Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Auction: Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening, Morning and Afternoon Sales, May 13 and 14, 2009 @Christie's

Christie's is up second in the New York Contemporary Art parade, with its Evening, Morning, and Afternoon sales spread over May 13 and 14. There are no photographs in the Evening sale (which says something I think), but there are a total of 25 photographic images on offer across the other two day sales, with a total High estimate of $1103000 on these lots. (Evening sale catalog cover, top, Morning/Afternoon sale catalog cover, bottom, at right.)

Here's the breakdown:

Total Low lots (high estimate $10000 or lower): 2
Total Low estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $15000

Total Mid lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 15
Total Mid estimate: $428000

Total High lots (high estimate over $50000): 8
Total High estimate: $660000

Below is a list of the photographers who are represented by more than one lot in the three sales (with the total number of prints for sale in parentheses):

Hiroshi Sugimoto (3)
Thomas Struth (3)
Richard Avedon (2)
Cindy Sherman (2)

Again, like the material at Sotheby's, I'm not sure there are many stand out photographs in this group of sales; I would categorize these lots as more middle of the road pieces rather than the apex of what can be found. The Hiroshi Sugimoto blurred United Nations Headquarters from 1997 (lot 384) would be the best fit for our particular collection.
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And while not a photograph, David Hockney's mid 1960s painting Beverly Hills Housewife, a landmark work on sale from the Betty Freeman collection, likely merits a visit to the preview. Photos of her collection and home are here, a video is here.

May 13, 2009

May 14, 2009

May 14, 2009

20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020

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