[caption id="attachment_4619" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="William Christenberry "The Bar-B-Q Inn, Greensboro, Alabama" (1981), Digital pigment print, 23¾ x 30 inches, estimate $4,000 - 6,000. "][/caption]
Today Christie's starts a series of Photography sales in New York. First up, at 2pm, is the sale of the color photograph collection of Bruce and Nancy Berman with works from 1995 to today. The Berman's from California, bought work of particular artists in depth, which is clear in this sale. The lot includes an amazing group of 65 photographs by William Eggleston. Eggleston's influence on photographers like William Christenberry and Alec Soth is wildly here. Said a Christie's expert during a walk through preview last week, "It's really just a walk through America with an emphasis on the American South."
Highlights include several photographs by Christenberry which are a rarity at auction givent that most of his prints are still sold in the primary market. I was excited to see another highlight, Mitch Epstein's Flag, Holyoke, MA (2000) which appeared in Whitewall's fall issue interview with Josh Holdeman of Christie's.
Three main themes run through the sale - the landscape (Richard Misrach), societal changes as seen through often dilapidated architecture (Walker Evans, Camilo Jose Vergara), and American people (Joe Sternfeld, Doug Dubois).
A walk through of the sale felt like a cross between William Eggleston's recent retrospective at the Whitney and the MoMA's "Into the Sunset: Photography's Image of the American West" - which is a great thing. The Berman's collection is extensive, cohesive, and truly museum worthy. Even if you're not in the market to purchase this afternoon, it's worth stopping by to see the American photography survey they've amassed.
[caption id="attachment_4620" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="William Eggleston , Untitled, Memphis, TN (1982), dye-transfer print made in 1999, estimate $8,000-12,000."][/caption]
