artnet Auctions Presents

Top Pics

Online auction live for bidding now through November 25
A handpicked selection of our most sought-after photographs

For more information about this sale, please contact artnet Auctions specialist:
Miles Barth | Susanna Wenniger | Bree Hughes
artnet Auctions
233 Broadway, 26th Floor, New York
Senior Specialist, Photographs
+1-212-497-9700 ext. 172
Photos@artnet.com
www.artnet.com/auctions

artnet Auctions is pleased to announce Top Pics, a handpicked selection of some of our most sought-after images currently live for bidding. This sale features works by artists such as André Kertész, Andres Serrano, Annie Leibovitz, August Sander, David LaChapelle, Gregory Crewdson, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Horst P. Horst, Joel-Peter Witkin, Nick Brandt, Paul Strand, Peter Beard, Sally Mann, Sebastião Salgado, and Steve McCurry, among others.

Featured here, Night Blooming Cereus (1988) by Sally Mann (American, b.1951) is one of the many photographs that the artist took of her young children during their childhood and adolescent years. In this image, Mann creates a stunning composition in black and white of her daughter, nude on top, with beautifully intricate flowers draped around her neck and chest. The flowers are sharply in focus, while the softness of the little girl’s skin provides a contrast. Mann’s work is characterized by its nostalgic, soft-toned and aged quality, while it brings up the idea of the innocence and fragility of childhood and the inevitable progression toward adulthood.

Another highlight of the sale is Piss Christ (1987) by Andes Serrano (American. b.1950), a photograph that is widely known as intensely controversial since it was first exhibited in 1989, making it one of the most hotly debated works of art ever created in the 20th century. The image was not an isolated moment of transgression, but part of a larger series of submerged objects known as Immersions. Ever intrigued by bodily fluids, such as urine, blood, semen, and milk, Serrano took his art into dangerous territory by submerging a small wood and plastic crucifix in a translucent container containing his own urine. He then photographed the scene, cropping out the container. The resulting image is one that is illuminated by a soft light from the top right that makes visible the wooden cross and body of Jesus Christ. The debate over the photograph centered on the religious, political, and artistic characteristics inherent in the work. The disparity between its appearance and its subject contributes to the controversy and its continuing cultural importance. Either sacrilegious in content, or an image of devout meditation, Piss Christ remains a photograph that is hard to forget.

Top Pics is live for bidding on artnet Auctions now through November 25.

Register to bid on artnet Auctions: www.artnet.com/auctions/register-to-bid