Michael Lehr Antiques
Live Auction

Fall Photographic History Auction, 2025

Sat, Sep 6, 2025 01:00PM EDT
  2025-09-06 13:00:00 2025-09-06 13:00:00 America/New_York Michael Lehr Michael Lehr : Fall Photographic History Auction, 2025 https://auction.michaellehrantiques.com/auctions/michael-lehr-antiques/fall-photographic-history-auction-2025-20189
We are pleased to announce our next auction, featuring approximately 200 individual lots drawn from a diverse and compelling range of 19th- and early 20th-century photography. This sale focuses on vernacular images, photographs created not as formal studio portraits or elite commissions, but as direct, unscripted records of lived experience. These are objects made by and for everyday people, preserving moments of intimacy, labor, travel, performance, identity, and loss.
Michael Lehr Antiques info@michaellehrantiques.com
Lot 383

Pictorialist Photogravure by Eva Watson-Schutze "The Rose"

Estimate: $200 - $300
Starting Bid
$100

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $10
$200 $20
$320 $30
$380 $20
$420 $30
$480 $20
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $200
$3,200 $300
$3,800 $200
$4,200 $300
$4,800 $200
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$32,000 $3,000
$38,000 $2,000
$42,000 $3,000
$48,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
$100,000 $10,000
$200,000 $20,000
$320,000 $30,000
$380,000 $20,000
$420,000 $30,000
$480,000 $20,000
$500,000 $50,000
Delicate and evocative halftone print of The Rose by Eva Watson-Schütze, an important American photographer associated with the Pictorialist movement and the Photo-Secession. The image presents a full-length figure of a young woman in an ornate, embroidered gown, holding a long-stemmed rose. Her downcast expression and regal bearing evoke themes of beauty, symbolism, and inner reflection, rendered in soft tonalities that reflect the aesthetic ideals of turn-of-the-century art photography.

Watson-Schütze, one of the few prominent female voices in the Photo-Secession, often explored classical or allegorical themes through carefully staged portraits. The Rose exemplifies her interest in the intersection of photography and fine art, blending painterly composition with photographic realism. The use of halftone printing for this piece suggests it was published in a limited edition or art journal, aimed at connoisseurs of early modern photography.

Images by Watson-Schütze are rarely seen outside institutional collections, and period prints or photogravures such as this are prized for their rarity and for the role they played in legitimizing photography as an expressive medium in the early 20th century.

Available payment options

PayPal

Spend $500 or more at our auction and all of your SHIPPING IS FREE, buyers to pay insurance if they want it.