HIGHLIGHTS

OF THE UPCOMING OSTLICHT PHOTO AUCTION IN VIENNA, 21 NOVEMBER 2025

JULIA MARGARET CAMERON (1815–1879)
Julia Jackson, Great Britain 1867

Julia Margaret Cameron

Starting price: € 50,000 

Albumen print 25 x 20 cm, mounted on original card board, there signed "Julia Margaret Cameron", titled "Julia." and annotated "From life" by the photographer in ink, also blind stamped by "COLNAGHI. 14 Pall Mall East".

Portrait of the later mother of Virginia Woolf, who perfectly embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty of the time, taken by one of the most important pioneers of artistic photography. Cameron is famous for her effective use of blurring and strong contrasts of light, which gave her portraits an unmistakable expression, the print is an exceptionally rare collector's item.

RUDOLF KOPPITZ (1884–1936)  
Movement Study, Vienna 1925

Rudolf Koppitz

Starting price: € 4,000

Vintage silver print, c. 13 x 10 cm image size, printed in the 1930s on postcard paper. Photographer's blindstamp and his handwritten title "Bewegungs-Studie" in pencil in the lower margin, his studio stamp and copyright remark imprinted on the reverse.

Koppitz's most famous work and a perfect example of his preference for compositional clarity, following the tradition of Symbolism and Art Nouveau, also reflecting the modernist ambitions of the Secession and the Wiener Werkstätte.

JAROSLAV RÖSSLER (1902–1990)
Portfolio 'Jaroslav Rössler 2001' (12 prints), 1923–1963
Jaroslav Rössler

Starting price: € 10,000 

Black linen folding case with 12 gelatin silver prints, c. 20 x 20 cm image size, printed in 2001 from the original negatives and signed by Sylva Rösslerová-Vitová, in an edition of 15, with copyright stamp and handwritten edition number "6/15". Depicted here is "The Ship, 1923".

Rössler was a pioneer of modernist abstraction and a formative figure not only in the Czech avant-garde, particularly appreciated for his photograms and photomontages. The portfolio contains a representative selection of his most renowned poetic, and perfectly executed compositions, including the important self-portrait from 1929.

HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON (1908–2004)
Behind Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris 1932

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Starting price: € 18,000 

Gelatin silver print, c. 55 x 39 cm image size, exhibition print from c. 1960 with the photographer's stamp on the reverse.

Rare, large format, early and authorized exhibition print. In the year Cartier-Bresson began working with the Leica, he took his legendary "puddle jumper" behind the Saint-Lazare station in Paris and thus created a paradigmatic example of his photographic approach, as he explained it only twenty years later in his influential photo-book "Images a la Sauvette" (The decisive Moment).

 JULIO BELLO (*1947)
Ernesto Che Guevara, Havana 1959
JULIO BELLO

Starting price: € 3,000 

Vintage silver print, c. 24 x 18 cm image size. Che Guevara's handwritten dedication to the family of Regino Boti in the image and rare photographer's stamp on the reverse, enclosed certificate of authenticity on the autograph.

Che's dedication to the family of Harvard-educated economist Regino Boti, minister in the first cabinet of Cuba's revolutionary government, is itself a rare autograph. The portrait is reminiscent of Alberto Korda's icon taken c. four months later, which only got popular after Che's death in 1967 – while Bello's portrait was already very popular at the time it was taken, although his authorship rarely is proofed, as in this case.

THOMAS HOEPKER (1936–2024)
Muhammad Ali demonstrating his right punch, Chicago 1966

Thomas Hoepker

Starting price: € 8,000 

Vintage silver print, c. 27 x 21 cm image size, signed by the photographer and handwritten negative number in pencil, two "Magnum Photos Inc." copyright labels with typographic credit, title and date, and several numerical and other notations on the reverse.

Thomas Hoepker's iconic photograph of legendary heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali showing off his right fist captures both the man and the myth. As a vintage print whose signs of wear attest to the significance of the motif, this frequently published image is a rare collector's item.

SAM HASKINS (1926–2009)
Front cover motif from 'Haskins posters', 1971

Sam Haskins

Starting price: € 3,400 

Archival ink jet print, c. 49 x 27 cm image size, printed in 2008 and signed by the artist in the margin, estate stamp and handwritten Print Identification no. "82585" in pencil, signed by the artist in ink on the reverse; enclosed certificate with technical explanations by the estate archive, signed by Ludwig Haskins.

The award-winning photo book "Haskins Posters" with 31 removable posters based on particularly impressive photographs and designs by Sam Haskins shows the motif offered here on the front cover. The print was produced in outstanding quality under the supervision of the photographer and is a special rarity.

WILLIAM WEGMAN (*1943)
Untitled, 1988

William Wegman

Starting price: € 9,000 

Polaroid 77 x 56 cm, unique Polacolor 20 x 24 inch. Signed and dated in the lower margin, former Polaroid Coll. no. "88:789:45" on the reverse.

Wegman was one of the first artists invited by the Polaroid Corporation to use their newly developed 20x24 inch camera. The ironic stagings in large format, which he created in series from then on with his Weimaraner dogs, made him one of the most famous representatives of post-modern photography. Prints of the brilliant and sustainable Polacolor filmmaterial, only produced until 2007, are valuable unique items.

NOBUYOSHI ARAKI (*1940)
Tokyo Comedy, from the series 'River Between
Life and Death', 1997

Nobuyoshi Araki

Starting price: € 11,000 

Gelatin silver print, c. 76 x 99 cm image size, in brown wooden frame with museum glass 103 x 125.4 cm. Signed by the photographer in pencil on the reverse.

The exceptionally large-format print in high-quality framing comes directly from the artist's studio and is a special collector's item.

 

 

REN HANG (1987–2017)
Untitled, China 2010s

Ren Hang

Starting price: € 9,000 

Chromogenic print on Alu-Dibond, in original wooden frame with museum glass 68,5 x 101,3 cm. Signed, annotated with image dimensions "100x67 cm" and numbered "1/10" in felt-tip pen on a label on the reverse.

Ren Hang's analogue photographs, taken with a simple 35mm film camera, tell of relationships and friendships or of fear and loneliness. In unusual arrangements and poses, nude women and men appear as something abstract, sculpturally formable. At once provocative and aesthetic, humorous and poetic, the artist reflected China's urban youth culture, which yearns for individual freedom and ideological liberty.