  Marking her departure from the world of studio portraiture, the image became a prototype for the photographs Lange would take during her time with the Farm Security Administration. In White Angel Breadline, San Francisco, Lange sought to showcase her subjects’ tenacity and dignity, rather than their destitution. Especially rich in photographs by Lange, the auction features 6 other photographs by the artist, including an alternate view of White Angel Breadline (est. $50/70,000).

Richard Avedon

The Minneapolis Portfolio

Published on the occasion of Richard Avedon’s portrait retrospective in 1970 at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the complete portfolio includes 11 photographs of actors, directors, poets, and British royalty, taken between 1952 and 1964.  While the portfolio clearly displays Avedon’s dexterity as a portraitist, the images also betray his burgeoning disillusionment with traditional studio portraiture.  Two of the latest portraits from the portfolio, Ezra Pound and Marilyn Monroe, both taken in 1958, are clear examples of Avedon’s attempts to capture not just physical attributes of his sitters, but also their state of mind.  Another complete set of this portfolio has not appeared at auction in over a decade (est. $200/300,000). 

Edward Weston

Hand of Amado Galvan
This lush, warm-toned platinum print (est. $60/90,000) is one of Edward Weston’s earliest still-life compositions and a definitive precursor of the great shell, pepper, and vegetal still-life of his mature career.   Traveling throughout Mexico on a commission for the writer Anita Brenner, Weston visited the potter Amado Galvan in Tonala, near Guadalajara.  Weston’s highly abstract, totemic study shows the potter’s muscular hand raising a gourd-shaped ball of clay against the blank Mexican sky.  Brenner eventually published Idols Behind Altars in 1929, including Hand of Amado Galvan as the frontispiece illustration.  This print in the Pilara Family Foundation Collection was included in Weston’s 1927 major exhibition at the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art, and in 1932 in A Showing of Hands, at the de Young Museum in San Francisco along with photographs by Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Consuela Kanaga, Edward Steichen, and Imogen Cunningham.  No other platinum prints are believed extant.