Auction: Photographs, October 6, 2010, @Sotheby's

Sotheby's is up first this auction season with its various owner Photographs sale on October 6th. The sale is heavy on vintage Ansel Adams, Edward Curtis, and Robert Frank (quite a few images from London and Paris), with much less standout contemporary/color work. All in, there are 265 lots on offer in this sale, with a total High estimate of $6512500.

Here's the statistical breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 113

Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $911500

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 128

Total Mid Estimate: $3066000

Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 23
Total High Estimate: $2535000

The top photography lot by High estimate is lot 29, Rufus Anson, Two Actors from the melodrama 'Robert Macaire', 1850s, at $250000-350000. (Image at right, top, via Sotheby's.) The next highest lot is lot 40, Edward Steichen, 'Wind Fire' Therese Duncan, Acropolis, 1921, at $120000-180000. (Image at right, bottom, via Sotheby's.)

Here's the short list of photographers represented by five or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Ansel Adams (28)

Edward Curtis (19)

Robert Frank (17)

Robert Mapplethorpe (13)

Berenice Abbott (12)

Edward Weston (10)

Harry Callahan (7)

Henri Cartier-Bresson (7)

Irving Penn (6)

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.

Photographs

October 6th

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Sotheby's

1334 York Avenue

New York, NY 10021