This autumn, a new auction house, Canada Book Auctions, Neil D. MacDonald at the helm, is presenting two auctions of fine 19th and 20th century photography, featuring rare and exceptional material and photographers from three different estate collections. The Photographic History sale will be held on Wednesday, 1 November at 1 PM EST on LiveAuctioneers.com.
Their first auction will comprise 19th century photo work by D.F. Barry, Antonio Beato, Bonfils, Samuel Bourne, Étienne Carjat, Désiré Charnay, E.S. Curtis, Francis Frith, Alexander Gardner, Charles Marville, Julio Michaud, Nadar, Timothy O’Sullivan, William Henry Fox Talbot, among others. Materials will include stereoviews, lantern slides, daguerreotypes, tintypes, life and travel albums, and more from the collections of the late Robert Wilson (Toronto) and Harve Sherman (Toronto).
The sale will feature fine early 19th century travel photographs documenting China, India, Egypt and the Near East, Africa, Australia, and South East Asia. Some notable views of India will include work by Bourne & Shepherd, Francis Frith, Lala Deen Day, and others, featuring prints of the Golden Temples at Benares and Armritsar and Qutab Minar in Delhi, among others.
The following day Canada Book Auctions will be presenting an exceptional sale, Important Fine Photographs (2 November, 1 PM EST) on LiveAuctioneers.com. Featuring exquisite work by Ansel Adams, Thomas Annan, Richard Avedon, Brassaï, Wynn Bullock, Bruce Davidson, Eugene Durieux, Walker Evans, Arnold Genthe, Philippe Halsman, Fritz Henle, Lewis Hine, Yousuf Karsh, André Kertész, Dorothea Lange, Wendell MacRae, Joel Meyerowitz, Nadar, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, George Tice, Edward Weston, Clarence White, Max Yvano, and George Zimbel. Materials will include photographs from the collection of the late Miljenko Horvat (Montreal) and Harve Sherman.
Highlights will include Avedon’s signed portrait of Igor Stravinsky (1969; 25.5 x 20 cm); Adams’ signed silver print of “San Francisco from San Bruno” (1953; 37 x 47 cm); Steichen’s portrait of Mrs. A. G. Bowman in her superb wedding dress designed by Hattie Carnegie, published by Condé Nast (1933; 25 x 20 cm); Charnay’s print of “Île de la Réunion (Jardin Botanique)” (26.5 x 20 cm), taken during his Madagascar expedition; and Child’s albumen views of Peking (1875-80, 18.5 x 24 cm).
The sale will also include a selection of portraits by Cecil Beaton, most notably Beaton’s iconic portrait of Wallis Simpson posed by a masked statue covered in black tulle (24.5 x 29.5 cm), as well as his portraits of Graham Sutherland and John Augustus.
Of special import is a selection of rare and extraordinary 19th century Persian photographs by Antoin Sevruguin (1851-1933), an Iranian photographer working during the Qajar Dynasty (1785-1952). Sevruguin’s work was especially well-received by the reigning Shah at the time, and Sevruguin was made court photographer, photographing the royal court, harems, mosques, and other scenes of cultural significance. The prints in this collection feature many portraits of Kurdish, Persian, and Chaldean women, street scenes, cultural dress and customs. Prints from this collection include: water pipes (Hookahs); grinding wheat; portrait of Persian butcher; "Juive" (Jewish) wife of Kurdish chief; studio portrait of group of 4 women in veiled. The collection represents an exceptional selection of rare 19th century Persian material, impressive in both quantity and quality.
The sale will include a special collection of post-war British photography by Jane Bown, John Blakemore, Mark Edwards, Bert Hady, Thurston Hopkins, Martin Parr, and George Rodger, featuring portraits of Mick Jagger, James Baldwin, Jean Cocteau, Henry Moore, Samuel Beckett, and other superb subjects. These photographs are from the collection of Miljenko Horvat (1935-2012), Croatian-born artist and architect who immigrated to Canada in 1966 and spent much of his career here. Horvat was also an active curator, and the photographs of this section were featured in his 1987 exhibition “Realities Revisited: 15 British Photographers” (Montreal, Centre Saidye Bronfman). These photographs represent an exceptional collection away from the light for decades and is fresh to the market.
You can join Canada Book Auction’s mailing list via their website and subscribe to receive notifications and updates about these exciting upcoming sales.
Canada Book Auctions
1-41 Spadina Road
Toronto, ON
M5R 2S9
E: canadabookauctions@gmail.com
www.CanadaBookAuctions.com
Facebook: Canada Book Auctions
Instagram: @canadabookauctions
Auction: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/auctioneer/8124/canada-book-auctions/
Images: Top: A lot of 3 prints sold together. Thomas Child. TEMPLE PEKING. Albumen print photograph. Circa 1875, with others. $800/$1,200
Left: Sevruguin, Antoin[e]. A large and important lot of exquisite 19th century photographs of PERSIA. 104 Albumen print photographs. $20,000/$30,000
Comments