The specialist's choice – Karin Aringer lists favourites among the photography section
Contemporary Art & Design - focus on contemporary art
We have spoken to Karin Aringer, Specialist Photographs and Contemporary Art. Read about her point of view on the selection in this season's Contemporary Art & Design before the auction 10 November. Also, explore some of Karin's personal favourites.
This auction presents an unusually large and international department of photography including around 150 photographs. Nearly 60 photographs belong to Karin & Lars Halls collection, a collection of photographs in which we are very honoured to have in our upcoming auction. Lars Hall (1938-2018) was a prominent art-director and considered a legend in the advertising industry. Lars Hall managed the photo gallery Camera Obscura in collaboration with Lennart Durehed amongst others. The collection includes an extended selection of images of well-known international photographers such as Penn, Boubat, Lartigue, Sander, Kertész and Atget. Regarding the auction of contemporary art, I am very excited to sell Banky´s “Girl with Balloon” since there is a great demand for this specific work across the world.
If you want to collect contemporary art, what advice would give?
Works on paper, such as drawings, watercolours, collages and graphics, usually cost less than, for example, an oil painting on canvas, so this can be a good start. Another good entry to the art collection is photography. Swedish classic photography is very affordable in relation to quality. These are photographs taken with an analogue camera, developed by hand in a dark room, usually by the photographer himself, it is a craft that not many people master today. Images developed by hand are never exactly the same, which gives a vivid impression that I like a lot. In this category, I can recommend Tuija Lindström, Lennart Olson, Hans Hammarskiöld and Gunnar Smoliansky, among others. Remember to buy pictures that are signed by the photographer and feel free to inquire about the edition and technology before you buy.
What makes contemporary art interesting to you?
Contemporary art describes the time we are in and the society around us. Contemporary art is in many ways freer and less governed by rules and materials, therefore there are a large number of techniques and approaches for artists to use, which contributes to the fact that within this genre there is an enormous breadth and great opportunities to find something that you are addressed by. Personally, I feel a stronger connection aesthetically to forms of expression and works of a later date, it usually works from the 1960s onwards that give me the greatest aha experience and can give me a new view of society or life's issues.
August Sander, "Sekretärin beim Westdeutschen Rundfunk in Köln (Secretary at West German Radio in Cologne)"
This is one of August Sander's most famous portraits and part of his monumental project "People of the Twentieth Century (Menschen des 20. Jahrhunderts)". The project consists of over 40,000 images, where he portrays the German population. The woman in the picture; her posture, the cigarette, the dress and the hairstyle personify for me the image of the European avant-garde of the 1920s and 30s. I become curious about who she is and what her life looked like at the time of the photoshoot.
To ”Sekretärin beim Westdeutschen Rundfunk in Köln”
Charles Jones (1866-1959), "Potato Midlothian Early, Ote Hall, Sussex", 1900-1902.
Charles Jones' story is so exciting. He was a gardener in Sussex, England, known for growing fine vegetables at Ote Hall, among other places. He was also interested in photography and in that way he documented his crops. Until the 1980s, when a person by chance found them in a bag at a market, his pictures had never been shown in public (barely his own family knew them). He was far ahead of his time in depicting flowers and vegetables in this way.
**[To "Potato Midlothian Early, Ote Hall, Sussex"](https://www.bukowskis.com/sv/auctions/626/350-charles-jones-seeding-pansies-1900-1902)**
Hans Hammarskiöld, "Spanska ridskolan", 1952
This must be Hammarskiöld's most famous picture, taken in Hovstallet in Stockholm. It is incredibly appreciated, which is easy to understand. If you collect Swedish photography, you must have this motif in your collection. Here the photographer shows how important it is to press the shutter button at exactly the right second. He manages to capture the lightness of the horse's movement, how it proudly flies through the air.
**[To ”Spanska ridskolan”](/auctions/626/253-hans-hammarskiold-spanska-ridskolan-1952)**
