Photography Auction Results, Spring 2021
To finish off the last of the spring auctions, Sotheby’s and Phillips held their Photographs auctions in London. Over 200 photographic lots were available between the two auction houses, with estimates ranging from £800 to £80,000. The following are the results from each auction:
Sotheby’s Photographs Auction, London
The auction brought together the work of various masters of the craft, particularly from the 20th and 21st century. The auction included many works of erotica including the most expensive sale of the auction, which was Peter Beard’s Magritte Rammé and World Record Cow Elephant Tusk’, Montauk Point, 1976 (NSFW) which was estimated to sell for £25,000-£35,000 but achieved a hammer price of £56,700 ($80,226). The second most expensive lot was also a nude, this time by Robert Mapplethorpe whose Lisa Marie (Breasts), 1987 (NSFW) was estimated to sell for £18,000-£25,000 but almost doubled it’s top estimate by achieving £47,880 ($67,734). Coming in third was Guy Bourdin’s Roland Pierre, Summer 1983 which had an estimate of £18,000-£25,000 and saw a hammer price of £30,240 ($42,777). In total, the auction brought in a modest total of £619,164 ($876,039), which is a fairly average result for a erotica-heavy auction. Browse all the lots at the Sotheby’s webpage here.
Phillips’ Photographs Auction, London
120 lots of photographic masterpieces from artists such as Richard Avedon, Gregory Crewdson, Peter Beard, Helmut Newton and Candida Höffer. The most expensive lot was Peter Beard’s portrait of Francis Bacon: Francis Bacon on his roof at 80 Narrow Street, London (soon to be lost gambling), during the dead elephant interviews, March, 1972 which had an estimate of £80,000-£120,000 and sold for £100,800 ($142,607). Beard’s Lion Pride near Ndutu, Southern Serengeti – with Richard Bell also achieved a hammer price of £100,800 ($142,607) after the same estimate, meaning Beard took 1st and 2nd place. In 3rd was Sohei Nishino with his work Diorama Map London which brought in £60,480 ($85,559) after an initial estimate of £50,000-£70,000. In total, the auction brought in £1,508,787 ($2,130,558). Browse all of the lots at the Phillips webpage here.
image credit: Eric Park