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• Issue #161
• Article

This year's spring photography auction at Villa Grisebach Auktionen in Berlin, scheduled for June 4, 2009, 3 p.m., will feature 190 lots for sale. A number of lots are focused on the work of the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. These consist of around two dozens photographs and two original glass negatives depicting his work. The top lots in this segment include Curt Rehbein's vintage prints from 1922 depicting Mies van der Rohe's famous model for a glass skyscraper (est. 10,000-15,000 euro) as well as the architect's project for the "Tower house at Friedrichstraße" (5,000-10,000 euro).

On the occasion of the ninetieth anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus, Grisebach furthermore offers a collection of selected photographic works by various Bauhaus artists. Featured work in this auction includes: the experimental portraits by Kurt Kranz (8,000-10,000 euro) and Hajo Rose (3,500-4,000 euro), Werner David Feist's "electronic still life" (4,000-6,000 euro), as well as images showing the Bauhaus in Dessau during its construction taken by Lucia Moholy (1,800-2,200 euro). Additional architectural photographic highlights in this segment include work by Kurt Kranz, the Atelier de Sandalo and Iwao Yamawaki.

Within the section on modern photography, Grisebach will present a few exceptional and rare prints such as Martin Munkácsi's photograph from circa 1932 depicting himself in one of the windows of the Zeppelin LZ 127 (18,000-24,000 euro), Erwin Blumenfeld's inimitably personal view of the cabaret artist Valeska Gert (8,000-10,000 euro), two unique and original photograms by Christian Schad (each 5,000-7,000 euro), a vintage print from Herbert List's metaphysical-surreal "The Spirit of Lycabettos" (5,000-7,000 euro), and an early print of the famous 1953 photograph of Marilyn Monroe by Alfred Eisenstaedt (8,000-10,000 euro).

Further highlights featured in Grisebach's photography auction are--among others--the rare portfolio "Portraits" by American photographer Arnold Newman estimated at 15,000-20,000 euro, Irving Penn's "New Guinea Man and Sitting Woman" (10,000-15,000 euro), and a version of the "Odalisque" by Horst P. Horst in a later platinum-palladium print.

Contemporary works presented in the sale include a diptych entitled "Portrait of a Girl 1+2" by Loretta Lux (12,000-15,000 euro), as well as photographs by artists such as Roger Ballen, Elger Esser, Axel Hutte, Helmut Newton, Bettina Rheims, Sebastiao Salgado and Frank Thiel.

The auction is scheduled for June 4, 2009, 3 p.m. You can view the catalogue at https://www.villa-grisebach.de/en/catalogues/listview/katalog_uid/164/ . For more information, contact Franziska Schmidt (head of the photography department), phone: +49 30-885 915-0, extension -27; fax: +49 30-885915-4627 (from the U.S. dial 011 then the number); or email: f.schmidt@villa-grisebach.de .