Famous Fashion Portraits Done by Anni Lebivitz
'Supporting living artists is i of the greatest privileges' — photographs from the collection of Ellen and Dan Shapiro
Every bit 44 of the Shapiros' photographs come to auction in London, Ellen Shapiro shares a passionate collecting journey that began with the acquisition of a Cindy Sherman work in 1985 for 'around $100'
'Collecting photographs is a passion, an addiction,' Ellen Shapiro tells Christie's via Zoom from her Palm Beach residence. 'I don't remember I'm finished yet.'
The American collector, together with her late hubby Dan, has spent more than three decades assembling an encyclopaedic archive of photographs for their homes on both sides of the Atlantic.
'I've admittedly loved living every day with wonderful works of art, every bit well as learning from artists, gallerists and other collectors,' she says. 'I've definitely gained more than I've given.'
'We moved into a cute flat in Eaton Place, but it had no pictures on the walls. And then we started buying new contemporary works almost immediately' — Ellen and Dan Shapiro. Image courtesy of the family
And Shapiro has given a lot. Besides as serving on numerous museum committees, including the Tate'due south Photography Acquisitions Commission, the Photography Council of MoMA and the Photography Committee of the Guggenheim, she has donated coveted photographs by artists close to her centre, among them Zanele Muholi, Nicholas Nixon,Laurie Simmons and Susan Derges. In improver, she has established The Ellen Daniel and Jon Shapiro Acquisition Fund at the State of israel Museum in Jerusalem.
Shapiro now spends her winters in Florida, so the time has come to sell her London domicile. 'It's the end of a affiliate,' she says. 'But I'one thousand ready to move on, and the house and collection become hand in hand.'
Forty-four photographs from her London residence volition be offered in Christie'south Kickoff Open: Mail-War and Contemporary Art Online sale, which runs from 23 February to 9 March, with highlights on show at Christie's London from 9 to sixteen February. The auction includes photographs by Andreas Gursky, Olafur Eliasson and William Eggleston, equally well as standout works by leading female person photographers including Candida Höfer, Annie Leibovitz and Cindy Sherman.
Many of these were acquired in the early 2000s when the Shapiros relocated to London from New York. 'We left our Park Avenue apartment fully furnished, as nosotros thought we'd exist going dorsum later two or 3 years,' Shapiro explains. 'In London, we moved into a beautiful flat on Eaton Place, but it had no pictures on the walls. And then we started buying new contemporary works almost immediately.'
Earlier long, nearly every square inch of wall infinite was filled with pictures. 'I'm non a big believer in storage,' says Shapiro with a smiling. 'If I buy something, I want to live with information technology.'
The living room, for example, was crammed with large-scale landscapes by Höfer, Mosse, Edward Burtynsky and Elger Esser, while in the Boob tube room hung portraits past Leibovitz, Viviane Sassen and Taryn Simon.
'These images worked well together,' Shapiro says of the thematic displays. 'Nosotros were always conscious of how pictures would chronicle to 1 another.'
The burgeoning collection soon attracted the attending of visiting curators, lecturers, museum committees and VIP groups from around the earth. 'I admittedly loved showing our drove to people who shared our interest in photography,' she recalls. 'We'd sometimes take up to 25 people for a tour and luncheon.'
For Shapiro, the collection's unique selling bespeak is its singular focus. 'It is a pure drove of photography, and that makes information technology stronger,' she says. 'But I like variety and get excited by new things, so I will rarely buy more i work by an artist.'
She cites Diane Arbus, Irving Penn, Zanele Muholi and Richard Mosse as exceptions. 'These are among my favourite artists, then I have bought them in depth,' she says. 'Occasionally, I would buy two images to exist hung together, for instance, Elad Lassry and Aleksandra Mir.'
Shapiro can trace back her love for the visual arts to her childhood. 'My parents nerveless seriously,' she recalls, 'and then I was always interested in having art around me.' Fortunately, her husband shared her interest, and later on marrying in 1964 they set about filling their habitation with fine art.
'In the late 1970s and early 1980s, nosotros were somewhat serious about collecting lithographs,' she says. 'Just we brutal out of love with them, partly because I was developing an involvement in photography.'
Manhattan proved fertile footing for this budding passion. 'I went to weekly art gallery classes and started going to auctions,' she recalls. 'The more I discovered, the more I wanted to learn.'
Shapiro'due south kickoff photographic purchase was a Cindy Sherman in 1985. 'I saw it in Metro Pictures in SoHo and bought information technology for around $100,' she says. 'I nevertheless take it. Its value has possibly multiplied more than anything else I own.'
Then came a Robert Mapplethorpe and a slew of black-and-white Modernist pictures by the likes of André Kertész, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams. These works still adorn the walls of her g, high-ceilinged Manhattan apartment.
Past the mid 1990s, however, the collection had changed direction. 'Vintage modern photographs past well-known artists were simply too expensive for us,' Shapiro explains. 'And around that fourth dimension the globe of digital colour photography was opening up. It was then exciting to see these large, colourful, high-resolution images which were affordable and fun.'
The Shapiros soon acquired works by nearly all of the Dusseldorf School, including Gursky, Höfer, Thomas Struth and Thomas Ruff. Too represented in the drove were emerging artists such every bit Gregory Crewdson and Vik Muniz, whom she bought after seeing his work at MoMA.
Was investment e'er at the forefront of their minds? 'I have only e'er bought what I love, simply my husband did meet collecting as an alternative asset,' she says.
The Shapiros developed their eye by attending exhibitions, gallery previews and fine art fairs all around the globe, including Art Basel Miami Embankment, Paris Photo and Photo London, of which Ellen is a founding advisor. 'A lot of my educational activity came from being a constant off-white-goer,' she admits. 'If you spend plenty time at them, you can learn and then much about the artists, galleries and trends in the market.'
She cites the gallerists Howard Greenberg and Edwynn Houk as 'ii big educators' in the field. Internet platforms such every bit Artsy have also enabled her to 'cocky-educate', every bit she puts information technology, and find new talent. 'I experience that supporting living artists is one of the greatest privileges of existence a collector,' she says.
Right now, Shapiro is drawn to the work of African artists who, she says, are approaching 'colour, pattern and overlay in exciting and innovative ways. They tend to exaggerate the reality of a situation. And I like that.' She highlights the Moroccan creative person Hassan Hajjaj every bit a prime instance.
When asked almost her favourite works coming to sale, she immediately pinpoints Zanele Muholi's 2011 portrait from the 'Faces and Phases' series and Blow Up / Fourth dimension Afterward Time (2007) by Ori Gersht (higher up).
So at that place's Annie Leibovitz'south portrait of Queen Elizabeth, caused from Edwynn Houk Gallery at Paris Photo. 'I take been told that Annie was hired past an American "funder" who wanted to commemorate the Queen'south 80th birthday and her related bout of North America,' she says of the widely exhibited epitome. 'The palace sittings are the result. Edwynn told u.s.a. that merely ii in the edition of seven were bachelor to private collectors. And this is one of them.'
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Is she sad to be parting with her London collection? 'These works have go like my children,' she says. 'I'k not certain how I volition manage without them!
'Merely I've just bought a new business firm in Greenwich, Connecticut, so I'm on an empty-walls crusade,' she adds. 'You might see me aggressively pursuing new artists very soon.'
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