Brunk Auctions
Live Auction

Premier Auction | Session II

Fri, Dec 6, 2019 09:00AM EST
Lot 1048

Neil Leifer

Estimate: $18,000 - $22,000

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $25
$100 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $200
$3,000 $250
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
$100,000 $10,000
(American, b. 1942)Muhammed Ali Vs. Cleveland Williams, Houston, Texas, 1966, signed in print, center right, vintage chromogenic print, 34-1/2 x 34-1/2 in.; Lucite box frame, 34-3/4 x 34-3/4 in.I; llustrated: Leifer, Neil. The Best of Leifer. New York: Abbeville Press, 2001, p. 143, also discussed at length on p. 127:  "...--I took  my all time favorite picture at another Ali fight one and a half years later (page 143). Photographers had mounted cameras on the lighting rig about the ring before, only they had pointed them down, from the corners, so that they could capture the fighter's facial expressions...But the Ali-Cleveland Williams fight was in the Astrodome, where for the first time, the rig would be about eighty feet (25m) up...I could get the entire ring in the picture, and that it would be perfectly square.  Ali-Williams is my personal favorite picture..."The signature on this print is apparently placed next to Neil Leifer's image as he leans into the ring at bottom right.  According to the owner, this is the very print that hung in the office of Roone Arledge's office while he was president of ABC Sports.; Provenance: probable gift of the artist to Roone Arledge; interoffice auction at ABC Sports, circa 1979-1980; Private Collection, New York City; the current owner, Private Collection, New York City

Condition

mounted on foam core, probably toning and fading, otherwise in good condition; frame in good condition, one apparent crack at screwhole on upper edge