Apr 27, 2023 - Sale 2634

Sale 2634 - Lot 75

Price Realized: $ 10,625
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 2,000
EDWARD STEICHEN (1879-1973)
Mine Craters Combres Hill. Silver print, the image measuring 6 1/2x9 1/8 inches (16.5x23.2 cm.), the sheet slightly larger, with Steichen's title in pencil on verso. 1918-19

Provenance: Harry Lunn

Major Edward J. Steichen, who was chief of the Photographic Section of the American Expeditionary Forces from 1917-19, made a series of aerial photographs during WWI, mostly in France. This image appears in an album he assembled after his discharge, held now by the Art Institute Chicago. His caption in the album includes the note "scene of some of bitterest fighting of the war an active sector for four years." The museum notes that these craters still exist today and are nearly 200 feet in diameter. Steichen's handwriting on the verso of this print was authenticated by curator Grace M. Mayer.