Press Release New York
For Immediate Release
New York | +1 212 606 7176 | Lauren Gioia | [email protected] |
Dan Abernethy | [email protected] |
A Show Of Hands: Photographs From
The Collection of Henry Buhl
Sotheby’s To Present One of The World’s Most Significant
Privately Owned Photograph Collections
Auction will be Held in New York on 12 & 13 December 2012
9 March 2012 - This winter, Sotheby’s will celebrate
the legendary Buhl Collection of photographs in a
single-owner sale in New York. The collection explores
the theme of the human hand, encompassing works
from the art form’s early 19th century pioneers to the
masters of 20th century photography and beyond. It
was assembled over the course of 20 years by the
visionary philanthropist and collector Henry M. Buhl.
The collection was the subject of the criticallyacclaimed
exhibition
Speaking
With
Hands:
Photographs from the Buhl Collection at the Solomon
R. Guggenheim Museum, New York in 2004, and has
since been featured in many of the world’s most
renowned institutions from Moscow to Macau. Overall,
the auction will comprise approximately 400 lots and is
estimated to bring $8/12 million, with a significant
László Moholy-Nagy, Photogram
Est. $300/500,000
portion of the proceeds benefiting The Buhl
Foundation. Prior to the exhibition and auction in New
York, highlights from the collection will be shown in Zurich, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London and Paris to
coincide with Paris Photo.
Denise Bethel, Director of Sotheby’s Photographs Department said:
“The sale of photographs from the Buhl Collection will rightly take its
place alongside the greatest auctions ever held in our field including
Photographs from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including works
from the Gilman Paper Company Collection, Photographs from the
Museum of Modern Art, Photographs from the Private Collection of
Margaret W. Weston and The Polaroid Collection. Henry Buhl’s singular
focus and passion for the theme of the hand was equaled by the iconic
quality of the images he selected. The sale will offer collectors a
wonderful opportunity to acquire everything from intriguing anonymous
photographs to acclaimed masterworks. Henry's collection is a real
template for the best of collecting---an inspiration to seasoned
collectors and beginners alike."
Herbert Bayer, The Lonely Metropolitan
Est. $250/350,000
Images of hands, whether depicted literally in the context of portraiture, or more figuratively in terms of gesture or
concept, are the leitmotif as we explore the great masters
featured in the Buhl Collection. We see Georgia O’Keeffe’s
delicate fingers in Alfred Stieglitz’s 1920 masterpiece (est.
$1/1.5 million), a two-dimensional photogram of hands given
dynamism and movement by Man Ray (est. $300/500,000),
Charles Negre’s ghostlike Hand Study from the 1850s (est.
$50/70,000), and Andreas Gursky’s ecstatic sea of hands in
May Day II (est. $500/700,000).
As Mr. Buhl recalled in his preface to the Guggenheim
exhibition catalogue, the collection was born with the purchase
of Hands with Thimble by Alfred Stieglitz. The 1920 print is a
compositional
Edward Weston, Tina Modotti, Glendale
Est. $200/300,000
portrait
of
Georgia
O’Keeffe
–
the
photographer’s future wife – showing only her hands poised with
needle and thimble against a drape of dark fabric. Prints of the
celebrated image are in the collections of major institutions including The Museum of Modern Art in New York
and The Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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The Buhl Foundation was founded in 1992 by Henry Buhl to enhance the quality of life of underprivileged
individuals by supporting education, the homeless and the arts. The Foundation supports a number of not-forprofit organizations and programs including the Association of Community Employment Programs for the
Homeless (A.C.E) that works to enable New York City's homeless men and women to re-enter the workforce and
achieve long-term economic self-sufficiency.
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Man Ray, Rayograph with hand and egg
Est. $250/350,000
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