Photographs

Beloved of TV antiques programmes and of bidders knowing the lots are absolutely fresh to market, there are few phrases to stir the blood at an auction as much as ‘from the attic’.

The photographic archive of Emile Zola (1840-1902) was offered by Artcurial (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on December 4 with over 90% of the 75 lots changing hands.

The famous photographs of Henri Cartier-Bresson are no strangers to salerooms but it is not every day that you find 120 lots being offered from a single-owner collection.

Wiltshire auction house Henry Aldridge & Son (17.5% buyer’s premium) has established a reputation for Titanic memorabilia thanks to two specialist sales a year. Thanks to a lot sold in the November 11 auction, the Devizes firm also has a handy sideline in early photographs of Tibet.

Highlighting the next photographs auction at Doyle, New York, on December 14 is an Ansel Adams Museum Set comprising 75 gelatin silver prints of the most famous images, each with a pencil signature, from the legendary photographer.

Paris, like London, is in full fair swing in the autumn. Once Frieze closed in the UK capital, contemporary art galleries move across the Channel to the French capital for FIAC.

Paris Photo also serves as an opportunity for Paris auction houses to mount their own photo fest. Sales taking place during early November to coincide with the event at the Grand Palais include dedicated auctions at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and various firms at Drouot. Like the fair itself, the material on offer will range from contemporary works by living photographers through to pieces by some of the earliest pioneers.

October is one of two periods each year when New York salerooms put the spotlight on photographs. Here ATG selects highlights ranging from mid-19th century daguerreotypes to works from the 21st century...

Located on the Vistula river in northern Poland, the old city of Torun somehow escaped undamaged from the ravages of the Second World War and is now recognised as one of the country’s national treasures.

This Edwardian postcard, showing a hot-chestnut seller in the City of London, was issued by the Rotary Photographic Company in its London Life series.

ATG’s weekly selection of items on sale at auctions and dealerships.

An exhibition of the photographs of Marilyn Stafford travelled from Lucy Bell Fine Art in East Sussex last weekend to reopen in London’s Art Bermondsey Project Space on Tuesday, June 27.

A clutch of photograph sales is coming up this month in Paris. Among them is Millon and Baron Ribeyre’s two-day auction on June 13 and 16.