Auctions: Contemporary Art Evening and Day Sales, February 10 and 11, 2010 @Sotheby's London

Sotheby's opens the 2010 Contemporary Art auction season with a pair of sales in London in early February. A renewed sense of optimism must be in the air, as photography consignors have brought nearly 40% more high estimate dollars to the table this season over the sales a year ago. There are a total of 33 photography lots on offer across the two sales, with a Total High Estimate of £2680000, driven significantly by a single Gursky depicting Madonna in concert (the only photograph in the Evening session); otherwise, the material is predominantly a gathering of the usual contemporary photography suspects. (Catalog covers at right, via Sotheby's.)

Here's the breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000): 1

Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £3000

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000): 17

Total Mid Estimate: £247000

Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 15

Total High Estimate: £2430000

The top lot by High estimate is lot 72, Andreas Gursky, Madonna I, 2001, at £900000-1300000. Since there were no lots that topped $1 million dollars in 2009, if this lot sells, it will easily be the most expensive photograph to sell at auction in over a year.
.

Here is a short list of the photographers who are represented by more than one lot in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Hiroshi Sugimoto (5)

Douglas Gordon (3)

Florian Maier-Aichen (3)

John Baldessari (2)

Candida Höfer (2)

Sarah Lucas (2)

Richard Prince (2)

Thomas Struth (2)

The complete lot by lot catalogs can be found here (Evening) and here (Day).

Contemporary Art Evening Auction Including Property from the Sammlung Lenz Schönberg

February 10th

Contemporary Art Day Auction

February 11th

Sotheby's

34-35 New Bond Street

London W1A 2AA