Irving Penn's Picasso portrait to be snapped up at $80,000?

Heritage Auctions' March 23 Photographs Signature Auction is to star Irving Penn's portrait of Pablo Picasso as its top lot.

Irvine Penn Picasso portrait
A 2008 sale at Christie's spells strong results for Heritage Auctions



Entitled Picasso, Cannes, France and taken in 1957, the gelatine silver print will sell with a $60,000-80,000 estimate. It is part of a limited edition of just 30 copies and is signed, titled and dated in ink by Penn.

The piece also bears a Conde Nast copyright stamp, with "1960" and "Courtesy of Vogue" written in ink. It also bears a limitation stamp reading, "Signed silver prints of this negative not exceeding 30".

A platinum-palladium print of the work, flush mounted on aluminium, sold with an identical valuation through Christie's in 2008 from the collection of Gert Elfering. It made an impressive $133,000 - a 66.2% increase on estimate.

Estimated at $30,000-50,000 is Ansel Adams' Portfolio V, a collection of 10 photographs featuring stunning shots of the American landscape, as is typical of Adams' style. Created in a limited edtion of 110, the photographs date from the early 1930s through to 1960 and have each been signed on the mount recto.

In June 2010, Clearing Winter Storm, a mural-sized depiction of Yosemite National Park sold for $722,000 to set the auction record for Adams' photographs.

Richard Avedon Kennedy Portrait
The print was gifted to a Duane, who did 'hundreds of things' for Mrs Kennedy



Also appearing within the top lots of the sale is Richard Avedon's Kennedy Portrait, taken in 1961. Valued at $15,000-30,000, the print has been signed by the president and Jacqueline Kennedy and is accompanied by a typed letter from the White House that proves its authenticity.

Paul Fraser Collectibles has a fantastic and intimate autographed photo of John F Kennedy with his young children, Caroline and John, which has been signed by all members of the family. It shows the president with his daughter's pony, Macaroni, on the terrace of the White House.

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