A Grand Vision: Ansel Adams Masterworks

Perhaps the most anticipated photography auction of the year, A Grand Vision: The David H. Arrington Collection of Ansel Adams Masterworks took place at Sotheby’s New York on Monday (14th), with the sale of 123 lots from Arrington’s personal collection. The auction included work from Ansel’s early years, his most famous images as well as polaroids and mammoth mural-sized prints.

The auction brought in the biggest sales total of the year at $6,433,714 and also saw some of the biggest hammer prices of the year too.

The Grand Tetons and the Snake River Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming was the stand out performer of the auction. A record-beating sale of $988,000 – outperforming its top estimate of $600,000 by $388,000.

Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico was also on sale in this auction. The photograph was Adams’ only entry in the Top 50 Most Expensive Photographs Sold at Auction, before being knocked out of the list a few years ago. The image beat its previous record (of $609,600) by selling for $685,500, as did the final lot in the auction’s top 3 sales; Half Dome, Merced River, Winter, Yosemite Valley – outperforming its top estimate of $300,000 by $385,500.

The auction broke several world records. Read all about the auction on Sotheby’s website here.

image by Philipp-m