Phillips New York Photography Auctions
Following on from two photography auctions by Christie’s, another two photography auctions were hosted in New York by Phillips. These included a specialised sale of photographs depicting New York City in New York State of Mind: Photographs Online and the auction house’s annual Photographs auction.
First to be held was the small online sale of prints photographed in New York; New York State of Mind: Photographs Online, which was hosted from 30th March to 7th April. Artists work included that of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Elliott Erwitt and Horst P. Horst whose Carmen, Face Massage, New York brought in $13,860 after an original estate of $3,000-$5,000. The second most expensive lot was a Coney Island print by Weegee, which was expected to fetch between $20,000-$30,000 and saw a hammer price of $20,160. In first place was Over New York by Melvin Sokolsky, which outperformed its estimate of $15,000-$20,000 by selling for $23,940. Overall, the small auction brought in a modest sales total of $170,352 before premiums.
Phillips’ marquee auction, the annual New York Photographs auction, was a different story. Bringing together hundreds of prints from artists such as Ansel Adams, Gregory Crewdson, Irving Penn, Stephen Shore and Cindy Sherman, the sale brought in a sales total of $3,933,405, with many lots far outperforming their estimates. Ansel Adams, whose work is particularly popular at auction, according to the latest volume of the Photography at Auction Digest, had his Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite print estimated to sell for $40,000-$60,000 see a hammer price of $75,600. Gregory Crewdson also enjoyed a successful sale with his Untitled print estimated to sell for $25,000-$35,000 sell for more than double the top estimate at $81,900. In first place, as the most expensive lot at the auction, was Marilyn Monroe, actress, NY City, May 6, 1957, after Avedon from Gordian Puzzles by Vik Muniz, which outstripped its estimate of $60,000-$80,000 by seeing a hammer price of $119,700.
Before the month ends, Sotheby’s is expected to join the fray with a sale of nearly two hundred lots at it’s first Photographs auction of the year, also in New York. Results will be posted on Photography At Auction.
image by Deanna J