Introduction

Paul Hertzmann & Susan Herzig

Susan Herzig and Paul Hertzmann have more than 35 years experience in buying and selling vintage photographs, books with original photographs, and photographic albums. We are passionate about photography with its unique qualities that delight the eye, the mind, and the heart. We use our knowledge of the art market, connoisseurship, and research skills to acquire photographs that represent the history of photography, concentrating on 20th-century American and European art movements including the Photo-Secession, modernism, f.64, photo-journalism, and post-WWII era innovations.

We are pleased to share with our clients our accumulated knowledge of photographs, their quality, condition, and values. Our clients include many well-known museums, private collectors, and colleagues.

Berenice Abbott: Strobe Photograph of a Bouncing Steel Ball

From our location in San Francisco we have the opportunity to work with important historical photographers of Northern California. We are specialists in Edward Weston and maintain a large inventory of his vintage photographs, as well as those of his contemporaries, Imogen Cunningham, Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and others. Not all photographs in our inventory are on line.

As the history of photography is still being written, we seek overlooked photographers who deserve recognition. After WWII, the California School of Fine Arts initiated the first university level program devoted to fine art photography, with Minor White as head of the department. We have photographs by many photographers from this milieu including Charles Wong, Nata Piaskowski, Bob Hollingsworth, and other graduates of the program.

John Watt Beattie: in Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Co.

Our publications include books and catalogs on individual photographers, including Gertrude Kasebier, William Dassonville, Frank Espada, and Hy Hirsh, and on photographic movements, such as “The Legacy of Minor White.” We publish catalogs on 19th-century albums and 19th-century books containing original photographs. In this digital age, printed publications offer a tangible way to bring photographs and books to life. Click on “Catalogs” on the navigation bar to acquire printed or on-line copies of our publications.

C. Cameron Macauley: Morning Rush Hour, San Francisco

Since 1990 we have been compiling a thorough bibliography and exhibition record of Edward Weston, up to his death in 1958. To date, we have found Weston cited, or his photographs reproduced, in over 2,500 books, catalogues, magazines and newspapers and have documented his appearance in over 425 one-person or group exhibitions. Our research is currently coming to a conclusion and we are editing the massive amount of information found. Since we may lack information on non-English language publications, please send us an email if you know of a reference to a publication or an exhibition outside the United States, prior to 1958.

We are always ready to purchase fine vintage photographs, books, and albums and welcome your offers by email and telephone. Click on “Sell to Us" on the navigation bar.

We are members of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) since 1980 and the Private Art Dealers Association (PADA) since 1991.