Photographs including Crossing America: Photographs from
The Consolidated Freightways Collection, Part II
Viewing: Christie’s Special Exhibition Gallery, until 18th December
Auctions: Christie’s Special Exhibition Gallery, 19th December.
Christie’s, New York City, USA. 19th December, 2011
The brief was simple and the great variety of works on view and on offer were created by many of America and the rest of the world’s finest photographers, among them: Bruce Davidson, Diane Arbus and Henri-Cartier Bresson. Over the years, Consolidated Freightways, which ceased operations in 2002, amassed an impressive array of images dating from the 1920s to the 1990s with the aim of reflecting the the American landscape as seen from the cab of a truck.
If you want to start a collection of prints, this is the place to begin. Not that you can buy anything for a song but the photographs are astonishing and many of the prices are not outlandish. The great advantage of buying anything from a corporate collection, as in this case the USA’s freight transportation giant, The Consolidated Freightways Collection, is that you can be absolutely sure of the distinguished provenance of the goods on sale.
Ansel Adams (1902-1984) chose the diverse and spectacular fabric of the vast American landscape as his subject and somehow gets closest to the objective of the collection. The eleven images above are all on offer and include an original and unique group of Adams Polaroids.
Images from top
1 Sequoia Gigantea Roots, Yosemite National Park, California, circa 1950
Gelatin silver print, printed 1970s
Estimate 3,000 – 5,000 U.S. dollars
2 Mormon Temple, Manti, Utah, 1948
Gelatin silver print, printed 1970s
Estimate $3,000 – 5,000
3 El Capitan and Trees, Yosemite, 1955
Unique Polaroid Type 52 print
Estimate $5,000 – 7,000
4 Fern Spring, Yosemite, 1961
Unique Polaroid Type 55 print
Estimate $5,000 – 7,000
5 Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Monument, 1942
Gelatin silver portfolio print, printed 1950
Estimate $3,000 – 5,000
6 Untitled (Lake with mountains), circa 1961
Unique Polaroid Type 55 print
Estimate $2,000 – 3,000
7 Untitled (Rapids), c. 1950s
Unique Polaroid Type 55 print
Estimate $2,000 – 3,000
8 Forest at Patrick’s Point State Park, California, 1959
Unique Polaroid Type 55 print
Estimate $3,000 – 5,000
9 Cement machinery, Crescent City, California, circa 1960
Unique Polaroid Type 55 print
Estimate $1,500 – 2,500
10 Merced River and Snow, Yosemite, 1959
Unique Polaroid Type 55 print
Estimate $5,000 – 7,000
11 Winter Sunrise from Lone Pine, Sierra Nevada, circa 1944
Gelatin silver print, printed 1970s
Estimate $20,000 – 30,000
All photographs courtesy Christie’s Images Limited, 2011
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