Bowie and Nan Goldin together at auction

Rare Helmut Newton Bowie contact sheet and signed Nan Goldin artist proof go under the hammer later today

A never before seen Contact Sheet of David Bowie - shot by Helmut Newton in 1983 - is expected to sell for between $20,000 to $30,000 in Heritage Auctions' Photographs Auction in New York today. Only two of the 36 frames on the sheet have ever appeared at auction outside of Newton's studio according to Nigel Russell, Director of Photography at Heritage. 

"This contact sheet represents a rare convergence between two of the world's greatest artistic talents at the height of the careers," Russell said. "By the 1980's Newton was considered one of the world's top fashion photographers and Bowie's album Let's Dance was a critical success and ensured his lasting popularity." 

The photographs were shot in Monaco for Vogue magazine and they have remained in a single-owner collection since 1984. Newton himself preserved the unedited sheet and enlarged it to 48-¼ by 53-¾ inches. "Curiously, it is signed and numbered 1/15, but we know of no others that have ever appeared at auction so we wonder if the edition was ever finished," Russell said.

 

Nan and Brian in Bed, NYC (1983) - Nan Goldin
Nan and Brian in Bed, NYC (1983) - Nan Goldin

Today's auction includes an unusually large group of photographs by many masters of photography, including Ansel Adams, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Edward Weston and Bernice Abbott. An important signed and inscribed artist's proof by Nan Goldin titled Nan and Brian in Bed, NYC, 1983 is also up for auction with an estimate of $25,000-$35,000. Can't stretch to that? Well take a look at our three limited edition Nan Goldin prints all of which are circa $3,000-$4300 here