Cathedral of the Pines Box Set and Special Edition Print
Published by Aperture
1st edition, clothbound, hard cover
15 1/2 × 18 inches
76 pages, 31 four-color images

The Backyard, 2013
Digital pigment print
Image Size: 13 1/2 × 18
Paper Size: 15 3/4 × 19 5/8
AP 2/5 from an edition of 20 and 5 Artist’s proofs
Signed and numbered by the artist 

This lot also includes a private dinner for four with the artist at his home — a former church — in the Berkshires

This special limited-edition artwork consists of a clothbound copy of Gregory Crewdson’s monograph Cathedral of the Pines, and a special-edition photograph, The Backyard, 2013.  Both are encased in a specially designed clamshell box Cathedral of the Pines presents Gregory Crewdson’s first new body of work in over five years, and marks a return to Crewdson’s classic style of storytelling via the single image, using light and color to create newly intimate, psychologically charged imagery. This body of work marks a time of transition for the artist, and a retreat from New York to a remote home and studio in western Massachusetts — a period of time during which Crewdson chose to remain socially withdrawn, instead committing to daily, long-distance, open-water swims and cross-country skiing on wooded paths. Cathedral of the Pines is named after one of these trails where he found the inspiration to make these pictures. It was there that he experienced a reconnection with his storytelling craft, and moved into a period of intense creative productivity.

Crewdson, who lives and works in the Berkshires, is Director of Graduate Studies in Photography at the Yale School of Art. His series Beneath the Roses, which took nearly ten years and a crew of over one hundred people to complete (and which was produced partially on a stage set at MASS MoCA as well as other locations in and around the Berkshires), is the subject of the 2012 documentary Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters. His work has been exhibited widely in the United States and Europe, including a survey that toured throughout Europe from 2001 to 2008.  Crewdson’s awards include the Skowhegan Medal for Photography, the National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artists Fellowship, and the Aaron Siskind Fellowship.

Courtesy of the artist

Estimated value: priceless

Please note that this box set (limited to 20 numbered copies), originally valued at $10,000, is sold out.

The October 25 live auction will be conducted by Eric Widing, Deputy Chairman, Christie’s Americas. To place an absentee bid, fill out this form, and email it to Rebecca Wehry at rwehry@massmoca.org by 10am on October 25.