Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/01

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Subject: [Leica] HCB pix auctioned in Berlin etc etc
From: Christer Almqvist <christer@almqvist.net>
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 22:37:47 +0100

I went to the photo auction at Villa Grisebach in Berlin last Friday. This
was quite an experience and on several occasions I was quite scared that I
had inadvertently given off a bid by looking at the auctioneer. They had
ten people taking telephone bids and a lot of agents in the auction room
talking on their mobile phones in foreign languages. In the end, the only
thing I bought was the large and high quality catalogue which is extremely
good value at 30 Marks. (One Mark is just under 50 cents.) There were 400
lots for sale, all  with a picture in the catalouge which gives a fantastic
round-up of photos old and recent. There is a selection of pictures from
the catalogue on http:// www.villa-grisebach.de

The highest price paid was for item 1380 a portrait of Gustav Klimt by
Moritz Nähr that went for over 80 thousand Marks (plus 22% commission and
tax) perhaps partly because it had been signed by Klimt. There were six
Cartier-Bresson prints generally selling for two-three thousand marks each.
Seeing these prints proved to me that not all  pictures taken by HCB are
good, but that some are outright lousy.

I also went to a gallery in the Kantstrasse and was quite surprised to find
very good photos by Avedon that he made in 1994.  After all the guy was
born in 1923, so there is still hope for me and a few of you..

Knowing there are quite a few jewish LUGgers, let me tell you that I went
to the new Jewish Museum (architect Libermann) which is still empty inside,
but where they already now have guided tours due to the great public
interest. During our tour there was a (false) fire alarm with sirens going
off, doors automatically closing and almost total darkness. This added to
what Libermann had intended was almost too much...  Worth visiting also
without the alarm going off.