Christie’s New York announced the upcoming sale of Photographs on December 13, including works by the world’s preeminent photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Peter Beard, and Irving Penn.

The cover lot, a glamorously cheeky image by Penn, Dorian Leigh and Ray Bolger, Vogue cover, 1946 (pictured above), is personally inscribed by the artist to the model, reflecting their close professional relationship that developed through countless collaborations. This auction will bring the fall 2010 season of Photographs sales to a close, with an aim to attract young and new buyers to the collecting category by offering a wide range of photographs with attractive estimates.

The sale presents an array of themes varying from portraits of artists such as Joan Miro, Max Ernst and Henri Matisse to vast landscapes by Ansel Adams and contemporary works. The auction also features photographs from the collections of The Reader’s Digest Association, which includes works by Elliot Erwitt and Harry Callahan as well as The Baum Family Collection, the Chicago-based photograph pioneers, who collected many historically important vintage black and white photographs by artists such as André Kertész, Helen Levitt and Bill Brandt. The 187-lot auction is expected to realize between $830,000 and $1.2 million.

Highlights from Christie’s New York December 2010 Photographs Sale Include:

Irving Penn (1917-2009) Juliet Auchincloss, 1949 Estimate: $30,000 - 50,000

Irving Penn approached the Auchincloss family to photograph their enchanting child Juliet, after seeing her likeness in a snapshot. Photographed in an austere white dress, the child’s empty expression and haunting blue eyes have been reproduced in many publications, most significantly, in The Family of Man.

Ansel Adams Half-Dome, Merced River Winter, Yosemite, 1938 Estimate: $20,000-30,000

This early image is a spectacular, reverential portrayal of the American West that Adams was so fond of. This vintage print features an exquisite balance of form, lights and darks and offers stupendous accuracy in the details.

Arthur Rothstein (1915-1985) Dust is too much for the son of a farmer in Cimarron Co., Okla., 1933 Estimate: $2,000 - 3,000

From the collection of The Reader’s Digest Association, this powerful image of a young farm boy exhibits the photojournalistic style that the New York native was known for.

Lucy Saroyan (1946-2003) Nick Nolte, 1980s Estimate: $2,000 - 3,000

As an actress and stepdaughter of actor Walter Matthau, Lucy Saroyan’s inside perspective yielded a multitude of intimate portraits of some of Hollywood’s most private celebrities, taken in the 1970s and 80s. Included in this sale are two lots of three Polaroid prints of Nick Nolte and Richard Pryor, which represent well the candid quality of her imagery. Most of her photographs were discovered only after her death in 2003, and have since been shown in many galleries across the U.S. and abroad.

Auction:

Christie’s Photographs December 13, 2010 at 10 am

Viewings:

Christie’s Rockefeller Center Galleries December 10-12