Phillips presents the ULTIMATE ULTIMATE Evening & Photographs Day Sales in London, showcasing many of the key moments in the history of photography that brought today's leading contemporary artists to the fore. The ULTIMATE Evening Sale is a tightly packed collection of 27 exceptional works, ranging from rare masterpieces to exclusive collaborations, championing XNUMXth century luminaries such as Robert Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton and Irving Penn. POLAROIDS from the Piero Bisazza collection is featured in both the evening and sale sales and includes one-of-a-kind Polaroid prints by Andy Warhol and Nobuyoshi Araki. The Photography Day Sale is highlighted by the Michel and Sally Strauss collection of contemporary photography and outstanding works by Man Ray and Nick Knight. Comprising 172 lots, the ULTIMATE Evening & Photographs Day Sales will take place on May 18 at Phillips London.
Genevieve Janvrin and Yuka Yamaji, Co-Heads of Photographs, Europe, said: “Building on our remarkable success in 2017, we are thrilled to present our first evening edition of ULTIMATE. Each work in this carefully curated selection of photographs, photographic and video works is distinctive and has been chosen for its rarity and exclusivity. ULTIMATE offers something special for every collector”.
Leading the ULTIMATE Evening Sale is the provocative Panoramic Nude with Gun by Helmut Newton, Villa d'Este, Como, 1989, the only extant print of this unreleased variant to date (estimate: £250.000 – 350.000) and a platinum-palladium print of The Iconic Black and White Vogue Cover (Jean Patchett) by Irving Penn, New York, 1950 (estimate: £200.000 – 300.000). Vogue Cover black and white (Jean Patchett) is the actual print that was exhibited in Penn's first international solo show of 1975. Another highlight is Robert Mapplethorpe's unique composition, Double Tiger Lily, 1977, which was in the same collection for two decades and appearing at auction for the first time (estimate: £150.000 – 250.000). The significance of Double Tiger Lily within Mapplethorpe's oeuvre is reflected in its impressive exhibition history, having been included in two major retrospectives, both opening in 1988, shortly before the artist's death. The first was Robert Mapplethorpe, his first American retrospective, which he opened at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Second was Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment, the groundbreaking and controversial exhibition he opened at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia and then traveled to six other US cities.
Also on offer is a monumental composition by Peter Beard, Downwind on Tiva Lugga, Tsavo North near Kathamula (estimate: £150.000 – 250.000). This was done in 1965, the same year as Beard's legendary publication The End of the Game, and features the dry Tiva River in Kenya's Tsavo Region. At the time, Beard was working in Tsavo East National Park, where he witnessed and recorded the tragic die-off of elephants – the most grounded animal in The End of the Game. Among the larger compositions created by Beard, the unique work offered here has remained in the same collection since it was originally acquired in 2004 and is appearing at auction for the first time.
Following the world auction records of Masahisa Fukase and Seiji Kurata in previous ULTIMATE editions, Phillips continues its celebration of 70s Japanese photography with exceptional works by three women artists Ishiuchi Miyako, Kunié Sugiura and Tamiko Nishimura. Included is a unique selection of first prints from Ishiuchi Miyako's seminal Yokosuka Story, 1976-1977 (estimate: £70.000 – 90.000), and Kunié Sugiura's unique and evocative Vision of Dakota from 1979, the artist's most significant work to be auctioned by date (estimate: £20.000 – 30.000).
Phillips will also present POLAROIDS from the Piero Bisazza collection, highlights of which were featured in ULTIMATE and include unique Polaroid prints by Robert Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol, Nobuyoshi Araki and Helmut Newton. Robert Mapplethorpe's Polaroids are often seen as his entry into photography. The only Polaroid of Mapplethorpe in The Piero Bisazza Collection features Patti Smith, the first person Mapplethorpe photographed and the only person who photographed more than himself. In this work, Patti Smith is partially blurred, caught mid-shift, but her eyes are steady, fixed on Mapplethorpe, her soul mate (estimate: £10.000 – 15.000).
The immediacy of the Polaroid fit perfectly with Andy Warhol's motto: “In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes”. In the 70s until his untimely death in 1987, Warhol's camera of choice for silkscreen portraits of him was the Polaroid Big Shot. The Big Shot was perfect for shooting portraits and made it easy for Warhol to quickly take more shots of his subject than himself. Most of these portraits were done on commission or trade. Both Roy Lichtenstein and Gilbert & George traded their paintings with Warhol for silkscreen portraits of him. These 11 Polaroids offer a unique record of the famous faces who populated the world of Andy Warhol, the leading visual artist of the 20th century, including Debbie Harry, 1980 (estimate £8.000 – 12.000).
The ULTIMATE Evening Sale features fresh works by many interesting artists making their auction debuts, including street photographer Tommy Ton with his unique polyptych Werk! Qweens, 2017 (estimate: £20.000-30.000). Also making her debut is multimedia artist Kim Heewon with her hypnotic video Someone's Chandelier, 2013, which runs in real time and to scale (estimate: £15.000-25.000). All of these works are either out of print or one-of-a-kind, presenting an exciting opportunity for collectors internationally.
Exclusive artist collaborations include Mika Ninagawa's site-specific one-of-a-kind installation Terrestrial Flowers, Sky Blue Colours, executed in 2018 (estimate: £30.000 – 50.000).
