Houston, TX – Houston Center for Photography announces its largest annual fundraiser, the 26th Anniversary Print Auction. The auction preview and exhibition open on Thursday night, January 17 from 6-8pm and continue through February 13. The auction will take place on Friday, February 15 from 5:30-10pm at the Junior League of Houston, with world-renowned photography specialist Rick Wester as guest auctioneer. Cocktails and silent auction, as well as a live auction preview are from 5:30-7:30pm, buffet dinner will be served from 7:30-8pm, and live auction begins at 8pm. Auction can be previewed online at www.hcponline.org/exhibitions. Absentee bidding welcomed.
This year’s auction includes a very rare, mint condition print by Walker Evans, entitled View of the Brooklyn Bridge, dated 1929. The Brooklyn Bridge was the perfect subject for Evans´ attraction to literature, as this photograph was created as part a body of work that would illustrate his friend Hart Crane’s poetry about the same subject. Other artists include Luis González Palma, Todd Webb, Keith Carter, Chris Jordan, Liliana Porter, Ivan Pinkava and MANUAL, among others.
Each year, HCP holds an annual print auction where artists, galleries, and collectors from all over the world contribute high caliber photographic art that is auctioned for the benefit of HCP’s operating fund. With work included from over 80 artists from around the globe, the selection hosts a catalog of vintage and contemporary fine art prints from both mid-career and established photographic artists collected in both the museum and private sectors. One-hundred percent of the sale proceeds will go directly to HCP for exhibitions, educational initiatives, outreach programs, and HCP’s award winning publication, SPOT magazine.
The Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s photo acquisition support group, Photo Forum, will be hosting a tour of the auction exhibition in the HCP galleries on January 21 from 6-8pm, led by Anne Tucker, the Gus and Lyndall Wortham Curator of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and Clint Willour, Co-chair of the Photography Accessions Sub-committee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. This event is co-sponsored by Photo Forum and is free and open to the public.
(Images left to right): Luis González Palma, Untitled/Reflexions, 1998, 1998, 40 x 40 inches, Digital C-print, Courtesy of the Artist and Schneider Gallery, Chicago. $6,000.Walker Evans, View of the Brooklyn Bridge, 1929, 6 10/16 x 4 9/16 inches, Gelatin silver print, Courtesy of Anonymous Donor. $12,000-$16,000.Blake Fitch, Kate in Red Towel, 1997, 2007, 11 x 17 inches, Digital inkjet print, Courtesy of the Artist. $700.
HCP Events and News
December 6, 6-8pm, Houston. It’s Worth It., book release and party. Start your Christmas shopping at HCP!
Through December 23, Reality Interrupted: The Cinematic Work of the Sanchez Brothers exhibition with Carlos and Jason Sanchez (Montreal, Ontario)
Through December 23, Marking Time: Victoria, TX exhibition with Michele Grinstead (Boulder, CO) and Nancy O’Connor (Houston, TX)
Fall 2007 SPOT Magazine due out soon!
Winter Educational Classes, December – February 2008 Calendar now online