Friday, September 4, 2009

Auction: First Open Post-War and Contemporary Art, September 23, 2009 @Christie's

The fall auction season officially opens later in September with the warm-up Contemporary Art sales, beginning at Christie's this cycle. There are a total of 20 photographic images on offer buried amidst the lower end material, with a total High estimate of $371000 on these lots. Given the relatively small number of total lots available, this will be a one session sale. (Catalog cover via Christie's at right.)

Here's the breakdown:

Total Low lots (high estimate $10000 or lower): 4
Total Low estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $31000

Total Mid lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 15
Total Mid estimate: $280000

Total High lots (high estimate over $50000): 1
Total High estimate: $60000

Below is a list of the photographers who are represented (with the total number of prints for sale in parentheses):

Doug Aitken (1)
Darren Almond (1)
John Baldessari (1)
Matthew Barney (1)
John Bock (1)
Sante D'Orazio (1)
Elger Esser (2)
Vera Lutter (1)
Marilyn Minter (1)
Vik Muniz (1)
Shirin Neshat (1)
Gerhard Richter (2)
Thomas Ruff (1)
Cindy Sherman (2)
Sam Taylor Wood (3)

In general, this is a pretty average/uninspiring group; there aren't many stand out photographs here. The Vera Lutter Untitled (Manhattan Skyline) from 1996 (lot 98) would be the best fit for our particular collection.

The lot by lot catalog can be found here.

First Open Post-War and Contemporary Art
September 23rd

Christie's
20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020

No comments: