Joel-Peter Witkin Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Joel-Peter Witkin Art Value Price Guide

Aug. 20, 2026
Twelve Photographs by Joel-Peter Witkin, signed
Est: $1,500 - $2,000
Heading: Author: Witkin, Joel-Peter Title: Twelve Photographs by Joel-Peter Witkin, signed Place Published: New York Publisher:Kevin Begos Date Published: 1993 Description: With 12 photogravures and the poem Under the Maud Moon by Galway Kinnell. 23½x17¾", black calf spine, gray cloth boards printed in black; housed in black cloth drop-spine box. No. 101 of 207 copies. Signed by the artist at the colophon.
PBA Galleries Auctions & Appraisers
Aug. 20, 2026
Joel-Peter Witkin's Bone House signed
Est: $200 - $300
Heading: Author: Witkin, Joel-Peter Title: Joel-Peter Witkin's Bone House signed Place Published: [Santa Fe] Publisher:Twin Palms Publishers Date Published: 1998 Description: Illustrated throughout from photographs by Joel-Peter Witkin. (4to) original green cloth, slipcase with photographic label. One of 5,000 copies. First Trade Edition. Signed by Joel-Peter Witkin across front endpapers.
PBA Galleries Auctions & Appraisers
Jul. 09, 2026
[PHOTOGRAPHY]. [EROTICA]. [WITKIN, Joel-Peter (b. 1939), photographer]. BLAKE, William (1757-1827). Songs of Innocence and Experience. [Brewster, MA:
Est: $150 - $300
[PHOTOGRAPHY]. [EROTICA]. [WITKIN, Joel-Peter (b. 1939), photographer]. BLAKE, William (1757-1827). Songs of Innocence and Experience. [Brewster, MA: Leo and Wolfe, Photography, 2004]. Square large 4to. Illustrated throughout. 171 pp. Publisher's full red loth, pictorial paper label on front board, spine stamped in black, publisher's white cloth box. DELUXE EDITION, #635/915 COPIES SIGNED BY WITKIN (this copy signed on the front endleaves). Witkin's photographs of stylized nudes are a fascination accompaniment to Blake's text.
Potter & Potter Auctions Inc.
Jun. 17, 2026
Joel-Peter Witkin, gelatin silver print, signed
Est: $800 - $1,200
Joel-Peter Witkin (American, b. 1939), "Woman Breastfeeding an Eel", signed and titled verso, edition of 15, incl. scan of original receipt upon sale, 14.5"h x 14"w (image), 24.25"h x 19.25"w (frame)
Millea Bros Ltd
May. 30, 2026
Joel-Peter WITKIN: "Mismatched Love".
Est: $300 - $500
Joel-Peter WITKIN (American, b. 1939): "Mismatched Love". Etching on chine colle on wove paper, 2006. Reference: Lemon/Cvikota, p. 612, JPW-06-10. Edition of 35. Plate from a suite of ten etchings titled "Bourgeoisie in De Nile". Monogrammed in the plate. Published by Landfall Press, with their stamp on the verso. Plate size: 17 3/4 x 12 inches. Sheet size: 24 x 18 inches.
Armstrong Fine Art
May. 30, 2026
Joel-Peter WITKIN: "La Vie".
Est: $300 - $500
Joel-Peter WITKIN (American, b. 1939): "La Vie". Etching on chine colle on wove paper, 2006. Reference: Lemon/Cvikota, p. 612, JPW-06-04. Edition of 35. Plate from a suite of ten etchings titled "Bourgeoisie in De Nile". Monogrammed in the plate. Published by Landfall Press. Plate size: 17 3/4 x 12 inches. Sheet size: 24 x 18 inches.
Armstrong Fine Art
May. 28, 2026
JOEL-PETER WITKIN (*1939)
Est: €3,000 - €3,600
JOEL-PETER WITKIN (*1939) | Mother of the future', 2004 Image size: c. 61 x 50.5 cm English Collage with four gelatin silver prints flush-mounted, in excellent condition. Original wooden frame 73.7 × 84 cm. Signed, titled, dated and edition numbered "1/10" on the reverse. Deutsch Collage mit vier Silbergealtineabzügen kaschiert, in ausgezeichnetem Zustand. Originaler Holzrahmen 73,7 x 84 cm. Rückseitig signiert, betitelt, datiert und Editionsnummer "1/10".
OstLicht Auctions
May. 21, 2026
Witkin, Joel-Peter (b.1939). "Head of a dead man".
Est: €500 - €700
Witkin, Joel-Peter (b.1939). "Head of a dead man". Gelatin silver print, 27,3x33,2 cm. (image size), 40x50 cm. (leaf size), signed "Joel Peter Witkin", titled, "Mexico City, 1990" and "With print to Olivia Jorn(?)" in pencil on verso. = Provenance: the consignor's mother-in-law received the photograph directly from the photographer. She worked together with Witkin during the nineties in Mexico City, where he resided during that time.
Bubb > Kuyper: Auctioneers of Books, Fine Arts & Manuscripts
Apr. 01, 2026
Joel Peter Witkin (1939) - The Sins of Joan Mirò, 1981
Est: €1,800 - €2,500
Vintage gelatin silver print cm 50,2 x 40,2 (cm 37 x 37 picture) | 19.7 x 15.8 in. (14.5 x 14.5 in. picture) Edition 13 of 15 Signed, titled, dated and numbered in pencil on the verso
Finarte
Feb. 26, 2026
JOEL PETER WITKIN. "EVE KNIGHTING DAGUERRE, 2003"
Est: €4,600 - €6,000
JOEL PETER WITKIN (Brooklyn 1939). Gelatin silver print "EVE KNIGHTING DAGUERRE, 2003". Signed, titled, and dated in pencil on the reverse. JOEL PETER WITKIN (Brooklyn 1939). Stampa alla gelatina ai sali d'argento "EVE KNIGHTING DAGUERRE, 2003". Firma, titolo e data a matita sul retro.
Viscontea Casa d'Aste s.r.l.
Feb. 11, 2026
Joel-Peter Witkin - The Bone House 2000
Est: €70 - €140
Joel-Peter Witkin. The Bone House. Santa Fe, Twin Palms Publishers, 2000. Linen bound in sliding box. and Kurt Markus. Boxers. and Tracy Funches and Rob Marriot. Pimpnosis. ans Sally Mann. Immediate Family. and Fhilip-Lorca diCorcia. All bound with dust jacket. (Mint condition). From the Bankrobber collection. (Total 7)
Hessink's
Jan. 20, 2026
JOEL PETER WITKIN (Brooklyn, 1939). "Courbet ir Rejlander's pool, New Mexico," 2005. On gelatin silver, author's proof No. 2. Signed in pencil on the back.
Est: €7,000 - €8,000
JOEL PETER WITKIN (Brooklyn, 1939). "Courbet ir Rejlander's pool, New Mexico," 2005. On gelatin silver, author's proof #2. Signed in pencil on the back. Measurements: 38 x 38 cm. Peter Witkin happens to be one of the most prominent and controversial photographers of our time, famous for his provocative works revolving around death, religion, myth and allegory. During the 1950s he obtained his first camera, using it without any prior training in its use. Already then, one could see in his first captures quite unusual scenes, in which he began to see reflected, concerns and experiences related to his past experiences. The reiteration of scenes in which corpses, transsexuals, dwarfs, hermaphrodites or deformed people are present, is related to an accident he witnessed as a child. His photographs, since then, are generally based on metaphors about life and death, some of them inspired by ancient works of art and religious passages, where he recognizes Giotto as an influence, besides making artistic nods to the works of Goya or El Bosco, making use of the iconography of art history as a scenographic backdrop for his subjects. His main goal is to bring out that hidden side of society in general, that somewhat disturbing side that few ever dare to explore for themselves, many do not even get to know it. Today, his works can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the National Gallery in Washington, DC, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. The artist currently lives and works in Albuquerque, NM.
Setdart Auction House
Jan. 08, 2026
Joel-Peter Witkin's Bone House signed
Est: $200 - $300
Heading: Author: Witkin, Joel-Peter Title: The Bone House Place Published: [Santa Fe] Publisher:Twin Palms Publishers Date Published: 1998 Description: Illustrated throughout from photographs by Joel-Peter Witkin. (4to) original gray cloth, slipcase with photographic label. Second edition. Signed by Joel-Peter Witkin across front endpapers.
PBA Galleries Auctions & Appraisers
Dec. 16, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin. Waiting for de Chirico in the Artist's Section of Purgatory, New Mexico. 1994.
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
Joel-Peter Witkin 1939- Waiting for de Chirico in the Artist's Section of Purgatory, New Mexico. 1994. Toned silver print With Witkin's signature, title, date, and edition notation 6/20 in pencil on verso.
Swann Auction Galleries
Dec. 11, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin, Studio, Berlin
Est: $1,000 - $2,000
Joel-Peter Witkin Studio, Berlin 1998 toned gelatin silver print image: 13.4 h x 14 w in (34 x 36 cm) sheet: 20 h x 16 w in (51 x 41 cm) Signed, dated, numbered and inscribed to verso 'Joel Peter Witkin Studio, Berlin 1998 3/10'. This work is number 3 from the edition of 10. Sold with label from Catherine Edelman Gallery. Provenance: Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago | Private Collection This work will ship from Los Angeles, California.
Los Angeles Modern Auctions
Dec. 11, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin, Still-Life S.F.
Est: $1,500 - $2,000
Joel-Peter Witkin Still-Life S.F. 1984 gelatin silver print image: 14.5 h x 14.75 w in (37 x 37 cm) sheet: 19.875 h x 15.875 w in (50 x 40 cm) Signed, titled, dated and numbered to verso 'Joel-Peter Witkin © Still-Life S.F. 1984 2/15'. This work is number 2 from the edition of 15. This work will ship from Chicago, Illinois.
Los Angeles Modern Auctions
Dec. 02, 2025
JOEL-PETER WITKIN (°1939)
Est: €1,000 - €1,200
Description EN 'John Herring as Flora Photographed with his Lover and Mother, NM', 1992. Silver gelatin print. Description FR 'John Herring as Flora Photographed with his Lover and Mother, NM', 1992. Epreuve à la gélatine argentée. Beschrijving NL 'John Herring as Flora Photographed with his Lover and Mother, NM', 1992. Zilver gelatinedruk.
Bernaerts Auctioneers
Nov. 27, 2025
Witkin, Joel-Peter (b.1939). "Head of a dead man".
Est: €600 - €800
Witkin, Joel-Peter (b.1939). "Head of a dead man". Gelatin silver print, 27,3x33,2 cm. (image size), 40x50 cm. (leaf size), signed "Joel Peter Witkin", titled, "Mexico City, 1990" and "With print to Manuel Angel Hamar(?) Camarillo" in pencil on verso. = Provenance: the consignor's mother-in-law received the photograph directly from the photographer. She worked together with Witkin during the nineties in Mexico City, where he resided during that time.
Bubb > Kuyper: Auctioneers of Books, Fine Arts & Manuscripts
Nov. 27, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin (b.1939) The Arrival of Eve, 1996
Est: £2,000 - £2,500
Silver gelatin print, image size 39 x 31.5cm, sheet size 50.5 x 40.5cm, signed, titled, dated, and editioned 8/20 by the photographer in pencil verso.
Chiswick Auctions
Nov. 27, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin (b.1939) Choice of Outfits for the Agonies of Mary, San Francisco, 1984
Est: £1,200 - £1,600
Toned silver gelatin print, image size 37.2 x 37.5cm, sheet size 50.5x 40.5cm, signed, titled, dated, and editioned 6/15 by the photographer in pencil verso. Framed, frame size 62.5 x 61.5cm. Qty: (1) Provenance:Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, late 1980s
Chiswick Auctions
Nov. 04, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin, Twelve Photographs
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
Joel-Peter Witkin Twelve Photographs 1992-93 photogravure in bound artist's book overall: 23.75 h x 17.75 w in (60 x 45 cm) Signed and numbered to colophon '13/175 Witkin'. This complete set of twelve works with text by Galway Kinnell is number 13 from the edition of 175 published by Kevin Begos Publishing Inc., New York. This work will ship from Lambertville, New Jersey.
Rago Arts and Auction Center
Nov. 04, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin, Canova's Venus Shaun Ariane Montiel
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
Joel-Peter Witkin Canova's Venus Shaun Ariane Montiel 1982 gelatin silver print image: 14.5 h x 14.625 w in (37 x 37 cm) sheet: 19.625 h x 15.875 w in (50 x 40 cm) Signed, titled, dated, numbered and inscribed to verso 'Joel-Peter Witkin Canova's Venus Shaun Ariane Montiel NYC 3/15'. This work is number 13 from the edition of 15. This work will ship from Los Angeles, California.
Rago Arts and Auction Center
Oct. 28, 2025
JOEL PETER WITKIN - Impedimenta
Est: -
JOEL PETER WITKIN Nueva York 1939 Impedimenta. 2002 Edition 1/12 Gelatina de plata Medidas 74 x 75 cm PROCEDENCIA (etiqueta al dorso) Baudoin Lebon Gallery, París Galería Juana de Aizpuru, Madrid Colección particular
Subastas Segre
Oct. 16, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin. The Graces, Los Angeles. 1988.
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
Joel-Peter Witkin 1939- The Graces, Los Angeles. 1988. Unique silver print With Witkin's signature, title, date, notation, and preliminary drawing of the composition in pencil on mount verso.
Swann Auction Galleries
Oct. 15, 2025
JOEL PETER WITKIN (Brooklyn, 1939). "Venus and Eros in Purgatory", New York, 1981. Gelatin silver, edition 9/15. Signed, titled, dated and numbered in pencil on verso.
Est: €3,200 - €3,500
JOEL PETER WITKIN (Brooklyn, 1939). "Venus and Eros in Purgatory", New York, 1981. Gelatin silver, edition 9/15. Signed, titled, dated and numbered in pencil on verso. Provenance: Hasted Hunt Kraeutler, New York. This work was exhibited in the artist's first show in New York at the Pace/Macgill Gallery in the early 1980s. Measurements: 50.8 x 71 cm. Peter Witkin is one of the most prominent and controversial photographers of our time, famous for his provocative works revolving around death, religion, myth and allegory. During the 1950s he obtained his first camera, using it without any prior training in its use. Already then, one could see in his first captures quite unusual scenes, in which he began to see reflected, concerns and experiences related to his past experiences. The reiteration of scenes in which corpses, transsexuals, dwarfs, hermaphrodites or deformed people are present, is related to an accident he witnessed as a child. His photographs, since then, are generally based on metaphors about life and death, some of them inspired by ancient works of art and religious passages, where he recognizes Giotto as an influence, besides making artistic nods to the works of Goya or El Bosco, making use of the iconography of art history as a backdrop for his subjects. His main goal is to bring out that hidden side of society in general, that somewhat disturbing side that few ever dare to explore for themselves, many do not even get to know it. Today, his works can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the National Gallery in Washington, DC, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. The artist currently lives and works in Albuquerque, NM.
Setdart Auction House
Sep. 15, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin (American 1939). Angel of the carrots, 1981/1982.
Est: €1,000 - €1,500
Joel-Peter Witkin (American 1939) Angel of the carrots, 1981/1982 gelatin silver print signed, dated, titled and numbered '6/15' (on the reverse) sheet size 50.2 x 40.2 cm., frame size 53.5 x 50 cm. Condition: Attached to the support with paper tape at the reverse upper edge, otherwise in very good condition. Framed behind glass.
Adams Amsterdam Auctions
Sep. 15, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin (American 1939). The Beautiful Man (Shaun Arianne Monteil), New York, 1982.
Est: €800 - €1,200
Joel-Peter Witkin (American 1939) The Beautiful Man (Shaun Arianne Monteil), New York, 1982 gelatin silver print signed, titled, dated and numbered '2/15' (on the reverse) image size 37 x 37 cm., frame size 69 x 58 cm. Condition: Sheet attached to the support along the reverse upper edge with tape, minor handling nick in the upper right corner, otherwise in very good condition. Framed behind glass.
Adams Amsterdam Auctions
Sep. 15, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin (American 1939). The Bird of Queveda, N.M., 1982.
Est: €1,000 - €1,500
Joel-Peter Witkin (American 1939) The Bird of Queveda, N.M., 1982 gelatin silver print on Agfa signed, dated, titled and numbered 'A.P. #1' (on the reverse) image size 37.1 x 37.4 cm., sheet size 50.4 x 40.3 cm. Condition: Corners slightly bumped, faint handling creases in places, otherwise in very good condition.
Adams Amsterdam Auctions
Sep. 11, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin Heaven or Hell
Est: $200 - $300
Heading: Author: Witkin, Joel-Peter Title: Enfer Ou Ciel / Heaven or Hell Place Published: [Paris] Publisher:Editions de la MartiniÃ¨re / BibliothÃ¨que Nationale de France Date Published: [2012] Description: Illustrated from photographs and facsimile artwork throughout. Text in English and French. (4to) pictorial boards. First Edition. Signed and inscribed by Witkin to Terry [Etherton] on front blank. Volume showcasing Witkin's work alongside images by Goya, Rembrandt, Rops, and others
PBA Galleries Auctions & Appraisers
Jul. 31, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin, Bacchus Amelius, New Mexico
Est: $1,500 - $2,500
Joel-Peter Witkin Bacchus Amelius, New Mexico 1986 vintage gelatin silver print image: 13.875 h x 13.875 w in (35 x 35 cm) sheet: 19.875 h x 15.875 w in (50 x 40 cm) Signed, titled, dated and inscribed to verso 'Joel-Peter Witkin © Bacchus Amelus N.M. 1986 Might print to source'. This work will ship from Lambertville, New Jersey.
Los Angeles Modern Auctions
Jul. 08, 2025
JOEL PETER WITKIN. "EVE KNIGHTING DAGUERRE, 2003"
Est: €4,600 - €6,000
JOEL PETER WITKIN (Brooklyn 1939). Gelatin silver print "EVE KNIGHTING DAGUERRE, 2003". Signed, titled and dated in pencil on the back. JOEL PETER WITKIN (Brooklyn 1939). Stampa alla gelatina ai sali d'argento "EVE KNIGHTING DAGUERRE, 2003". Firma, titolo e data a matita sul retro.
Viscontea Casa d'Aste s.r.l.
Jul. 08, 2025
JOEL PETER WITKIN. "RAPHAEL AND LA FORNARINA, 2003"
Est: €5,200 - €6,800
JOEL PETER WITKIN (Brooklyn 1939). Gelatin silver print applied on cardboard "RAPHAEL AND LA FORNARINA, 2003". Copy 4/12. Signature, title and date in pencil on the back. JOEL PETER WITKIN (Brooklyn 1939). Stampa alla gelatina ai sali d'argento applicata su cartoncino "RAPHAEL AND LA FORNARINA, 2003". Esemplare 4/12. Firma, titolo e data a matita sul retro.
Viscontea Casa d'Aste s.r.l.
May. 22, 2025
Witkin, Joel-Peter (b.1939). "Man with dog".
Est: €1,200 - €1,500
Witkin, Joel-Peter (b.1939). "Man with dog". Gelatin silver print, 33,2x27,3 cm. (image size), 50x40 cm. (leaf size), signed "Joel P Wn", titled, "Mexico City, 1990" and "With print to Martha Hellion" in pencil on verso. = Provenance: the consignor's mother-in-law received the photograph directly from the photographer. She worked together with Witkin during the nineties in Mexico City, where he resided during that time. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE LVIII.
Bubb > Kuyper: Auctioneers of Books, Fine Arts & Manuscripts
May. 22, 2025
Witkin, Joel-Peter (b.1939). "Head of a dead man".
Est: €600 - €800
Witkin, Joel-Peter (b.1939). "Head of a dead man". Gelatin silver print, 27,3x33,2 cm. (image size), 40x50 cm. (leaf size), signed "Joel Peter Witkin", titled, "Mexico City, 1990" and "With print to Martha Hellion" in pencil on verso. = Provenance: the consignor's mother-in-law received the photograph directly from the photographer. She worked together with Witkin during the nineties in Mexico City, where he resided during that time.
Bubb > Kuyper: Auctioneers of Books, Fine Arts & Manuscripts
May. 22, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin (b.1939)
Est: £1,000 - £2,000
Joel-Peter Witkin (b.1939) MASK AND SEVERED GENITALIA AS NETSUKE, NEW MEXICO, 1987. Toned silver gelatin print, image size 37.2 x 38cm, sheet size 50.5x 40.5cm, signed, titled, dated, and editioned 6/15 by the photographer in pencil verso, accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed, titled, dated, and editioned by the photographer. Framed, frame size 62.5 x 61.5cm.
Chiswick Auctions
May. 22, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin (b.1939)
Est: £1,500 - £2,500
Joel-Peter Witkin (b.1939) THE SINS OF JOAN MIRÓ, 1981. Toned silver gelatin print, image size 37 x 37cm, sheet size 50.5 x 40.5cm, signed, titled, dated, and editioned 13/15 by the photographer in pencil verso.
Chiswick Auctions
May. 22, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin (b.1939)
Est: £1,500 - £2,500
Joel-Peter Witkin (b.1939) CHOICE OF OUTFITS FOR THE AGONIES OF MARY, SAN FRANCISCO, 1984. Toned silver gelatin print, image size 37.2 x 37.5cm, sheet size 50.5x 40.5cm, signed, titled, dated, and editioned 6/15 by the photographer in pencil verso. Framed, frame size 62.5 x 61.5cm.
Chiswick Auctions
May. 22, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin (b.1939)
Est: £150 - £250
Joel-Peter Witkin (b.1939) SONGS OF INNOCENCE & EXPERIENCE, 2004. From the special edition of 915 copies, signed by the artist on front end-papers, original red cloth boards with pictorial cover inset, housed in a clamshell box in white cloth. Brewster, MA: 21st Century/Journal of Contemporary Photography, 2004.
Chiswick Auctions
May. 22, 2025
Joel-Peter Witkin (b.1939)
Est: £2,000 - £3,000
Joel-Peter Witkin (b.1939) TWELVE PHOTOGRAPHS, 1993. Elephant folio, complete with 12 bound photogravures on Lana paper, each image measuring 25.5 x 28cm, each sheet measuring 59.8 x 43.8cm, signed and editioned 119/175 by the photographer in pencil on the colophon. Black-stamped grey linen boards with black morocco spine, housed in a black cloth clamshell case with label affixed to spine. New York: Kevin Bogos Publishing, Inc., 1993. Plates include: Head of a Dead Man (Mexico City, 1990); Satiro ( Mexico City, 1992); Three Kinds of Woman (Mexico City, 1992); Un Santo Oscuro (Mexico City, 1987); Still Life (New Mexico, 1992); Las Meninas (New Mexico, 1987); Studio of the Painter (Paris, 1990); Feast of Fools (Mexico City, 1990); Laokoon (New Mexico, 1992); Negre's Fetishist (Paris, 1990); Vanity (New Mexico, 1990); and Man with a Dog (Mexico City, 1990).
Chiswick Auctions
Apr. 11, 2025
JOEL-PETER WITKIN Still life Marseilles
Est: €20,000 - €30,000
Vintage gelatin silver print Cm 78 x 100 Signed, titled and editioned on verso Edition 10/12 Framed (black wood) size cm 107 x 120 x 3,5 Original provenance: Pace McGill Gallery, New York USAOur voyeurism is excited by the severed head. A severed head is a conclusive proof that its owner is irrevocably dead; and in Western cultural history, a severed head probably means a judicial punishment however misplaced, witness Salome’s John the Baptist, Judith’s Holofernes, Elizabeth’s Mary Queen of Scott, Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, Danton, Louis XVI and Marie Antoiette. Charles I was reunited, body and head, in his coffin, whilst the decaying corpse of his enemy, Cromwell, was decapitated and the head exhibited on Tower Bridge and then blackened with soot in a chimney for a hundred years until it was politically safe to exhibit it as a trophy. This could be Cromwell’s head - his features held in a tight smiling grimace, his brain-pan sectioned to examine his revolutionary politics, out of which flowers the lilies of early democracy - my subjectivity on fire here - but that’s the way it goes with Witkin - hints of turgid History revisited and distressed for a surprised viewer to smile, grimace and shudder all at the same time. My local severed head interest is with the case of a certain heroine of Boccaccio and of Keats who put her lover’s head in a pot to furnish a basil plant with nitrogenous energy.But Within knows that there are so many, and so much older, examples. Crevalcore painted my favourite - a Saint Catherine of Alexandria, complete with lachrymose open eyes and evidence of two hacks of the axe.And there is often painted severed head of the Gorgon which is strong precedent here through the example of Caravaggio’s portrait of the same, for here also are Caravaggio’s signature fruit and flowers presented on a shallow table in a shallow space against black. The black and whiteness of the image perhaps gives its subject matter a neutral documentary air and helps to suggest a surreal piquancy of a death on a bourgeois sideboard in the shadow of an afternoon sitting-room. We should not be alarmed. Witkin’s normal vocabulary of distressed surface and damaged patina - as though the print had been left to rot on a highway hard shoulder, or in an undertaker’s dustbin, is here absent - this photograph of a decapitated loved one has come to us safely from the pages of a family album - first cousin Albert, whose body is where it should be in the family tomb, but whose head, via an innocent- enough post mortem investigation, is with us now. May he rest in peace - “Would you like a grape?” .Peter Greenaway© 2000 Photology Editions 100 to 2000 the century of Photoart
Bertolami Fine Art s.r.l.
Dec. 18, 2024
JOEL PETER WITKIN (Brooklyn, 1939). "Impedimenta", 2002. Silver bromide photography. Copy 1/12. With Baudin Lebon label on the back (Paris).
Est: €4,000 - €5,000
JOEL PETER WITKIN (Brooklyn, 1939). "Impedimenta", 2002. Silver bromide photography. Copy 1/12. With Baudin Lebon label on the back (Paris). Measurements: 74 x 77.5 cm; 109 x 113 cm (frame). Peter Witkin, is one of the most outstanding and controversial photographers of our time, famous for his provocative works that revolve around death, religion, myth and allegory. During the 1950s he obtained his first camera, using it without any prior training in its use. Already then, one could see in his first captures quite unusual scenes, in which he began to see reflected, concerns and experiences related to his past experiences. The reiteration of scenes in which corpses, transsexuals, dwarfs, hermaphrodites or deformed people are present, is related to an accident he witnessed as a child. His photographs, since then, are generally based on metaphors about life and death, some of them inspired by ancient works of art and religious passages, where he recognizes Giotto as an influence, besides making artistic nods to the works of Goya or El Bosco, making use of the iconography of art history as a backdrop for his subjects. His main goal is to bring out that hidden side of society in general, that somewhat disturbing side that few ever dare to explore for themselves, many do not even get to know it. Today, his works can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the National Gallery in Washington, DC, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Setdart Auction House
Dec. 12, 2024
Joel-Peter Witkin, Venus and Cupid: The Caucasian View of History, Los Angeles
Est: $1,500 - $2,000
Joel-Peter Witkin Venus and Cupid: The Caucasian View of History, Los Angeles 1987 gelatin silver print image: 15 h x 15 w in (38 x 38 cm) sheet: 19.75 h x 15.875 w in (50 x 40 cm) Signed, titled, dated and numbered to verso 'Joel-Peter Witkin © Venus And Cupid: The Caucasian View Of History Los Angeles 6/15 1987'. This work is number 6 from the edition of 15. This work will ship from Chicago, Illinois.
Los Angeles Modern Auctions
Dec. 03, 2024
Joel Peter Witkin (b. 1939) California
Est: $500 - $2,500
MAN WITH WINGS AND WHEELS, NEW MEXICO, 1979, manipulated gelatin silver print, signed, dated, titled and numbered 7/15 on verso, sheet 20 x 16”, frame 24 ½ x 21 ½” with plexiglass.
Clark's Fine Art & Auctioneers Inc.
Nov. 29, 2024
Joel-Peter Witkin, Apollonia and Dominatrix Creating Pain in the Art of the West, New York City, 1988
Est: €1,500 - €2,000
Signed, dated, titled and editioned in pencil on the verso. Print 11 from an edition of 15.
Kunsthaus Lempertz KG
Nov. 29, 2024
Joel-Peter Witkin, Picasso en los Disparates de Goya, New Mexico, 1987
Est: €1,500 - €2,000
Signed, dated, titled and editioned in pencil on the verso. Print 7 from an edition of 15.
Kunsthaus Lempertz KG
Nov. 21, 2024
Witkin, Joel-Peter (b.1939). "Head of a dead man".
Est: €1,000 - €1,500
Witkin, Joel-Peter (b.1939). "Head of a dead man". Gelatin silver print, 27,3x33,2 cm. (image size), 40x50 cm. (leaf size), signed "Joel Peter Witkin", titled, "Mexico City, 1990" and "With print to Martha Hellion" in pencil on verso.
Bubb > Kuyper: Auctioneers of Books, Fine Arts & Manuscripts
Oct. 08, 2024
Joel-Peter Witkin (Amerikaans, 1939)
Est: €1,000 - €1,500
What if poetry is we see so little, Gemaakt in 2002 in een oplage van 12 exemplaren, zwart-wit foto (tirage argentique), 79x71 cm (met lijst: 115x107 cm), Provenance: Baudoin Libon, Parijs, 457 B60 C6BTMeerdere schatting: 3000-5000,
Venduehuis der Notarissen
Sep. 18, 2024
Joel-Peter Witkin; American 1939-; Venus Genetrix
Est: R30,000 - R50,000
Joel-Peter Witkin American 1939- Venus Genetrix signed, dated April and May 1981 and numbered 1/15 vintage silver gelatin print image size: 37 by 37cm ; 64,5 by 60 by 4cm including frame
Strauss & Co