Auction Results: Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening and Day Auctions, June 25 and 26, 2013 @Christie's London

The results for the photography included in Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening and Day sales in London last week were driven down by the failure of the two top photo lots to find buyers. With an overall Buy-In rate under 14%, we might have expected the Total Sale Proceeds to cover the top end of the range; as it was, they fell meaningfully below the low end.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 22
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £734000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £1068000
Total Lots Sold: 19
Total Lots Bought In: 3
Buy In %: 13.64%
Total Sale Proceeds: £552500

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 1
Low Sold: 1
Low Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total Low Estimate: £5000
Total Low Sold: £9375

Mid Total Lots: 14
Mid Sold: 13
Mid Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 7.14%
Total Mid Estimate: £218000
Total Mid Sold: £216125

High Total Lots: 7
High Sold: 5
High Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 28.57%
Total High Estimate: £845000
Total High Sold: £327000

The top lot by High estimate was lot 21, Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Our prices are insane!), 1997, at £200000-300000; it did not sell. The top photography outcome of the two sales was lot 251, Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Your life is a perpetual insomnia!), 1984, estimated at £60000-80000, sold at £127875 (image at right, top, via Christie's).

89.47% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate. There was only one surprise in these sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 285, Andreas Gursky, Gelsenkirchen, Ratingen, Moers, 1988, estimated at £8000-12000, sold at £27500 (image at right, bottom, via Christie's)

Complete lot by lot results can be found here (Evening) and here (Day).

Christie's
8 King Street, St. James's
London SW1Y 6QT

Auctions: Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening and Day Auctions, June 25 and 26, 2013 @Christie's London

As the heat descends on New York, the auction action moves to London, where Christie's starts off a pre-summer Contemporary Art run with its Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening and Day sales later this week. Photography-wise, it's a pretty thin offering, with not much to distract collectors from the warm weather. Overall, there are 22 photography lots available across the two sales, with a Total High Estimate for photography of £1068000.

Here's the statistical breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000): 1
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £5000

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000): 14
Total Mid Estimate: £218000

Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 7
Total High Estimate: £845000

The top lot by High estimate is lot 21, Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Our prices are insane!), 1997, at £200000-300000. (Image at right, top, via Christie's.)

Here is the very short list of photographers who are represented by two or more lots in the two sales (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Barbara Kruger (3)
Hiroshi Sugimoto (2)

Other lots of interest include lot 247, Matthew Day Jackson, Me, Dead at 35, 2009, at £18000-22000 (image at right, middle) and lot 348, Edward Burtynsky, Oil Spill No. 4, Oil Skimming Boat, Near Ground Zero, Gulf of Mexico, 2010, at £12000-18000 (image at right, bottom, both via Christie's.)

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

Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction
June 25th

Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Auction
June 26th

Christie's
8 King Street, St. James's
London SW1Y 6QT

Auctions: Contemporary Art Evening and Day Sales, February 14 and 15, 2013 @Phillips London

Phillips finishes up the Spring Contemporary Art season in London later this week with a generally uneventful gathering of photography. The top lots include works by Kruger, Sherman, Kelley, Rondinone, and Demand. Overall, there are a total of 29 lots of photography available across the two sales, with a Total High Estimate for photography of £1305000.

Here's the statistical breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000): 0
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): NA

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000): 12
Total Mid Estimate: £190000

Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 17
Total High Estimate: £1115000

The top lot by High estimate is lot 8, Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Look and listen), 1996, at £200000-300000. (Image at right, top, via Phillips.)

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

Richard Prince (3)
John Baldessari (2)
Mike Kelley (2)
David LaChapelle (2)
Vik Muniz (2)
Robin Rhode (2)
Cindy Sherman (2)

Other lots of interest include lot 27, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #469, 2008, at £180000-220000 (image at right, middle), and lot 131, Christopher Wool, Incident on 9th Street, 1997, at £30000-40000 (image at right, bottom, both via Phillips).

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

Contemporary Art Evening Sale
February 14th

Contemporary Art Day Sale
February 15th

Phillips
Howick Place
London SW1P 1BB

Auction: Under the Influence, March 8, 2011 @Phillips

Phillips follows up the bustle of the New York art fairs with a lower end sale of Contemporary Art scheduled for tomorrow. Out of a total of 287 lots on offer, there are 55 lots of photography mixed in, with a total High estimate for photography of $532500.

Here's the statistical breakdown:

.

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 40
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $215500

.

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 15
Total Mid Estimate: $317000

Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 0
Total High Estimate: NA

The top lot by High estimate is lot 143, Vik Muniz, After Mark Rothko (from Pictures of Colors), 2001, at $30000-40000.

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

Katy Grannan (4)
Ryan McGinley (4)

Vanessa Beecroft (2)

Anna Gaskell (2)

Sarah Jones (2)

Barbara Kruger (2)

Elad Lassry (2)

Florian Maier-Aichen (2)

Vik Muniz (2)

Gabriel Orozco (2)

Richard Prince (2)

(Lot 88, Barbara Kruger, Ohne Titel -Evil, 2001, at $20000-30000, at right, top, lot 105, Matthias Hoch, Ravensburg #24, 2002, at $3000-4000, image at right, bottom, and lot 108, Walter Niedermayr, Dachstein 1, 1997, at $10000-15000, image at right, middle, all via Phillips.)

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.

Under the Influence
March 8th

Phillips De Pury & Company
450 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Auction Results: First Open Post-War and Contemporary Art, March 11, 2010 @Christie's New York

In contrast to the lackluster performance at Sotheby's a few days earlier, the results for the photography lots at Christie's First Open Post-War and Contemporary Art sale were stellar. With a buy-in rate less than 10% and some help from Barbara Kruger, the total sale proceeds for photography soared well above the estimate range.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 22
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $558000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $792000
Total Lots Sold: 20
Total Lots Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 9.09%
Total Sale Proceeds: $895375

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 4
Low Sold: 4
Low Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total Low Estimate: $35000
Total Low Sold: $92500

Mid Total Lots: 15
Mid Sold: 13
Mid Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 13.33%
Total Mid Estimate: $397000
Total Mid Sold: $339375

High Total Lots: 3
High Sold: 3
High Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total High Estimate: $360000
Total High Sold: $463500

There were three lots tied for the top photography lot by High estimate: lot 13, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #194, 1980, at $90000-120000, which sold for $98500; lot 17, Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Your every wish is our command), 1982, at $80000-120000, which was the top outcome of the sale and sold for $278500 (image at right, via Christie's); and lot 105, Chuck Close, Nat (Five color studies), 1971, at $80000-120000, which sold for $86500.

90.00% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of four surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 2, Gerhard Richter, Guildenstern, 1998, at $25000
Lot 17, Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Your every wish is our command), 1982, at $278500
Lot 50, Lucas Samaras, Photo-Transformations, 1973-1976, at $32500
Lot 110, Thomas Struth, Grab von Lu Xun, Shanghai, 1997, at $25000

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Christie's
20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020

Photography at the 2010 ADAA Art Show

In contrast to the bustling chaotic supermarket of the Armory, the ADAA Art Show was a decidedly more serene affair. Most of the exhibitors opted for solo shows or tightly edited groups of work, meticulously hung against colored walls or linen wallpaper (no hand scrawled wall labels here). The overall mood was much more urbane and serious, the hushed voices appropriately reverent.

The photography displayed in this controlled environment was generally of very high quality; lots of big prices and top names, with a minimum of secondary clutter and distraction. Like our Armory posts, for each booth, a list of photographers has been provided, with the number of works on display in parentheses. Additional commentary, prices, editions, and pictures of the installation are also included where specific images stood out.

Fraenkel Gallery (here): Hiroshi Sugimoto (12). This booth was a sophisticated solo show of Sugimoto's work, with a selection of images from a variety of different projects. There were 5 seascapes (4 small in a grid and 1 large), 2 lightning fields (1 small and 1 large), 2 theaters, 1 mechanical still life, 1 blurry building, and 1 Fox Talbot floral. This was the first time I had seen the lightning fields in person; up close the electricity branches out like the wash of a river, or feathers into delicate traceries. The large lightning field image (see below) was $80000 (and already sold); the small lightning field was $18000.

Weinstein Gallery (here): Alec Soth (14). This booth was a solo show, displaying Soth's Fashion Magazine work from 2007. I have to say it was a totally unexpected and yet thoroughly pleasant (and appropriate) surprise to find Soth's work in this rarefied environment. The work held its own with the rest of the art world elite arrayed nearby, and I imagine there were plenty of well heeled collectors in this crowd who had never heard of Soth but came away suitably impressed. All of the prints were pigmented ink prints, in editions of 7. There were three sizes on display (36x30, 40x48, and 58x48) with three sets of prices ($9000 or $10000, $13000, and $17500 respectively, helpfully printed right on the wall labels). In addition to the fashion project (which included the Chanel runway, Yves Saint Laurent's dog, Sophia Loren, lavish meals and interiors, backstage fussing, and up close portraits), I was also able to see some of Soth's mini-projects and recent commissions in a soft portfolio on the table. These included Goth women from the South, the Most Beautiful Woman in Georgia (the country), and the Loneliest Man in Missouri - there is a particularly poignant/sad image from this last project where the man sits in front of a birthday cake, flanked by a woman straight out of a strip club.

Howard Greenberg Gallery (here): Edward Weston (3), Charles Sheeler (1), Jacques-Henri Lartigue (1), Man Ray (2 rayographs), Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1 photogram), Frantisek Drtikol (1 nude), Edward Steichen (1), Robert Frank (2), Saul Leiter (3 color images, 1 painted diptych), Miroslav Tichy (5), William Klein (1). This booth was a carefully selected group of vintage rarities. The stand out image for me among these astonishing treasures was the Sheeler stairway (priced at $600000, see below); I could have stood and looked at it all day. The elegant Weston still lifes were priced at $475000, $450000, and $190000. The 2 Man Ray rayographs were $390000 and $250000 respectively; the Moholy-Nagy was also $250000. The Drtikol nude was $90000.

Metro Pictures Gallery (here): Cindy Sherman (2), Olaf Breuning (1), Louise Lawler (1). The Sherman history portrait below was priced at $300000.

Skarstedt Gallery (here): Barbara Kruger (1), Richard Prince (1), Cindy Sherman (1). Both the Kruger and the Sherman were priced at $275000 (see below).

Barbara Mathes Gallery (here): Hiroshi Sugimoto (1). This was the single most expensive photograph I saw for sale during the entire week of fairs; it was priced at $650000.

Zabriskie Gallery (here): Alfred Stieglitz (3), Constantin Brancusi (1), Edward Steichen (1), Paul Strand (2). This booth was a tribute to 291, Alfred Stieglitz' famous gallery. Drawings, prints and pages from the various gallery magazines were displayed, along with a selection of photographs. My favorite image was the platinum print of Taos by Strand (priced at $100000, see below).

Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographs (here): Edouard-Denis Baldus (1), Frederick Evans (2), Roger Fenton (2), Joseph Vicomte Vigieur (2), Felix Teynard (2), Gustave Le Gray (1), Alvin Langdon Coburn (1), Humphrey Lloyd Hime (2), Louis-Constant De Clercq (1), Carleton Watkins/Eadward Muybridge (1), Charles Negre (1), Erneste Benecke (1), William Henry Fox Talbot (2), Eugene Cuvelier (1), Dr. John Murray (2). This booth was an edited group show called The Horizon in 19th Century Photographs, and included a selection of images bisected by the line of the horizon. The most startling of these works was the print by Humphrey Lloyd Hime, where the land and horizon became solid areas of black and white, the black land decorated by a small skull and bones (priced at $95000 and already sold, see below).

Pace/MacGill Gallery (here): Brassai (1), Diane Arbus (1), Philip-Lorca DiCorcia (1), Paul Graham (1 series), Garry Winogrand (1), Weegee (1), Henri Cartier-Bresson (1), Robert Frank (1), Harry Callahan (1), Lucas Samaras (1). This booth was a collection of top tier images. I enjoyed seeing the large Brassai exhibition print out front (priced at $70000, see below) and the Callahan head from the 1950s.

McKee Gallery (here): Richard Learoyd (1)

David Zwirner Gallery (here): Christopher Williams (8). This was a solo booth, filled with Williams' recent conceptual works (2007-2009). There were cut away cameras and lenses, upside down shoes on a large format camera, and socks being put on feet. Each of the prints was priced at $32000, in editions of 10+4.

Auction: First Open Post-War and Contemporary Art, March 11, 2010 @Christie's New York

Christie's follows Sotheby's in the post-Armory run of low to medium range Contemporary Art sales in New York next week. There are a total of 169 lots on offer in this auction, with 22 lots of photography available, with a total High estimate for photography of $792000. (Catalog cover at right, via Christie's.)

Here's the statistical breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 4

Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $35000

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

Total Mid Estimate: $397000

Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 3

Total High Estimate: $360000
.

There are three lots that are effectively tied for the top photography lot by High estimate. They are: lot 13, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #194, 1980, at $90000-120000; lot 17, Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Your every wish is our command), 1982, at $80000-120000 (image at right, via Christie's); and lot 105, Chuck Close, Nat (Five color studies), 1971, at $80000-120000. The Sherman image is from the History Portraits series; her hairy chested, long haired rogue is brilliantly unsettling (here).

The following is the list of photographers represented by more than one lot in this sale:

Matthew Barney (2)

Chuck Close (2)

Gabriel Orozco (2)

Thomas Ruff (2)

Cindy Sherman (2)

Thomas Struth (2)

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here. The eCatalogue is here.

First Open Post-War and Contemporary Art

March 11th

Christie's

20 Rockefeller Plaza

New York, NY 10020

Barbara Kruger, Pre-Digital, 1980-1992 @Skarstedt

JTF (just the facts): A total of 44 collages and 1 silkscreen painting, shown in the first floor and two second floor galleries (North and South). The collages are made of photographs and cut out type, mounted to paper. They are framed in black and matted, and are generally 10x8 or smaller, with a handful of works approximately 10x14. All of the works were made between 1980 and 1992. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Even after twenty years of time to age gracefully, Barbara Kruger's collages from the 1980s still seem aggressively confrontational and bitterly ironic. While her work in recent years has been predominantly enlarged to billboard and wall sized murals that seem to shout their penetrating slogans, these smaller early pieces have a more hand crafted personal feel and expose more of her working process.

Most of her collages started with a symbolic photographic image, often dripping in Cold War noir. Kruger then cut and pasted words and phrases in a clean typeface (both white on black and black on white) straight onto the images, sometimes adding other graphic elements, like lines or borders. The result was an attention grabbing montage of words and pictures, steeped in the styles of product advertising and political propaganda.

While collage and photomontage went through periods of great activity during the first part of the 20th century (think Hannah Höch and her feminist/Dada collages and the Russian Constructivist posters and collages of Klustis, Lissitzky, and Rodchenko), the form seems to have been consumed by the graphic designers and advertising creatives of the 1940s, going somewhat dormant as an artistic mode until Kruger came along decades later and co-opted the clichés for her own purposes.

While it is a relatively simple idea to take a single image and make it more potent via the use of a clever caption, it is the consistent quality of Kruger's execution that is clear from this show. In work after work, the juxtaposition/contrast of a strong visual with tightly edited, sparse prose leads to incisive commentary and spontaneous combustion. Here are a few of the most memorable phrases:

We are the objects of your suave entrapments

Admit nothing. Blame everyone. Be bitter.

It's our pleasure to disgust you

You are not yourself

Who will write the history of tears

Your moments of joy have the precision of military strategy

We are astonishingly lifelike

Your body is a battlefield

Even in our oversauturated world of media, Kruger's 1980s collages still have enormous energy. While some of the topical questions may have changed, the works themselves have aged extremely well.

Collector's POV: The works in this show are priced between $35000 and $45000; the large silkscreen is not for sale. I think these early Kruger collages will end up being considered iconic, ground breaking works from the 1980s, especially since they show the hand of the artist. While they don't fit into our collection, this is a tremendously thought provoking and challenging show, well worth a visit before it closes.

Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)

Barbara Kruger, Pre-Digital, 1980-1992
Through April 18th

Skarstedt Gallery

20 East 79th Street
New York, NY 10075