Helmut Newton's large format Self-Portrait with Wife and Models 'Vogue' Studios, Paris 1980 (estimate: 70,000-90,000 GBP)

Important and rare post-war works include a photograph by Constatin Brancusi form the series Bird in Space, 1923, which depicts one of the most expensive sculptures ever sold at auction (Christie's New York, 2005). The sale also features an exceptional group of works by Irving Penn, with a rare to the market. Another stellar example is the gelatin silver triptych by Richard Avedon, Andy Warhol and Members of the Factory, New York City, 1959. This piece not only represents the eccentric extravagance of Warhol's studio, but also marks the year in which the artixt adopted a multi-panel technique that, in this case, suggests a reading of the group as a frieze fof classical figures.

Francis Bacon in His Studio, 1960, by Cecil Beaton (estimate: 3,000-5,000 GBP)

A parallel event, the benefit sale of Photographs 1840s to the Present, which will be sold this evening, to raise funds for the new MEDIA SPACE that will open at the Science Museum in London in Spring 2013. "Christies is proud to be entrusted with this important benefit sale to which so many artists, gallerists, dealers and collectors have donated wonderful works. MEDIA SPACE is an inspiring new suite of galleries and performance spaces for independent thinkers, practitioners, pioneers of technology, writers, agenda setters, and young creative professionals on the design spectrum. It is an investment not only in the capital's rich cultural offerings but also a further safeguard of phogographic history -this will be a remarkable venue for exhibitions which draw on national collections, as well as providing a focused centre for the study of creative media", remarked Philippe Garner, Christie's International Head of Photographs. 

Battersea Power Station, 1997, by Jonathan Anderson and Edwin Low (estimate: 7,000-9,000 GBP)

The most valuable individual work of the auction is print 5, from the sold-out edition of 5, of 132nd Ordinary Meeting of the Conference by Luc Delahaye, the recipient of many prestigious awards who has exhibited widely, most recently at Tate Modern in 2011 (estimate: 20,000-30,000 GBP). Having worked for many years for the photographic collective Magnum, Delahaye's large-format photographs explore new ways of representing socio-political events, incidents and situations, specifically from Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.

Henri Matisse, Vence, France, 1944 by Henri Cartier-Bresson (estimate: 6,000-8,000 GBP)

Martha Graham 2, 1931, by Imogen Cunningham (1883-1976), (estimate: 12,000-18,000 GBP)

Hampstead, London, 1945 by Bill Brandt (1904-1983), (estimate: 5,000-7,000 GBP)

Christie's London sale of Photographs, 16th of May at 2.30pm

and Photographs 1840s to the Present Sold to Support the MEDIA SPACE at the Science Museum, 16th of May at 7.30pm

Christie's London, 8 King Street, St James', SW1Y6QT, Public Viewing: 10-16 May

For more information visit: www.christies.com