On the 16 th of May, Phillips, the place in which collectors can buy and sell the most famous and
beautiful works of art, auctioned 162 lots, including some photographs coming from the fashion
world. Some of the photographers who captured those indelible moments were Helmut Newton, Man Ray, Peter Lindbergh, Steven Meisel, David Lachapelle, Steven Klein, Sølve Sundsbø and many others, as well as stellar names in reportage photography such as Steve McCurry and Sebastião Salgado.
The total of the sale reached approximately £1,8 million.
Here some of the pictures sold:
Dorian Leigh, Evening Dress by Piguet, Helena Rubinstein Apartment, Paris, August
From the Michael Hoppen Gallery in London, this is another Richard Avedon’s admirable work.
£27,500.
Folded Madonna Poster (Steven Meisel)
A poster of the picture Meisel took of Madonna, was photographed by Anne Collier, who wanted to
pose a question to herself and to us about the way in which the public reacts to these objects, at the
same time she tried making us feel “a sense of emotional or psychological uncertainty”. £41,250.
Sorry, No Vacancy 7
Strongly inspired by cinema and film stills, Kourtney Roy takes us into another world, where the
context stays mysterious. In this picture, which is part of the series “Sorry, No Vacancy”,
photographer portrays a woman at the side of the road with a vacuum-cleaner in her hand. £23,750.
Seduzir [Seduce]
Helena Almeida, 2002. There are approximately 45 photographs portraying the photographer’s
body in different positions. Some say this picture is about the art of seduction, others think it is
about the pain of Almeida after the death of her sister. £47,500.
La Prière [Prayer]
The Prayer of Man Ray is dated back 1930; in occasion of Phillips’ auction it was sold for 100,000
pounds, the highest price amongst the 163 lots.
Pieta with Courtney Love
The genius of David LaChapelle is strongly recognizable in this shot picturing Courtney Love in a
modern pieta. In the arms of the Courtney "Madonna" the son, Jesus, becomes her late husband Kurt Cobain who brings, in addition to the classic wrists stigmata, also to the arms symbolizing the heroine and forming a kind of monstrous face.
Sold at 40,000 pounds.
Naomi Campbell, New York
This picture was taken by Steven Meisel for the 2019 March Issue of British Vogue, aiming at
celebrating the creative genius of the photographer together with famous supermodel Naomi
Campbell.
written by Ludovica Mucci