A New Focus: Robert Frank and Irving Penn Lead Heritage’s Oct. 3 Photographs Auction

Significant works by Lise Sarfati, Joel Meyerowitz and others join them on the block DOWNLOAD DIGITAL PRESS KIT DALLAS, Texas (Sept. 18, 2025) — Many times an auction is centered around a specific era, artist or genre within a collection category. But collectors of photography know that it’s only a matter of time before finding another photographer or sub-genre to ignite that art lover’s passion. One starts fascinated by American photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt and then it’s a slippery slope to the studies of American life from Elliott Erwitt or portraits by Arnold Newman. Heritage’s Photographs Signature® Auction on October 3 just so happens to feature significant works by all of those artists and many other luminaries of the form. The auction presents a perfect entry point for a budding photography collector, or a necessary stop-off for an experienced one with a range of lensed interests. In the world of art collectors, Marlene Nathan Meyerson left a stunning mark. She was a Texas-born philanthropist who made lasting contributions to civic and cultural life in Dallas and New York. After years of leadership at museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, her legacy reflects decades of thoughtful, hands-on engagement with the artists and institutions she valued. This auction features 40 exquisite lots from Meyerson’s estate that resoundingly support the notion that a photography collection can be as varied as a person’s moods. “The range is just exceptional,” says Nigel Russell, Heritage’s Director of Photographs. “We’ve got a simply beautiful Nan Goldin skyline, and then an amazing Joel-Peter Witkin presented in a way I’ve never before seen, featuring hand coloring and encaustic treatment. There are even bats in the frame.” Yes, bats. Witkin’s Humor and Fear, New Mexico is presented in a unique, custom-made frame featuring 14 recesses along the perimeter, each containing an encased mummified bat. The Meyerson Collection also offers a selection of emotive Lise Sarfati portraits of women taken in various American states in color-saturated settings; two lots from Kohei Yoshiyuki’s alluring black-and-white The Park series; and several of Lucas Samaras’ vivid prints, which pulse with vitality as they picture un-peopled urban seating. This auction features masterpieces by Irving Penn, an American great, that capture another American great: Jazz aficionados will recognize “The Prince of Darkness” without even seeing his face in Penn’s superb image The Hand of Miles Davis, one of the two vintage portraits of the jazz superstar by Penn on offer. Heritage’s Director of Consignment for Photographs, Laura Paterson, notes the “extraordinary provenance” of the images, as “they were gifts from Irving Penn to Miles Davis himself, who then bequeathed them to his wife, award-winning actor and activist Cicely Tyson.” This auction also features 20 lots by Joel Meyerowitz, to benefit the Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency (JTHAR). “Of the collection, I very much enjoy all of Meyerowitz’s Provincetown and Cape Cod photographs,” says Russell. “Together, they convey that nostalgia, that feeling of an ultimate day of summer vacation. What’s more, he printed a lot on just regular color paper that usually fades over the years, but these have been stored flat in drawers, so the colors are still quite lovely and vivid.” Heritage is honored to be entrusted with this sale and will hold another, Photographs by Bruce Davidson, on October 21 to benefit the JTHAR organization. This auction also includes important photographs by Robert Frank from various private collections. “In fact, this is a world-class selection of Frank images,” says Paterson. Collectors will surely gravitate toward the extremely rare, oversized print of Frank’s Civil Rights-era Charleston, South Carolina. Frank wrote of this image: “It was the first time I was in the South, and the first time I really saw segregation. I found it extraordinary that whites would give their children to black women when they wouldn’t allow the women to sit by them in the drugstore. I did very few pictures that made a political point like this.” Another Frank gem on offer is Barber Shop Through the Screen Door, McClellanville, S.C., a vintage print originally in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Both works are from his groundbreaking 1955-1956 series The Americans. And fans of the Beats will be interested in Frank’s moody 1961 portrait of Jack Kerouac. Boasting more than 500 lots, this is less an auction than a whirlwind photography retrospective spanning decades, genres and personalities, and it’s what any collector hopes for: an opportunity to unleash a new obsession. Find images and information about Heritage’s October 3 Photographs Signature® Auction here. Previews of this auction’s highlights will be on display in Heritage’s New York City location Sept. 17-20. For more information, please go here and scroll down. Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world's largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Heritage also enjoys the highest Online traffic and dollar volume of any auction house on earth (source: SimilarWeb and Hiscox Report). The Internet's most popular auction-house website, HA.com, has more than 2 million registered bidder-members and searchable free archives of 7,000,000 past auction records with prices realized, descriptions and enlargeable photos. Reproduction rights routinely granted to media for photo credit. For breaking stories, follow us: HA.com/Facebook and HA.com/Twitter . Link to this release or view prior press releases . Hi-Res images available: Christina Rees, Director of Communications 214-409-1341; CRees@HA.com