• the deLIGHTed eye: Modernist M auction at Christies

    Sale 2767

    the deLIGHTed eye: Modernist Masterworks from a Private Collection

    New York

    |

    4 April 2013

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    • FREDERICK H. EVANS (1853-1945)
    Lot 20

    FREDERICK H. EVANS (1853-1945)

    Durham Cathedral, Nave, Aisle and Font, c. 1900

    Price realised

    USD 37,500

    Estimate

    USD 25,000 - USD 35,000

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    FREDERICK H. EVANS (1853-1945)
    Durham Cathedral, Nave, Aisle and Font, c. 1900
    platinum print
    signed and titled in pencil (on the mount)
    image/sheet: 9 3/8 x 5½in. (23.7 x 14cm.)
    mount: 20½ x 15in. (52 x 38cm.)

    Provenance

    With Weston Gallery, Carmel

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    Literature and exhibited

    Literature

    Modernist Masterworks to 1925 from 'the deLIGHTed eye', A Private Collection, International Center of Photography, New York, 1985, p. 19


    Exhibited

    Modernist Masterworks to 1925 from 'the deLIGHTed eye', A Private Collection, International Center of Photography, New York, May 15-June 16, 1985


    Lot Essay

    From the 1890s, Evans photographed the magnificent gothic cathedrals of England and France and his finest prints are immediately recognizeable for their elegance, craftsmanship and sense of deep stillness. Always printed in platinum, they are presented on woven paper within hand-ruled borders.
    This image shows the interior of Durham Cathedral, a masterpiece of Norman Romanesque architecture. Typical of Evans' compositions, the view is symmetrical and we are encouraged to follow the light from the shadowy nave to the brightly illuminated baptismal font in the aisle. Examining this quietly sophisticated work of art by Evans--a formal arrangement of chiaroscuro, of void and mass--it is clear to see why Alfred Stieglitz honored him by publishing eight of the cathedral studies in Camera Work and described him as 'the greatest exponent of architectural photography.'

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