Property Sold to Benefit APERTURE FOUNDATION FOR
PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE VISUAL ARTS
Last October, Christie's offered the first in a selection of photographs sold to benefit Aperture Foundation. This April we are pleased to present the second half of this property, including the following works by Bill Brandt as well as a selection of prints by Minor White, Ansel Adams and Larry Fink. (See: Lots 101-109, 208 and 407)
Aperture Foundation, a nonprofit organization located in New York City and serving a national and international audience, has been devoted to photography's unique capabilities as a fine art since it was founded 44 years ago. Aperture is known worldwide for its publications, and as a source of meaningful traveling photography exhibitions. Since 1983, Aperture has maintained The Paul Strand Archive and Library, allowing access to qualified students, scholars and photographers. The breadth, quality and relevance of Aperture's programming allow international audiences to explore fine photography as one of the most valuable forms of communication, education, social awareness and artistic endeavor.
The Aperture Foundation and Bill Brandt shared a very active relationship. In 1985, Aperture published the catalogue for the exhibition Bill Brandt: Behind the Camera, Photographs 1928-1983 presented by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
In many respects, Bill Brandt served as the anchor for creative documentary photography in Europe at the mid-century. His work and influence spans the decades just prior to and after World War II. From 1931 to the end of 1935, he produced the photographs published in the 1936 book The English at Home in which he captured a broad range of daily life in Britain. In 1938, A Night in London was introduced, presenting photographs of London's rituals in the night. Brandt's work was published broadly in London's picture magazines, Lilliput and Picture Post during the late 1930s and 1940s, including his images of wartime London. In 1948, Brandt produced his third book, Camera in London, a collection of work from the 30s and 40s. From 1945 to 1950, Brandt's vision turned to the British landscape and in 1951 many images from the project were combined with his portraits of contemporary writers in Literary Britain. It was after the declaration of peace in 1945 that Brandt began a fifteen year project, which would finally appear as ninety photographs in Perspective of Nudes.
The selection of Brandt's work offered here includes several examples from his most important essays. The prints offered clearly display Brandt's emphasis on photographs representing the social and cultural landscape. (See: Christie's New York, October 3, 1996, Lots 170-179 for a previous group of Brandt's work sold to benefit Aperture Foundation.)
BILL BRANDT (1904-1983)
Details
BILL BRANDT (1904-1983)
Coal Searcher Returning Home, Jarrow (1936)
Gelatin silver print. 1950s. Credit stamp on the verso. 9 x 7 5/8in. (22.9 x 19.4cm.)
Coal Searcher Returning Home, Jarrow (1936)
Gelatin silver print. 1950s. Credit stamp on the verso. 9 x 7 5/8in. (22.9 x 19.4cm.)
Literature
See: Da Capo, Shadow of Light, pl. 39; Aperture/Philadelphia Museum of Art, Behind the Camera, p. 72; Thames and Hudson, Bill Brandt, p. 74.
Further details
Lots 101-109 may be exempt from sales tax, as set forth in the sales tax notice at the front of this catalogue.