NEW YORK — Seventy years ago, Swann Galleries held the first auction dedicated to photography in the United States. This 1952 auction was astonishingly early for a sale devoted to a medium then just 113 years old and still finding its artistic footing in the marketplace. Seven decades later, however, the landscape for this diverse and innovative medium has grown dramatically. On Thursday, February 10, Swann will hold a sale of Fine Photographs marking this achievement. The specially curated sale will celebrate the history of the market for photography at auction while exploring the medium’s future. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

Early work includes Charles Marville’s circa-1895 Rue des Dechargeurs, de la Rue de Rivoli, estimated at $6,000-$9,000; Carleton Watkins’s The Pavilion on the Stump, Calaveras Grove, 1878–81, estimated at $8,000-$12,000; and Julia Margaret Cameron’s circa-1866 Baby Blossom (Alice Keown), estimated at $15,000-$25,000. Alfred Stieglitz’s 1911 Camera Work Number 36, estimated at $18,000-$22,000, and Edward Curtis’s Three Chiefs, Blackfoot, Mountain, from 1900, estimated at $6,000-$9,000, showcase two early masters of photography as well as the medium’s rise as an art form.

American photography features a run of important Civil Rights imagery by Danny Lyon, including SNCC Staff Sit-In, Atlanta, John Lewis behind Mendy Samstein (+ the Pastries), Stokely Carmichael Standing at Right, 1963-64, together with The Movement, 1969, estimated at $10,000-$15,000, as well as images from Ole Miss, the March on Washington, and James Baldwin in Selma, Alabama. Robert Frank is present with two early masterworks: Cafe, Beaufort, South Carolina, dating to 1955 and estimated at $20,000-$30,000, and Los Angeles, from 1956, estimated at $25,000-$35,000, both from The Americans (which is also available at $1,500-$2,500).  Further documentary photographs include works by Gordon Parks, Dorothea Lange, Lewis W. Hine and Walker Evans, among others.

Also of note from Mid-century American photographers include Ansel Adams’ Oak Tree, Snowstorm, Yosemite Valley from 1948, estimated at $20,000-$30,000, a stunning print seemingly used as the master for his Portfolio I; as well as Robert Adams’s Entry, Methodist Church, Calhan, Colorado, taken in 1966 and printed circa the late 1960s, estimated at $10,000-$15,000. A rare vintage example of Helen Levitt’s dynamic 1940 photograph of boys playing on city streets, New York (Foreign Legion), printed in the 1940s and estimated at $25,000-$35,000 — the cover image to her iconic A Way of Seeing, is on offer alongside Diane Arbus’ Female Impersonator with Jewels, N.Y.C., printed and signed by Arbus 1958-60 and estimated at $25,000-$35,000. The sale lineup also includes works by Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, George A. Tice, Stephen Shore and Margaret Bourke-White.

Contemporary highlights are led by Sally Mann’s Untitled (Self-Portraits), a 2011 triptych of three unique ambrotypes on black glass. Its estimate is $30,000-$45,000. Also of note is Masahisa Fukase’s Nayoro, from The Solitude of Ravens, shot in 1977 and printed 1980s, estimated at $10,000-$15,000; and Carrie Mae Weems’s May Flowers from 2002, estimated at $6,000-$9,000. Further contemporary images include early work by Katy Grannen, color photography by Richard Misrach and Sandy Skoglund, Cindy Sherman self-portraits and more.

Photobooks and portfolios of note include Emmet Gowin’s early book with photographs, Concerning America and Alfred Stieglitz, and Myself, dating to 1963-64 and printed in 1965. It carries an estimate of $8,000-$12,000. Equally compelling is a suite of 10 abstract expressionist photographs by Aaron Siskin taken between 1949-80 and printed circa 1980, estimated at $10,000-$15,000; Berenice Abbott’s Berenice Abbott’s New York, a complete portfolio with 12 of Abbott’s iconic NYC views, estimated at $20,000-$30,000; and Lisette Model’s Twelve Photographs, a complete 1937-46 portfolio with 12 silver prints from an edition of 15 proof copies, printed in 1977 and estimated at $12,000-$18,000.

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