A fan paid the equivalent of around £95,000 for the 56 prints of the ‘The Last Sitting’ at the WestLicht Photographica Auction in Vienna.
Commenting on the portraits, captured in Los Angeles, USA, the auction house said: ‘Shortly before her death in 1962, Bert Stern was able to capture the Hollywood diva directly, in close proximity and unselfconsciously.’
The lot consisted of 28 silver-gelatin prints and 28 chromogenic prints, most signed and/or stamped.
At the same auction, one of the earliest Leica M3 cameras, dating from 1954 (pictured below), bowed out for ten times its starting price when it sold for €312,000.
[All photos, courtesy WestLicht Photographica Auction]
