By Intelligent Collector Staff | September 18, 2025
Heritage Auctions’ Oct. 3 Photographs sale brings together more than 500 lots spanning portraiture, documentary photography and contemporary work, with significant examples by Irving Penn, Robert Frank, Nan Goldin and others.
Among its most personal works is Irving Penn’s The Hand of Miles Davis, New York from 1986. The selenium-toned gelatin silver print was a gift from Penn to Davis and later descended to the musician’s wife, actress and activist Cicely Tyson, giving the photograph a direct connection to both its maker and subject.
Robert Frank’s Barber Shop Through the Screen Door, McClellanville, S.C. comes from his landmark The Americans project. The print has provenance to Pace/MacGill Gallery and The Metropolitan Museum of Art and has appeared in numerous publications and exhibitions devoted to Frank’s work.
The Marlene Meyerson estate contributes a different strand of collecting. Nan Goldin’s Skyline from my Window from 1999 reflects the collector and philanthropist’s interest in contemporary photography. Joel-Peter Witkin’s Humor and Fear, New Mexico pushes the medium toward constructed and highly individualized presentation.
Photography collecting requires attention not only to the image but to printing date, process, edition, signatures and provenance. Two prints of the same photograph may occupy very different positions in the market.
With material ranging from historically important documentary images to artist-gifted prints and contemporary photography, Heritage Auctions can be the best place to buy fine art for collectors who want those distinctions clearly documented before they bid.
Source: Heritage Auctions press release, “A New Focus: Robert Frank and Irving Penn Lead Heritage’s Oct. 3 Photographs Auction” (September 18, 2025).