The auction includes portraits of some of the most unforgettable faces of the 20th-21st century by legendary photographers including Howell Conant, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Ron Gallella, Yousuf Karsh and Bert Stern. Stern is perhaps best known for his luminous portraits of Marilyn Monroe. The auction features ten photographs of a flirtatious Monroe taken just weeks before the actress’ death in what is now known as the “Last Sitting” (estimates: $4,500-$5,500 each). Also featured in this group are ten magnificent portraits by fashion photographer Sante D’Orazio, including The Rolling Stones, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell (estimates: $1,000-$1,500 each). D’Orazio’s stunning celebrity photos have appeared in publications from Vogue to Vanity Fair.

 

 

 

Sante D'Orazio
The Rolling Stones, Voodoo Lounge, 1994
Vintage gelatin silver print
Estimate: $1,000-$1,500

 

 

The sale also celebrates the body in motion from actors to athletes, including a classic 1955 photograph of James Dean walking in Times Square by Dennis Stock (estimate: $2,000-$3,000) and a fearsome 1970 photograph of Muhammad Ali by photojournalist Bill Ray (estimate: $2,500-$3,500).  More recent works include David LaChapelle’s Pamela Anderson in Terrarium, Los Angeles, a wry commentary on society’s voyeuristic tendencies (estimate: $18,000-$24,000) and a jubilant Gisele Bündchen posing as a cowgirl in a 2009 photograph by Mark Seliger (estimate: $7,000-$9,000).

 

 

 

Pamela Hanson
Carla Bruni Smoking, 1994
Gelatin Silver Print
Estimate: $1,000- $1,500

 

 

Rounding out the sale is an extraordinary collection of nudes by artists including Edward Weston, Ruth Bernhard, Daido Moriyama and Thomas Ruff. Charis Wilson Nude, 1934 is one of a series of studies Weston photographed in the 1930s of the model who later became his wife (estimate: $7,000-$9,000).  Ruth Bernhard met Weston in 1935 and was inspired by his work. Bernhard’s Nude in the Box – Horizontal, 1962 combines Weston’s rigorous composition with a heightened sense of mood and contrast (estimate: $16,000-$25,000). Also offered in the sale are contemporary nudes such as the provocative Nude, Setagay-ku, Tokyo, 1986, by Daido Moriyama and two C-prints from Thomas Ruff’s 2002 series Nudes (estimates: $6,500-$8,500 each).

 

 

 

Ruth Bernhard
Folding, 1962
Gelatin silver print
Estimate:  $6,000-$8,000