Ansel Adams, Horst P. Horst, Herb Ritts, all among principal highlights in Nov. 19 auction at the Ukranian Institute of America at the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion.

Robert Mapplethorpe’s shimmering and subtle Shoe (Melody) estimated at $30,000+, is expected to be the top lot in Heritage Auctions’ Nov. 19 Vintage & Contemporary Photography Signature® Auction, taking place at the Ukranian Institute of America at The Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion, 2 East 79th Street (at 5th Ave.).

“Mapplethorpe’s popularity continues to remain strong with collectors,” said Rachel Peart, Consignment Director for Photography at Heritage, “and we expect there will be considerable interest in this particular image, given its rarity, size and the fascination people seem to have with the photographer in the 22 years since his death.”

Two other Mapplethorpe images look likely to figure prominently in the auction, as well: Two Tulips is estimated at $20,000+, while Flower is expected to bring $8,000+.

“We’ve assembled this auction with an eye to diversity of style and taste,” said Ed Jaster, Vice President of Heritage Auctions. “The offerings run the gamut of photographers, eras and styles. Collectors of all level and type will have plenty to keep them entertained.”

Collectors of Modern Photography will find plenty to celebrate in Marilyn Minter’s evocative large scale work, Bridle, 2004, which carries a pre-acution estimate of $30,000+.

Few American photographers can match the ongoing popularity of Ansel Adams and a gelatin print of his Mount Williamson, Sierra Nevada from Manzanar, 1944 – a classic image, much beloved by Adams’ fans – is expected to excite bidder passion to the tune of $20,000+.

The auction’s diversity is amply demonstrated by the contrasting ends of the spectrum as represented by Horst P. Horst’s Corset, Paris, 1939 (Estimate: $14,000+) and Herb Ritt’s 1989 Djimon with Octopus (Estimate: $12,000+), the auction catalog cover lot. Both showcase classic style and luminous technique while sitting at opposite ends of the 20th century continuum of photography.

Popular Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado is represented by five images in the auction, led by his expansive Chinstrap Penguins (Pygoscelis Antarctica), Deception Island, Antarctica, 2005, estimated at $12,000+, while Henri Cartier-Bresson’s  Brussels, 1932, one of six photos by the artist in the auction, is expected to bring $6,000+. Manuel Bravo is another artist well-represented in the auction, with no less than five examples of his work available, led by his lyrical and lovely La Buena Fama Durmiendo (The Good Reputation Sleeping), 1939, estimated at $6,000+.

The top offerings of the Nov. 19 event are rounded out by the great Diane Arbus’s Masked Woman in a Wheelchair, PA, 1970, a gelatin silver print, done in 1972, after the artist’s 1971 suicide, by Neil Selkirk (Estimate: $6,000+) and Annie Leibovitz’s Michael Jordan, 1991 (Estimate: $5,000+), a classic profile image of the great athlete, just one of five offerings by Leibovitz in the event.