Episode 24: A Conversation with Denise Bethel, Part I
For this episode, I sat down with Denise Bethel to discuss the first part of her education and first jobs, including the incredible 10 years she worked at Swann Auction Galleries.
Denise is originally from Virginia. She did her undergraduate degree at Hollins College, in Roanoke and in 1973 she headed to London to study 19th Century British Painting at The Courtauld Institute of Art. Back in the United States, she worked as the Curator of The Poe Foundation in Richmond, Virginia from 1975-79. She joined Swann Galleries in 1980. Swann had started a Photographs department in 1976, but she was responsible for the major changes in handling Photographs throughout her decade there.
Some individuals that were influential in the market at that time were David Margolis, cataloguer at Swann in the 1970s (and for Denise’s first few sales at Swann) and Edwin Halbmeier, Senior Cataloguer in the Book department, who was responsible for the important 1952 auction of the first American auction dedicated to Photographs: A Panoramic History of the Art of Photography as Applied to Book Illustration From Its Inception Up To Date: The Important Collection of the Late Albert E. Marshall of Providence, R. I.
The First Complete Auction of Photographica in America
Sources Denise used for references at the time included American Book Prices Current and The Photograph Collector.
In 1985, she handled books from the Estate of Lee Witkin, including an extra illustrated edition of Henry James’ A Little Tour of France with platinum prints by Frederick Evans for $30,000 (hammer). That fall, she sold a circa 1851 daguerreotype of Mathew Brady, his wife, Juliet ‘Julia’ Brady and Ellen Brady Haggerty for $54,000 (hammer) to the National Gallery. Those were the top lots for 1985 for any auction house.
Scan from the November 14, 1985 auction catalogue
70 years ago Swann held the first-ever photography auction in the United States. Panalists include Deborah Rogal, Director of Photographs at Swann, Denise Bethel, and Daile Kaplan. This special program occurred on February 7, 2022.
