Freeman’s“Photographs and Photobooks” auction on September 10 in Philadelphia will be dominated by the Avon Collection, a group of about 90 photographs that made up the beauty company’s corporate photo collection, based on the theme of “beauty through the eyes of of women." It includes work ranging from the 1920s to the 1990s, all by female photographers, including Berenice Abbot, Cindy Sherman, Imogen Cunningham, Sally Mann, and Marina Abramovic.
Among the highest lots from the Avon collection is a photo by Sandy Skoglund, "The Green House" (1990) featuring indigo-colored dogs in a grass-lined interior, estimated at $20,000 to $25,000.
Other top offerings (not from the Avon collection) include David LaChapelle’s arresting image, “Fair Likeness,” (2001), expected to bring $25,000 to $35,000, and Frances Frith’s mammoth plate albumen print, “The Pyramids of Sakkarah from the North East,” estimated at $15,000 to $25,000.
The sale also includes “The Last Sitting,” (1962), a portfolio of 10 prints of Marilyn Monroe taken by photographer Bert Stern just days before her death.
