| | | Auction Results
Spring 2008 - New York
Report analysis compiled by
Brian Appel
Sotheby’s
"The Quillan Collection of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Photographs" at Sotheby’s, a single-owner sale with roughly 70 pictures, kicked off the spring 2008 season with an $8.9 million payday easily surpassing pre-sale estimates of $4.5 to $7 million. Defying recent economic jitters, the sixty-three lots that were sold – each by a different photographer – produced 18 world auction records for their
artists.
A rare and exquisitely rendered vintage print by Edward Weston entitled "Nude" from 1925, took the top spot at the house ($1,609,000) easily trumping his previous Oct. 15, 2007 world auction record of $1,105,000 for "Nautilus", 1927. Measuring just 5 1/8 by 9 1/4 inches, the gelatin silver print set the bar as the most expensive photograph at auction this spring. Framed so that the figure has no recognizable identity, the image has a timeless, formal simplicity that suggests a poetic rendering of a cloud formation in the sky.
Also from 1925, a vintage print portrait by Paul Strand of his wife Rebecca Salisbury shattered another artist auction record at $646,000. It was the second highest lot of the sale (and the season). Taken with a large format 8 by 10 inch camera, the meticulously crafted contact-printed image on platinum paper succeeds in "… coalescing completely his art and his intimate life…".
"Werkstudenten", an early August Sander print that was included in his seminal publication the "Antlitz der Zeit" ("Face of Time") depicting the photographer’s son Erich and his friends – all of whom were political radicals and dedicated members of the Communist party – fetched $493,000, and a very rare, early print by Richard Avedon revealing the "real" Marilyn Monroe as sad seductress, almost quadrupled its high pre-sale estimate with a $457,000 payday.
New world auction records were also struck by Hans Bellmer ($325,000), Laszlo Moholy-Nagy ($301,000), Bill Brandt ($265,000) and both Edward S. Curtis and Henry Peach Robinson with $169,000.
Cindy Sherman’s 8 by 10 inch "Untitled (Film Still #53)" from 1980, no. 3 in an edition of 10, tripled its high estimate ($90,000) landing at $313,000. The last time the artist’s #53 was offered up at auction (November, 1998) it took home $34,000 with a $35,000-$45,000 pre-sale estimate.
Unusual in size, Robert Frank’s 12 ½ by 18 5/8 inch elegiac image of an African American in white robes with Bible and staff, kneeling in prayer ("Mississippi River") from his seminal series "The Americans", 1955-1956, easily doubled its high estimate with a very strong $205,000. This was the first time it has come to auction in N.Y. in at least a decade.
Sotheby’s "Edward Weston’s Gifts to His Sister and Other Photographs", followed the Quillan Collection the next morning with more than 40 Edward Weston photographs that had remained with descendants of the family since their making. The sale achieved just over $1.5 million (est. $900,000 to $1.4 million) with his 1936 classic "Nude on the Sand, Oceano" taking the top lot at $325,000.
"A Family On the Lawn One Sunday in Westchester, N.Y." from 1968, a rare vintage Diane Arbus print, with deep, inky blacks and sparkling whites, was the star of the Sotheby’s various owners "Photographs" sale, setting a new world auction record at $553,000. Only five early prints of this image have been offered at auction before and only two are signed by the artist making this print particularly sought after. A Neil Selkirk "printed later" version of the same image (numbered ‘36/50’) sold two days later at Christie’s (from the collection of Bruce and Nancy Berman) for $91,000.
Placing these two lots into a market
perspective, another vintage print of this Arbus
image (1968 exposure - printed between 1968 and
1970) was sold at Sotheby’s, New York on April
27th, 2004 at the "Important
Photographs from a Private Collection" sale (lot
#12) realizing $176,000. The Berman consigned
Neil Selkirk print (ed.: ‘36/50’) was purchased
on Oct. 6th, 1995 at Christie’s, N.Y.
for $4,830 (est.: $1,800-$2,200).
Southworth & Hawes’, "Portrait of Samuel
Appleton", a half-plate daguerreotype exposed
indoors with available light was a surprise at
the block – the second highest lot of the sale,
it reached $409,000. The circa 1850 image
measuring only four inches across had an
$80,000-$90,000 estimate.
Paul Outerbridge’s 1938 "Kandinsky", a color
carbo print owing a compositional debt to its
namesake, took home $241,000 – it was last sold
at auction at Christie’s, N.Y., on the 17th
of April, 1997 for just over $48,000.
Christie’s
Christie’s spring season offered the greatest
breadth and scope of photographic material to
the market with 412 print lots sold as compared
to 274 at Sotheby’s and 154 at Phillips de Pury
& Company. Print sales grossed just over $15
million as compared to Sotheby’s $17.3 million
but adding their first sale dedicated to a
single owner’s commitment to the history of the
photographic book (183 lots sold) their gross
sales topped $17.6 million.
"Photographs from the Collection of Gert
Elfering" jump started the print auction sales
at Christie’s with Helmut Newton’s surreal
diptych "Sie Kommen (Naked and Dressed)" from
1981 taking the top spot. Welding portraiture,
fashion and the erotic, it landed at $241,000.
It performed strongly against a pre-sale
low/high estimate of $140,000-$180,000.
Two stage-managed photographs from Irving Penn –
"Mouth for L’Oreal, N.Y., 1986" ($205,000), and
"Gisele, New York, April 1 1999" ($193,000) took
the 2nd and 3rd spots with
an early print of Richard Avedon’s "Bridget
Bardot" (exposed in 1959) landing at 4th
with $181,000.
This was Gert Elfering’s third successful sale
at Christie’s. His 135 lots offered, 114 lots
sold, brought in a very healthy $4.3 million.
Two previous efforts – "20th Century
Photographs" in the fall of 2005 and "Horst"
from the spring of last year – generated $9.7
million in print sales.
Mr. Elfering, a savvy collector with a great eye
for the acquisition of under-valued great
masters of fashion and sophistication, put
together a sale that generated the largest
contingency of press I’ve ever seen at a
photographic preview. By my count there were
eleven press photographers and video operators
snapping pictures and taking video clips of
Penn’s nudes of supermodel Giselle Bundchen and
Kate Moss and Helmut Newton’s nudes of Kristen
McMenamy and Violette Sanchez. Michel Comte’s
nude of Carla Bruni, the new First Lady of
France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy got a lot of
heated attention as well (with a pre-sale
$3,000-$4,000 – it delivered $91,000).
At a preview interview, Elfering half-jokingly
said there would be a "… battle of the
supermodels" at the sale – he was right.
Philippe Garner, in his introduction to the
catalogue, hit it right square on the head when
he spoke of Elfering’s prescient recognition of
high style and beauty, and how it could be
transported into the realm of the fine art
photograph – "He (Elfering) challenged the
received wisdoms that questioned the artistic
integrity of photographers who worked to
commissions and other commercial contexts.
Without the labels and logos and text that
accompanied a great many of these photographs in
the fashion and beauty magazines, the images
morph into a larger, over-arching tale – one
that perhaps has more to do with the viewer
having front-row seats to the unconscious
foundations of what we understand as mainstream
popular culture.
"Photographs By Diane Arbus From the Collection
of Bruce and Nancy Berman" followed the Elfering
auction with a remarkable "white glove", 100%
sell-through. Consisting of 45 Selkirk prints
(executed posthumously) and six Arbus-printed
photographs, the sale realized $1,372,000. The
top lot was the artist-printed photograph
entitled "Child Selling Plastic Orchids at
Night" from 1963. It realized $115,000 with a
pre-sale low/high estimate of $30,000-$50,000
Of the six Arbus printed photographs, two were
early explorations from 1960-1961 when the
artist was still using a 35mm format — one image
was of a young African American boy with a
newsboy/Gatsby cap, "Boy in a Cap, N.Y.C.", the
other a "Headless Woman" from a freak show.
Both eerily predict her unequaled fascination
with the often heartbreaking subject matter that
was to bring her untold notoriety and confirm
her place as one of the important artists of the
post-war period.
It is of interest to note that the pre-sale
estimates on the early vintage Arbus prints in
the Berman consignment were in the vicinity of
$25,000-$35,000 as compared to the estimates on
the early Arbus prints in the aborted "Hubert’s
Museum Work 1958-1963" at Phillips. Those
estimates ranged from $20,000-$120,000 with
averages in the vicinity of $60,000-$80,000 and
more than likely reflected the steep secret
minimums that were struck with the consignor
before the sale.
The Arbus sale is only the first of three sales
that the Berman’s have entrusted Christie’s with
disposing – all to take place in New York.
Photographs by William Eggleston will be
de-accessed this coming October and a sale that
will showcase a refined group of tightly curated
works will be auctioned off in the spring of
2009.
The Berman’s have elected to pair each of the
sales with substantial donations of photographs
to three prominent Los Angeles institutions; The
L.A. County Museum of Art, The Museum of
Contemporary Art, and the J. Paul Getty Museum.
By far, the largest group of privately owned
Ansel Adams photographs ever to be introduced at
auction, "Photographs By Ansel Adams", found
buyers for 89% of its lots. With a very rare
mural size "Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite
Valley, 1944" leading the sale with a staggering
$481,000 payout, the 108 lots that found buyers
(about 200 gelatin silver prints) produced sales
that handily surpassed the house’s expectations
of $3 million to $4 million. Laura Paterson,
Christie’s able specialist in charge of the sale
could boast that the house’s final tally of $4.7
million included five prints that landed in the
top 20 for the spring season.
"Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite Valley",
measuring a seldom seen 40 by 54 inches,
captures a storm as the weather begins to change
with a high definition of surface detail that is
rare in such a large print. The photograph tied
another Christie’s offering from earlier in the
day – Irving Penn’s "Black and White Vogue
Cover, 1950" – putting both images on an equal
footing in 6th place overall for the
auction season.
Christie’s various owners "Photographs" sale
(which brought home just under $5,000 more than
the Adams sale), showed collectors and dealers
can’t seem to get enough of Irving Penn’s lush,
radically minimalist images. "Black and White
Vogue Cover, 1950", (printed 1976, ed.:’23/34’)
a platinum-palladium print of Penn’s wife, the
model Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn, grabbed the top
lot in the morning session with $481,000 setting
a new world auction record for the artist.
Shattered just hours later in the afternoon
session with another platinum-palladium
masterwork, Penn’s "Cuzco Children", a
meticulously crafted ethnographic study of two
Quechuan Indian children from 1948 (printed
1971, ed.: ‘16/60’) re-set his world auction
record at $529,000. This was the top lot of the
sale as well the highest price received by
Christie’s this season.
One of the highlights of the $4.7 million sale
was William Eggleston’s sublime, seemingly banal
suite of 10 dye-transfer prints from 1981
entitled "Southern Suite" (ed.: ‘3/12’). It set
a world record for the artist realizing a
whopping $289,000. The previous record for the
edition was set on October 18th,
2006, also at Christie’s, where (ed.:‘7/12’)
sold to Santa Monica gallery owner Rose Shoshana,
for $108,000.
Another milestone was met in the guise of a
vintage Henri Cartier-Bresson photograph
entitled "Hyeres, France". A perfect example of
the artist’s renown ability to freeze life’s
most ‘fleeting instants’, the image records a
cyclist racing through the street as seen from
the camera’s elevated viewpoint at the top of a
winding wrought-iron staircase. The gelatin
silver print – exposed in 1932 and printed
before a 1933 exhibition – set a new world
auction record for the artist at $265,000. The
same image, but printed "no later than 1979",
sold at Sotheby’s three days earlier for
$13,750.
Phillips de Pury & Company
Phillips de Pury & Company stumbled badly this
April with a drop of $7.1 million from their
spring 2007 totals due in part to concerns about
a recent lawsuit which ended a rare, 27 vintage
print Diane Arbus auction. The black-and-white
photographs, which came with a pre-sale high
estimate of $2.5 million, explored an extended
"family" of freak-show performers at a place
called Hubert’s Dime Museum in a basement at
228-232 West 42nd Street just off
Times Square. Taken by Arbus between 1958 and
1963, these macabre photographs "... captured
the indomitable spirit she found in the
personalities of that surreal realm" creating a
gateway to the masterpiece images she was to
take like "Russian midget friends in a living
room on 100th Street, N.Y.C.", and
"Jewish giant at home with his parents in the
Bronx, N.Y., 1970".
Reached by e-mail in London last week where he
was in final preparations for the upcoming sale
of the second half of the Gert Sander collection
on May 17th, Joseph Kraeutler, the
Director of Photography at Phillips in New York
could not comment on the affair because of the
pending lawsuit but said a buyer had indeed been
found.
What is unclear at this time is why Phillips
cannot go ahead with the "private sale" of
photographs from the consignor. There is every
indication that Bob Langmuir, a Philadelphia
book dealer and collector, who acquired the
images in 2003, did so legally. Stephen Perloff,
the editor and publisher of "The Photograph
Collector" has confirmed that Phillips was not
directly involved in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed by Mr. Bayo Ogunsanyo, a
collector of African-American art, who claims he
was unaware of the value of the images and was
"duped into selling a cache of previously
unknown Diane Arbus photographs" for a total of
only $3,500. Mr. Ogunsanyo is suing because he
feels he was never made aware of the enormous
monetary potential of the images.
Mr. Langmuir’s lawyer has been quoted in "The
Art Law Blog",
http://theartlawblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/mistakes-were-made.html
as saying the suit is "frivolous." However,
sources close to the lawsuit suggest that if the
plaintiff can show that the buyer did in fact
know the works were by Arbus, he would seem to
have a pretty good claim of "unilateral
mistake."
Phillips de Pury & Company also had a tough act
to follow. Last spring’s totals for the house
ballooned to a remarkable $10.4 million due in
part to the "27 Exceptional Photographs" sale on
April 24th, 2007 which totaled $3.6
million for the 19 lots sold. The Rick Wester/Lisa
Newlin-led house recorded a never-seen-before
(at any auction house) average of $190,358 per
lot with new records set at the time for Edward
Steichen, Robert Frank, and Alexander Rodchenko.
Spring 2008 sales at Phillips were shaky at $3.3
million with a $21,230 overall lot average (154
lots sold) as compared to last spring’s $39,745
overall lot average (262 lots sold).
Phillips’ morning sale, a collection assembled
by Gerd Sander the grandson of the master
photographer August Sander, was a disappointment
for the house with a final sales total of $1.5
million against presale low/high estimates of
$2.1 and $3.2 million. Only 102 out of the 206
lots offered (49.51%) found buyers.
August Sander’s "Maler Heinrich Hoerle (Painter
Heinrich Hoerle)", a larger-than-life headshot
of the founder of the "Group of Progressive
Artists" printed circa 1933-1935 from a
negative executed in 1928 was the sale’s top
lot. It edged out the second highest lot by a
commanding $78,000. The image, part of the
artist’s great work of portraiture, "Face of Our
Time", brought $157,000 with a pre-sale low/high
estimate of $150,000-$200,000. A preview of
Sander’s important comprehensive photographic
index of the German population, the 22 ¾ by 18
3/8 inch gelatin silver print was the crowning
glory of the Sander’s sale in New York.
Josef Sudek’s moody still life, "Glass and Egg"
a pigment print from 1950 (printed in 1954) took
the second spot with a $79,000 take home.
The morning sale, which carried the smallest per
lot average ($14,999) of any of the nine print
sales during the spring photo auction season,
failed to ignite the imagination of the modest
grouping of collectors and dealers at their
Chelsea showroom.
Phillips de Pury & Company’s buyers – who have
come to be seen as younger and edgier with a
penchant for the work of artists whose focus is
on ideas that critique contemporary culture –
seemed indifferent to many of the lots offered.
The afternoon various owners "Photographs" sale
did much better with a $33,453 per lot average –
but only 52 lots found buyers. It failed to
reach its low estimate of $2.2 million.
The top seller at $325,000 was Peter Beard’s
"Giraffes in Mirage On the Taru Desert, Kenya"
from 1960 (printed 1998) with a margin painting
by Mwangi and Kivoli. The 50 inch high, toned
gelatin silver print, set a new world auction
record for the artist who had a strong showing
at all three houses this spring.
A signed, dated and annotated Diane Arbus
vintage print of "Child With a Toy Hand Grenade
in Central Park, N.Y.C." from 1962 (printed
1963) captured second place at $181,000 but
would have realized somewhere in the vicinity of
$400,000-$500,000 if the print would have been
in pristine condition.
Chuck Close’s mesmerizing study of supermodel
Kate Moss without make-up (ed.: ‘23/25’)
realized $121,000 with a low/high estimate of
$120,000-$180,000.
Re-cap
Last year marked the seventh consecutive year of
price increases in the photography sector, but
caught in the lurch of an uncertain economy and
plummeting consumer confidence, nervous
collectors and dealers could trigger a cooling
off period for second tier works in the months
ahead.
Not so with works of exceptional quality and
rarity however, (the Quillan Collection struck
home plate with a $141,291 per lot average).
The photography market is reaching deeper and
deeper into its pockets for the rare,
historically pivotal trophies – watch Peter
MacGill on his cell during the more prestigious
evening sales – there are many more of the
better informed elite class of buyer (often
tutored by art advisors) ready and willing to
pay whatever it takes to capture the best of the
best.
Thanks go out to
www.artnet.com for extending their Price Database to track previous prices on some of the photographs referenced in this article.
PLEASE NOTE: Final
prices for the 2008 Spring sales include the
commission paid to the auction house: 25% of the
hammer price up to and including $20,000, 20% in
excess of $20,000 up to and including $500,000
and 12% thereafter. Estimates do not reflect
commissions.
TOP 20 PHOTOGRAPHS/ NEW YORK
SPRING / 2008
1) EDWARD WESTON, Nude, 1925, gelatin silver
print, 5 1/8 by 9 ¼ inches, est.:
$600,000-$900,000, realized: $1,609,000,
"Quillan Collection", N08425, SOTHEBY’S,
April 7, lot #19 *World Auction Record for
the Artist
2) PAUL STRAND, Rebecca, 1925, platinum print, 9
¾ by 7 5/8 inches, est.: $600,000-$900,000,
realized: $645,800, "Quillan Collection",
N08425, SOTHEBY’S, April 7, lot #7
*World Auction Record for the Artist
3) DIANE ARBUS, A Family On The Lawn One Sunday
in Westchester, N.Y., 1968, gelatin silver
print, 15 3/8 by 15 3/8 inches, est.:
$200,000-$300,000, realized: $553,000,
"Photographs", N08424, SOTHEBY’S, April
8, lot #264 *World Auction Record for the
Artist
4) IRVING PENN, Cuzco Children, 1948,
platinum-palladium print (printed
1971-ed.:‘16/60’), 19 1/8 by 19 ¾ inches, est.:
$250,000-$350,000, realized: $529,000,
"Photographs", #1985, CHRISTIE’S, April
11, lot #454 *World Auction Record for the
Artist
5) AUGUST SANDER, Werkstudenten, 1926, gelatin
silver print, 5 ¾ by 7 ¾ inches, est.:
$150,000-$250,000, realized: $493,000, "Quillan
Collection", N08425, SOTHEBY’S, April 7,
lot #11 *World Auction Record for the Artist
2-WAY TIE
6) ANSEL ADAMS, Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite
Valley, 1944, gelatin silver mural print
(printed 1970-1975), 40 ½ by 54 5/8 inches,
est.: $250,000-$350,000, realized: $481,000,
"Photographs By Ansel Adams", #2120,
CHRISTIE’S, April 11, lot #1058
6) IRVING PENN, Black and White Vogue Cover
1950, platinum-palladium print (printed 1976,
ed.: ‘23/34’), 17 by 15 inches, est.:
$200,000-$300,000, realized: $481,000,
"Photographs", #1985, CHRISTIE’S, April
11, lot #343
7) RICHARD AVEDON, Marilyn Monroe, May 6, 1957,
New York City, 1957, gelatin silver print, 15
5/8 by 15 3/8 inches, est.: $70,000-$100,000,
realized: $457,000, "Quillan Collection",
N08425, SOTHEBY’S, April 7, lot #32
World Auction Record for the Artist
8) ALBERT SANDS SOUTHWORTH (1811-1894) & JOSIAH
JOHNSON (1808-1901), Portrait of Samuel
Appleton, circa 1850, half-plate
daguerreotype, in the original push-button
leather case half-plate, est.: $60,000-$90,000,
realized: $409,000, "Photographs", N08424,
SOTHEBY’S, April 8, lot #168 *World
Auction Record for the Artists
3-WAY TIE
9) PETER BEARD, Giraffes in Mirage On the Taru
Desert, Kenya, 1960, toned gelatin silver print
with margin painting by Mwangi and Kivoli
(printed in 1998), 49 ¾ by 96 ¼ inches, est.:
$80,000-$120,000, realized: $325,000,
"Photographs", NY040408, PHILLIPS de PURY &
COMPANY, April 9, lot #352 *World
Auction Record for the Artist
9) HANS BELLMER, La Poupee (The Doll), circa
1935, gelatin silver print, 11 ¼ by 15 ½
inches, est.: $200,000-$300,000, realized:
$325,000, "Quillan Collection", N08425,
SOTHEBY’S, April 7, lot #15 *World
Auction Record for the Artist
9) EDWARD WESTON, Nude on Sand, Oceano, 1936,
gelatin silver print, 7 ½ by 9 5/8 inches, est.:
$120,000-$180,000, realized: $325,000, "Edward
Weston’s Gifts to His Sister", N08409,
SOTHEBY’S, April 8, lot #81
2-WAY TIE
10) CINDY SHERMAN, Untitled (Film Still #53),
1980, gelatin silver print (ed.: ‘3/10’), 6 3/8
by 9 ½ inches, est.: $60,000-$90,000, realized:
$313,000, "Quillan Collection", N08425,
SOTHEBY’S, April 7, lot #34
10) KARL STRUSS (1886-1981), Metropolitan Tower
– Twilight, 1909, platinum print, 12 ¼ by 9 ¼
inches, est.: $30,000-$50,000, realized:
$313,000, "Photographs", N08424, SOTHEBY’S,
April 8, lot #157 *World Auction Record for
the Artist
11) LASZLO MOHOLY-NAGY, Photogram, circa
1920s, printing-out paper (unique), 4 7/8 by 6
7/8 inches, est.: $150,000-$250,000, realized:
$301,000, "Quillan Collection", N08425,
SOTHEBY’S, April 7, lot #39 *World
Auction Record for the Artist
2-WAY TIE
12) WILLIAM EGGLESTON, Southern Suite, 1981, 10
dye-transfer prints (ed.: ‘3/12’), each
approximately 9 7/8 by 15 inches, est.:
$80,000-$120,000, realized: $289,000,
"Photographs", #1985, CHRISTIE’S, April
11, lot #511 *World Auction Record for the
Artist
12) DOROTHEA LANGE, San Francisco Waterfront,
1933, gelatin silver print, 9 ½ by 7 ½ inches,
est.: $50,000-$70,000, realized: $289,000,
"Quillan Collection", N08425, SOTHEBY’S,
April 7, lot #51
13) ANSEL ADAMS, Bridal Veil Fall, Yosemite
Valley, 1927, gelatin silver mural print
(printed 1970-1975), 53 ¼ by 38 ¾ inches, est.:
$150,000-$250,000, realized: $277,000,
"Photographs by Ansel Adams", #2120,
CHRISTIE’S, April 11, lot #1085
4-WAY TIE
14) BILL BRANDT, Van Gogh’s Room in the Asylum
of St. Paul-De-Mausole (St.-Remy), 1950, gelatin
silver print, 8 7/8 by 7 5/8 inches, est.:
$50,000-$70,000, realized: $265,000, "Quillan
Collection", N08425, SOTHEBY’S, April 7,
lot #21 *World Auction Record for the Artist
14) HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON, Hyeres, France, 1932,
gelatin silver print, 7 7/8 by 11 5/8 inches,
est.: $60,000-$90,000, realized: $265,000,
"Photographs", #1985, CHRISTIE’S, April
11, lot #363 *World Auction Record for the
Artist
14) ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE, Calla Lily, 1988,
platinum print (ed.: ‘4/5’), 18 ¾ by 19 inches,
est.: $100,000-$150,000, realized: $265,000,
"Photographs", #1985, CHRISTIE’S, April
11, lot #432
14) CARLETON E. WATKINS, Tasayac, Half Dome from
Glacier Point, Yosemite, 1865-1866,
mammoth-plate albumen print, 15 1/8 by 20 ¼
inches, est.: $150,000-$250,000, realized:
$265,000, "Quillan Collection", N08425,
SOTHEBY’S, April 7, lot #58
3-WAY TIE
15) ANSEL ADAMS, Aspens, Northern New Mexico, 1958, gelatin silver mural print (printed 1970-1975), 30 by 40 inches, est.: $150,000-$250,000, realized: $241,000, "Photographs by Ansel Adams", #2120, CHRISTIE’S, April 11, lot #1064
15) HELMUT NEWTON, Sie Kommen (Naked and Dressed), Paris, 1981, 2 gelatin silver prints, each 14 ½ by 14 ½ inches, est.: $140,000-$180,000, realized: $241,000, "Photographs from the Collection of Gert Elfering", #2113, CHRISTIE’S, April 10, lot #120
15) PAUL OUTERBRIDGE, Kandinsky, 1937, color carbo print, 15 ½ by 10 3/8 inches, est.: $150,000-$250,000, realized: $241,000, "Photographs", N08424, SOTHEBY’S, April 8, lot #214
16) EDWARD WESTON, Leeks, 1927, gelatin silver print (#7 in a projected edition of 50 / 4 prints are known), 7 ½ by 9 ½ inches, est.: $80,000-$120,000, realized: $229,000, "Photographs", N08424, SOTHEBY’S, April 8, lot #188
2-WAY TIE
17) PETER BEARD, Self Portrait for Centre Nationale de la Photographie, Paris, 1996, collage of gelatin silver prints, chromogenic prints and morphine drip exhibition label (affixed to the rear of the frame), 84 by 53 ½ inches, est.: $150,000-$200,000, realized: $217,000, "Photographs", #1985, CHRISTIE’S, April 11, lot #307
17) MAN RAY, Champs Delicieux: Album de Photographies, 1922, 12 gelatin prints (re-photographs of original rayographs / ed.: ‘12/40’), 8 ¾ by 6 ¾ inches, est.: $200,000-$300,000, realized: $217,000, "Photographs", N08424, SOTHEBY’S, April 8, lot #207
3-WAY TIE
18) ANSEL ADAMS, Tenaya Creek, Dogwood, Rain,
Yosemite Valley, 1948, gelatin silver mural
print, (printed 1970-1975), 26 ½ by 33 7/8
inches, est.: $50,000-$70,000, realized:
$205,000, "Photographs by Ansel Adams", #2120,
CHRISTIE’S, April 11, lot #1091
18) ROBERT FRANK, Mississippi River, from "The
Americans", 1956 (printed 1958-1960), oversize
gelatin silver print, 12 ½ by 18 5/8 inches,
est.: $50,000-$70,000, realized: $205,000,
"Quillan Collection", N08425, SOTHEBY’S,
April 7, lot #27
18) IRVING PENN, Mouth for L’Oreal, New York,
1986, dye-transfer print (printed 1992, from an
edition of 28), 18 5/8 by 18 ¼ inches, est.:
$50,000-$70,000, realized: $205,000, "Photographs from the Collection of Gert Elfering", #2113, CHRISTIE’S, April 10, lot #91
3-WAY TIE
19) ANSEL ADAMS, Lake Precipice, ‘Frozen Lake and Cliffs’, Kaweah Gap, Sierra Nevada, 1932, gelatin silver mural print (printed 1970-1975), 24 ½ by 31 ¼ inches, est.: $90,000-$120,000, realized: $193,000, "Photographs by Ansel Adams", #2120, CHRISTIE’S, April 11, lot #1004
19) JAROMIR FUNKE, Kompozice (Composition), 1923, gelatin silver print, 8 3/8 by 11 ½ inches, est.: $60,000-$90,000, realized: $193,000, "Quillan Collection", N08425, SOTHEBY’S, April 7, lot #5
19) IRVING PENN, Gisele, New York, April 1, 1999, 1999, gelatin silver print (from an edition of 20), 15 ½ by 15 ½ inches, est.: $30,000-$40,000, realized: $193,000, "Photographs from the Collection of Gert Elfering", #2113, CHRISTIE’S, April 10, lot #125
4-WAY TIE
20) DIANE ARBUS, Child with a Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C., 1962, gelatin silver print (printed 1963), 12 by 11 ¾ inches, est.: $100,000-$150,000, realized: $181,000, "Photographs", NY040408, PHILLIPS de PURY & COMPANY, April 9, lot #327
20) RICHARD AVEDON, Brigette Bardot, 1959, gelatin silver print (printed later, ed.: ‘12/35’), 23 by 19 7/8 inches, est.: $80,000-$120,000, realized: $181,000, "Photographs from the Collection of Gert Elfering", #2113, CHRISTIE’S, April 10, lot #33
20) CHRISTIAN SCHAD, Renseignements, 1919, unique photogram on printing-out-paper, 2 ¼ by 3 3/8 inches on a sheet 4 ½ by 5 ¾ inches, est.: $200,000-$300,000, realized: $181,000, "Quillan Collection", N08425, SOTHEBY’S, April 7, lot #13 *World Auction Record for the Artist
20) EDWARD WESTON, Dunes, Oceano, 1936, gelatin silver print, 7 ½ by 9 ½ inches, est.: $120,000-$180,000, realized: $181,000, "Edward Weston’s Gifts to His Sister", N08409, SOTHEBY’S, April 8, lot #80
SPRING 2008 / GROSS SALES
$35,577,525 [Spring 2007 / $37,503,905] NB: Does not include "Fine Photobooks" sale at Christie’s on April 10 which grossed: $2,602,450
Sotheby’s
$17,302,050 gross print sales (incl. buyer’s premium)
274 lots sold
$63,146 per lot average
[Spring 2007 / $15,915,500 gross (incl. buyer’s prem.) / $55,455 per lot av.]
Christie’s
$15,006,075 gross print sales (incl. buyer’s premium)
412 lots sold
$36,423 per lot average
[Spring 2007 / $11,175,240 gross (incl. buyer’s prem.) / $31,929 per lot av.]
NOTE: "Fine Photobooks From an Important Private Collection", #2110 / $2,602,450 (incl. buyer’s premium)
Phillips de Pury & Co.
$3,269,400 gross print sales (incl. buyer’s premium)
154 lots sold
$21,230 per lot average
[Spring 2007 / $10,413,165 gross (incl. buyer’s prem. / $39,745 per lot av.]
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