Feb 13 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2694 -

Sale 2694 - Lot 106

Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
EDWARD STEICHEN (1879-1973)
Vauquois Mine Crater (Argonne Sector). Circa 1918.
Silver print, the image measuring 9x6⅝ inches (22.9x16.8 cm.), the sheet slightly larger, with Steichen's title in pencil on verso.

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, which he assembled in an album 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.