Photograph

An archive of very early photography is to be offered at auction in the US next month.

When astronaut Ed White was pictured during the first US spacewalk it was not only the first still photograph of a human in space, but also the first taken by another human – James McDivitt. Up to that moment all images released were taken by television or monitoring cameras.

Dealer Michael Shapiro’s exhibition of Modernist photography showcases works capturing a fundamental shift in style.

Sporting a distinctive hairstyle and beard that the cataloguer suggested “…would never again be replicated until early 21st-century Brooklyn”, the photograph below was part of a slavery and abolition-themed lot sold for $80,000 (£64,725) in an Americana sale held in New York by Swann (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on September 25.

A Cecil Beaton sketch of Christian Dior working in his studio in Paris sold for £5200 (estimate £500-700) as part of the estate of society dress designer Ian Thomas (1929-93).

Photographica 2019 is a destination for collectors of classic cameras. The fair hosts up to 135 tables for buying, selling and swapping classic and antique cameras from across the country.

One of the most iconic photographic images of war came under the hammer at a recent Westlicht (20% buyer’s premium) auction in Vienna.

An unusual collection of more than 300 blue-toned cyanotypes showing American railroads in the early 1900s is on offer at the third annual London Photograph Fair Special Edition (May 19-20).

Four years in, Photo London is growing and has many of the marks of remaining a popular and respected fair for dealers in both historic and contemporary photography.

Fashion, photography and the art world’s most powerful women...

The photobook genre is almost as old as photography itself and can be collected at all price points, as Bonhams’ Matthew Haley reports.