Auction: Photographs, April 13, 2010 @Sotheby's

Sotheby's kicks off the photography auction season in New York this Spring with its various owner sale on April 13. There are far more lower end lots in this sale, compared to the same sale last year, with some overall growth in the total value on offer. An unexpected group of daguerreotypes (from the collection of David Belcher) opens the sale. The top lots include a Weston shell, a Moholy-Nagy photogram, a Bourke-White Chrysler Building gargoyle, a Becher gas tank typology, several portfolios, and a couple of Frank images from The Americans. There are a total of 244 lots available, with a total High estimate of $5127000. (Catalog cover at right, via Sotheby's.)

Here's the statistical breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 128
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $1053000

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 101
Total Mid Estimate: $2154000

Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 15
Total High Estimate: $1920000

The top photography lot by High estimate is lot 122, Edward Weston, Nautilus, 1927, at $300000-500000.

The following is the list of photographers represented by three or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Anonymous (31)
Edward Weston (14)
Robert Mapplethorpe (12)
Robert Frank (10)
Ansel Adams (9)
Henri Cartier-Bresson (7)
Sally Mann (6)
Harry Callahan (5)
Eugene Smith (5)
Peter Beard (4)
Edward Curtis (4)
Roy DeCarava (4)
Walker Evans (4)
Lee Friedlander (4)
Shirin Neshat (4)
Aaron Siskind (4)
Paul Strand (4)
Diane Arbus (3)
Horst P. Horst (3)
Andre Kertesz (3)
Josef Koudelka (3)
Martin Munkacsi (3)
Irving Penn (3)
Brett Weston (3)
Minor White (3)

A few lots that would fit well into our personal collection include:

Lot 46, Johan Hagemeyer, Talisman Rose, 1942
Lot 48, Alma Lavenson, Calaveras Cement Works, 1933
Lot 78, Margaret Bourke-White, Gargoyle, Chrysler Building, New York, 1929-1930
Lot 85, Walker Evans, Brooklyn Bridge (NY RR Tracks), 1929
Lot 182, Robert Mapplethorpe, Parrot Tulips, 1987

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found linked from here.

Photographs
April 13th

Sotheby's
1334 York Avenue
New York, NY 10021