On March 18, Phillips New York will auction landmarks from the collection of photographers’ most trusted printers Guy Stricherz and Irene Malli. With expertise in dye transfer, Stricherz and Malli played a crucial role in Eggleston’s pioneering exploration of color, pushing the medium to its full potential for performance.
Color vision: Master prints it out from Guy Stricherz and Irene Malli, the first in a series of auctions in the Master Printer series that will unfold in 2025. Later sales from June to the rest of the year will showcase the work of other photographers with whom they have worked for years.
Leading the auction is Egerston’s monumental portfolio Los AlamosThis is the final work of his final work from 1965 to 1974. The series consists of 101 photos, reflecting his unremitting pursuit of the potential of color in photography. It comes from Eggleston’s journey through the southern United States (his hometown), a typical moment of life and identity in the region, his next-hand writer and curator Walter Hopps, capturing in that era.
After the sale announcement, when observers contacted Guy Stricherz and Irene Malli, the printing factory master said Los Alamos It’s one of the most challenging projects they’ve ever worked on. “For this project, Eggston used various types of color negative films. This required us to make special separation positives. Each group of separation positives took a full day to make and require special treatments.”
It is worth noting that the portfolio offered in the sale will be a comprehensive and complete collection of the first great series ever auctioned. Other collections of 75 photos are held in the collection of major institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Ludwig Museum in Cologne.
Although Eggleston followed the footsteps of American documentary photographers like Robert Frank and Walker Evans, he also has the inherent ability to capture Henri Cartier-Bresson famously described as “a moment of decisiveness (Le Moment Décisif). “His works often center on ordinary and seemingly accidental elements, which extract the essence of the entire life experience, that is, gradually blending visual and emotional elements into a short and profound moment.
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More importantly, Eggleston was a pioneer in elevating color photography into a serious art medium. At a time when black and white photography was still the main standard of fine art, color was still largely downgraded to commercial or amateur uses – Egleston’s work caused the shift in the earthquake. His embrace of rich saturation and tonal depth shows how color is more than just a technical choice. It is a powerful artistic tool that evokes psychological depth and narrative complexity.
Dye transfer techniques help further promote these expression possibilities. “Eggleston’s experience in dye transfer can be traced back over 50 years, and he prefers rich, vibrant and tonal presentation in prints, which allows him to see the visual experience of what he sees in the observer and creates kodachrome transparency in it.”. “Using the analogy to music, the movie from the camera is the score and the print is his performance.”
One of the batches of goods for sale, Sevenis a collection of some of the largest dye transfer prints of Eggleston’s most iconic images. These include pictures of the legend Memphis (tricycle) (1969), the low-angle lens of its tricycle exudes the existence of a burning motorcycle. Greenwood, Mississippi (red ceiling) (1973), due to the intensity and saturation of its color poses extreme technical challenges. Eggleston is determined to enhance these qualities as central expression elements in the final printing, a feat that can only be achieved through the dye transfer process – combined with the superb precision of Stricherz and Malli. “This photo was like a Bach practice for me because I knew red was the hardest color,” Eggston famously recalled Greenwood, Mississippi (red ceiling). The two pieces were auctioned and major sales estimates were made: Memphis (tricycle) Priced at $300,000-500,000 Greenwood, Mississippi (red ceiling) $250,000-350,000.
The timing of the sale for Egerston Market was especially accidental, following his recent auction record of $1.44 million, which was set in Christie’s New York last November. Untitled, c. 1971-1974 (2012). The estimate of the result has more than doubled, up 40% from the artist’s previous auction record, and won Christie’s auction record in 2008. Especially the recorded photos are also from famous photos Los Alamos series.
David Zwirner recently followed Eggleston’s momentum, who just closed a major exhibition dedicated to dye transfer prints at his Los Angeles gallery. The show, the last important work produced by Eggleston, made using the method, offers a rare opportunity to see the photos were originally intended. The exhibition, in turn, demonstrates the exceptionalism of these complete dye transfer kits, now heading to Phillips Auction.
Helps in using colors in fine art photography
Stricherz and Malli build their reputation as master printers through their expertise in dye transfer technology. “Our goal as a fine art printer has always been to explain the vision of every photographer we work with,” they said.
Their meticulous control of each stage of the printing process, from color separation to final printing, leads to not only visually stunning works, but also performs very high and archive-stable. Vanessa Hallett, vice chairman and global photo head, told Observer, “Egerston himself has recognized them as the best printer he has ever produced, which emphasizes their expertise.”.
Working with some of the most important contemporary photographers, the duo pushes dye transfer technology to new color vitality, saturation and nuances that adapt it to each artist’s specific horizon. “The vast majority of the works we print are from colored transparent films,” they said. “In most cases, photographers are looking for a faithful explanation of the transparency of the print form, although each photographer has a unique view of their faithful explanation.”
Throughout the printing process, Stricherz and Malli worked closely with photographers like Eggleston to ensure that the final image accurately reflects the artist’s original vision. “When printing for photographers, we first discussed with them each image and what they would like to print the image tone and color and any special treatment for the local area,” they said. “We then made a series of proof prints and after watching these prints with the photographer, we chose the main print, which became the standard for that version.”
But photography, as a medium, is inherently associated with its technology, evolves with advances in devices and processes – its surviving examples become more valuable when the method is out of date. This is the case with Eggleston’s dye transfer prints. Since Kodak stopped the production of dye transfer materials in 1994, there were no new works to be produced in the process. As a result, the deal represents a rare and final opportunity to acquire Egerston’s photos in a format that defines his revolutionary color approach.
