UNITED STATES 25-27 Mar 2010 Hollywood vintage glamor photography auctioned

Profiles in History bills its March auction in Calabasas, California, as the "world's largest" collection of original vintage glamour photography. It includes iconic photographs and art prints of yesterday's and today's Hollywood stars by Richard Avedon, Robert Mapplethorpe, George Hurrell, Man Ray, Herb Ritz, Harry Langdon, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and others. The stars include Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, Angelina Jolie (at 15), Halle Berry, Cher, George Clooney and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The auctioneers are also accepting bids online.

Owned by Michael H. Epstein and Scott E. Schwimer, the collection contains tens of thousands of the photographs and art prints. Hurrell's portrait of Jean Harlow on a white bearskin rug created for Vanity Fair magazine is listed as one of the main attractions of the auction. The original camera negative, as well as a custom print of the photograph is regarded as Hurrell's most important portrait and is estimated to sell for US $20,000-plus.

There are dozens of rare prints of some of Hollywood subjects, Marlene Dietrich by Edward Steichen, and Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Rita Hayworth, Rock Hudson and Johnny Weissmuller from Tarzan. Recent subjects include Drew Barrymore, Kirsten Dunst, Teri Hatcher, Kelly Klein and Sarah Jessica Parker.