Autumn Auction Results 2020
There has been a host of photography sales this season from all three of the elite auction houses including annual auctions and sales from private collections. Here are Autumn Auction Results 2020:
Kicking off the season was Christie’s with its Photographs auction running online from 21st to 30th of September. The auction closed with a sales total of $1,301,500 and 61 lots sold. The most expensive lot was Richard Avedon’s Tom Stroud, Oil Field Worker which had an estimate of $80,000-$120,000 but far exceeded its top estimate by selling for $350,000. The second highest hammer price went to a photo by the late Peter Beard who died earlier this year. The print was given a high estimate of $120,000-$180,000 and the lot sold for $150,000. Another black and white print rounded out the top 3 with the Elephant Drinking print by Nick Brandt, which had an estimate of $80,000-$120,000 and sold for $100,000. Browse the sale here.
Photographs wasn’t Christie’s only photographic auction this season, from 5th to 14th of October the auction house also hosted The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the W.M. Hunt Collection, which brought together some affordable prints by some big names. The most expensive print was Two Guedras by Irving Penn which sold for $40,000, Robert Mapplethorpe’s Thomas, 1987 which sold for $32,500 and Greenwood, Mississippi by William Eggleston completing the top three with a hammer price of $32,500.
Sotheby’s started the autumn season with a bang by hosting two concurrent photography auctions in the form of Contemporary Photographs and Classic Photographs, both hosted from 21st September to 1st October. The Contemporary auction saw Cindy Sherman take the top spot for most expensive lot with the sale of Untitled Film Still 84, with an estimate of $120,000-$180,000 and a hammer price of $119,700. Richard Misrach set a personal record with the sale of his print Untitled (July 28, 2012, 3:57 pm) which sold for $69,300 at the top end of its original estimate of $50,000-$70,000. Einkreisung by Valie Export completed the top three selling far above it estimate of $8,000-$12,000 by reaching a hammer price of $60,480.
The Classic auction brought in a sales total of $1,158,318. Unsurprisingly, the top three highest-priced lots were by stalwarts of the ‘classic’ photography genre. Prints by Ansel Adams took the first place ($277,200) and third place ($75,600) with Clearing Winter Storm and Maroon Bells, respectively. A self-portrait by Robert Mapplethorpe was second place with a hammer price of $88,200.
Sotheby’s also hosted a Photographs auction, this time in London on 14th October, bringing in £1,077,058 ($1,409,825). Mario Testino’s Exposed, Kate Moss print took the top spot with a hammer price of £75,600, followed by Richard Avedon’s Nastassja Kinski and The Serpent which sold for £60,480 and Wolfgang Tillman’s Plan, 2007 which earned a hammer price of £47,880.
Phillips, never one to be outdone by Christie’s and Sotheby’s, hosted their first Photographs auction of the season in London on 24th September and brought in a substantial total of £2,705,563 ($3,541,473). Familiar names took the top three slots with work by Peter Beard, Richard Avedon and Mario Testino. The most expensive lot was Testino’s Exposed, Kate Moss, which sold for £225,000, believed to be an earlier edition of the print auctioned at Sotheby’s. The second most expensive was a photo of Brigitte Bardot by Richard Avedon, which sold for £212,500 and coming in third was Peter Beard’s 756 Elephants which sold for £100,000.
Phillips held another Photographs auction, this time in New York on 14th October, which brought in a sales total of $3,533,875 with top lots from artists Irving Penn, Robert Mapplethorpe and Candida Hofer. Penn’s Miles Davis, Hand and Trumpet took the top spot with an original estimate of $80,000-$100,000 and a hammer price of $150,000. Second place was Robert Mapplethorpe’s Holly Solomon (Three portraits) – a triptych with an estimate of $100,000-$200,000 and a sales price of $125,000. Rounding out the top three was Candida Hofer’s Pierpont Morgan Library print which out-performed its estimate of $50,000-$70,000 by selling for $87,500.
View each image by clicking on the image title
An online auction by Christie’s is currently underway, titled Aperture, exclusively offering photographs at affordable prices:
Christie’s is partnering with Aperture for the second year in a row in an online auction of special photographs, artist portfolios, and editions featuring the work of both established and emerging artists. All sales benefit Aperture’s not-for-profit services and activities, with proceeds supporting general operations and the purchase of new permanent headquarters in New York. Artists featured in this sale include Sharon Core, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Nan Goldin, Lyle Ashton Harris, Robert Mapplethorpe, David Benjamin Sherry, and Stephen Tayo, among others. All works were generously donated by artists, collectors, gallerists, and Aperture patrons.
Browse the online catalogue and bid on lots on Christie’s webpage here.
Aperture finishes on 28th and will be the last auction of the month, with the winter season beginning in just a few weeks time. View a schedule of upcoming auctions in this post.
image by Christopher Ott