An untitled (Cube over Sea) gelatin silver print by Jerry Uelsmann (1934-2022), 1980, was a seascape evoking Rene Magritte with its meta composition. It led the overall sale, finishing at $3,125.
Review by W.A. Demers; Photos Courtesy PBA Galleries
BERKELEY, CALIF. — PBA Galleries presented an auction of photography February 22, a dedicated event that marked the first in a series by the firm. Included was a diverse selection of more than 340 lots, featuring photobooks and original photographs to entice bidders and photography enthusiasts to explore classic and contemporary works that have shaped the world of photography.
“Traditionally we have had photography as a section within a larger sale of art and artists’ books,” said PBA’s photography specialist Christopher Dunlap. The auction was organized into chronological and thematic sections, showcasing the evolution of photography over time. The categories included Nineteenth Century pictorialism and Western photography, Modernism, f64 and straight photography, documentary and photojournalism, postmodernism, post-documentary, new documents and new topographics, fashion and portraiture and photobooks.
“We had a broad range of offerings in period, medium and style,” said Dunlap. “Building from the successes of the Jack and Beverly Waltman collection sold over a series of auctions in 2022-23, PBA is now accepting quality consignments ranging from Nineteenth Century Masters to Pictorialism, to Modernism and beyond.”
Charles R. Savage’s (1832-1909) albumen print of Yosemite, circa 1888, captured the unspoiled beauty of one the great American treasures and a final price of $2,813.
Dunlap recounted how PBA Galleries, situated a few hours drive north of Carmel, the California mecca of modernist Western photography, in 2022 received the Jack and Beverly Waltman collection of photography. “Jack Waltman, a radiologist and photography instructor who opened his x-ray lab to Man Ray for a series of Gemini G.E.L. prints, was both an avid photographer and a collector of his friends’ works,” explained Dunlap. “The Waltmans were close with the Weston family, the Adamses, and were a part of a circle that included John Sexton, Ray McSavaney and the many others who made Central Coast and Western photography a major chapter in the history of photography.”
The Waltman collection yielded such highlights as the classic Ansel Adams prints “Clearing Winter Storm: Yosemite National Park” and “The Teton Range & the Snake River,” each of which sold for $68,750. In the same auction, “Moonrise, Hernandez New Mexico” sold for $62,500.
The success of the Waltman sales has encouraged collectors to pay attention out West again as PBA Galleries brings photography back to its rightful place at the center of California culture. The February 22 sale featured early views of Yosemite by George Fiske, Carleton E. Watkins and Charles R. Savage’s “View Down the Valley, Yosemite.”
A signed volume of Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman with photographs by Edward Weston made $469.
The featured collections encompassed an array of works by renowned photographers, including photogravures by Edward S. Curtis from his iconic North American Indian series and pictorialist works from Alfred Stieglitz and members of the Photo-Secession.
The auction was led by an untitled (Cube over Sea) gelatin silver print by Jerry Uelsmann (1934-2022), 1980, a seascape evoking Rene Magritte with its meta composition, which was bid to $3,125. Not far behind at $2,813 was Charles R. Savage’s (1832-1909 albumen print of Yosemite, circa 1888, showing the unspoiled beauty of one the great American treasures.
Landscapes and cityscapes ranged from the dream visions of Paul Caponigro’s “Shoreline, Montauk Beach, Long Island, New York,” which sold for $1,625, and to George Tice’s “From The Chrysler Building, New York,” commanding $2,500 and presenting a Modernist vision of the city at the heart of the Twentieth Century. Soaring over Gotham City is a modern-day gargoyle adorning one of its many cathedrals of Capital, the Chrysler Building. Pirkle Jones’ (1914-2009) “Sunset District and Pacific Ocean, San Francisco” sold for $1,250. Jones, an assistant to Ansel Adams for six years, became a celebrated photographer in his own right. His 1960 “Death of a Valley” photo essay collaboration with Dorothea Lange would lead to other significant projects, including a series of historic photographs documenting the Black Panthers.
The cover lot of the sale was “Lifesavers” by Ruth Bernhard. Fetching $2,813, this image depicting a pack of the candy Lifesavers, was one of her first photographs, helping launch her career as an independent artist.
The cover lot of the sale, “Lifesavers” by Ruth Bernhard in a more Modernist style depicting a pack of the candy Lifesavers that was a literal life saver for the artist. One of her first photographs, it helped launch her career as an independent artist and in this sale rolled to $2,813. Other photographers whose prints were represented in the sale were Diane Arbus, Robert Adams, Garry Winogrand, the late Elliott Erwitt, Sebastião Salgado and many others. Classic photobooks continue to succeed in PBA’s auctions with Renger-Patzchs’s “Die Welt ist Schön” selling for $938 and a signed copy of Weegee’s “People” leaving the gallery at $813.
There were more historic and contemporary photographs that were notable in this sale.
A Mathew Brady carte de visite of Abraham Lincoln commanded $2,250. The CDV mounted to card captioned in pencil on print verso along with studio ink stamp. It stemmed from Brady’s famous series of portraits taken on January 8, 1864. Brady (circa 1822/1824-1896), known as one of the earliest and most famous photographers in American history, is famously known for his scenes of the Civil War and the series of Lincoln portraits.
Eadweard Muybridge, an English photographer who pioneered work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection, was represented in the sale by “Animal Locomotion Capybara,” plate 746, which went out at $1,625. Published in Philadelphia in 1887, the collotype shows a capybara, a large rodent native to South America, walking.
Don Worth’s 1999 print “Water Drops, San Francisco, Calif.,” a gelatin silver print captured, in Worth’s words, “…qualities of the mystical and the universal with connotations of both the astronomical and also the molecular, which I find satisfying.” Signed in pencil on recto margin, signed, titled and dated in pencil on mount verso, it sold for $1,063.
Another lot representing the realm of science was Don Worth’s 1999 print “Water Drops, San Francisco, Calif.,” a gelatin silver print capturing, in Worth’s words, “…qualities of the mystical and the universal with connotations of both the astronomical and also the molecular, which I find satisfying. The scale is very ambiguous to most viewers and I enjoy presenting that kind of puzzle as it leaves space for many more different kinds of interpretations.” Signed in pencil on recto margin, signed, titled and dated in pencil on mount verso, it sold for $1,063.
Fetching $938 was “Tippi Hedren, The Birds” by Philippe Halsman, circa 1963. The gelatin silver print portrait of actress Tippi Hedren, inspired by her role in Alfred Hitchcock’s film, The Birds was titled in pencil on print verso with ink stamp of the photographer.
Additional highlights included an untitled [tree in forest] by Edwin Hale Lincoln, which brought $875; “Imagenes de Cuba en Saludo al Segundo Congreso del Partido Comunista de Cuba” by Osvaldo Salas at $625; a signed volume of Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman with photographs by Edward Weston at $469; and Immigrants, Haifa Port, Israel, May-June 1949 by Robert Capa, leaving the gallery at $406.
Prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house. Looking ahead, PBA Galleries will attend the AIPAD Fair in April in preparation for its next dedicated photography sale scheduled for Thursday, June 13. Contact photography specialist Dunlap at chris@pbagalleries to consign. For information, www.pbagalleries.com or 415-989-2665.
