Auction Results: Contemporary Art Evening and Day Auctions, June 29 and 30, 2011 @Sotheby's London

The photography up for sale in Sotheby's Contemporary Art auctions in London last week solidly met expectations. With an overall Buy-In rate across the two sales of 20% and a number of postitive surprises, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography came in near the top end of the range.

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

Total Lots: 40
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £1999000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £2783000
Total Lots Sold: 32
Total Lots Bought In: 8
Buy In %: 20.00%
Total Sale Proceeds: £2570650
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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: £6875

Mid Total Lots: 23
Mid Sold: 19
Mid Bought In: 4
Buy In %: 17.39%
Total Mid Estimate: £378000
Total Mid Sold: £482725
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High Total Lots: 16
High Sold: 12
High Bought In: 4
Buy In %: 25.00%
Total High Estimate: £2400000
Total High Sold: £2081050
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The top lot by High estimate was lot 39, Andreas Gursky, Engadin II, 2006, at £500000-700000; it was also the top outcome of the two sales at £937250.

93.75% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate. There were seven surprises in these sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 101, Jorg Immendorff, Den Eisbaren Mal Reinhalten  (Polar Bear Poker), 1968, at £32450
Lot 242, Andreas Gursky, Gasherd (Gas Cooker), 1980, at £55250
Lot 244, Gerhard Richter, 20.5.07:21.5.07 (diptych), 2007, at £56450
Lot 245, Wolfgang Tillmans, Paper Drop (Roma), 2007, at £49250 (image at right, bottom, via Sotheby's)
Lot 262, Annie Leibovitz, Queen Elizabeth II, Buckingham Palace, London, 2007/2011, at £50450 (image at right, top, via Sotheby's)
Lot 298, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #174, 1987, at £61250
Lot 300, Gilbert & George, The Red Sculpture Album, 1975, at £43250

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

Sotheby's
34-35 New Bond Street
London W1A 2AA

Auction Results: Photographs, November 26, 2010 @Christie's King Street

The results of Christie's King Street sale of Photographs last week in London were generally fair to middling. The Total Sale Proceeds came in within the estimate range, although nearer the bottom than the top, and the Buy-In rate hovered in the low thirties. Half of the Penn lots on offer failed to find buyers, a somewhat negative surprise in the otherwise frothy market for his work.

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

Total Lots: 159

Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £781600

Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £1141800

Total Lots Sold: 108

Total Lots Bought In: 51

Buy In %: 32.08%

Total Sale Proceeds: £818250

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

Low Total Lots: 105

Low Sold: 73

Low Bought In: 32

Buy In %: 30.48%

Total Low Estimate: £320800

Total Low Sold: £236100

Mid Total Lots: 47

Mid Sold: 31

Mid Bought In: 16

Buy In %: 34.04%

Total Mid Estimate: £506000

Total Mid Sold: £388750

High Total Lots: 7

High Sold: 4

High Bought In: 3

Buy In %: 42.86%

Total High Estimate: £315000

Total High Sold: £193400

The top lot by High estimate was lot 51, Irving Penn, Picasso (B), Cannes, 1957/Later, at £60000-80000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at £58850.

83.339% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate. There were a total of eight surprises in these sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 3, Chris Killip, Youth on wall, Tyneside, 1976, at £2750 (image at right, middle, via Christie's)

Lot 10, Cecil Beaton, Cherry blossom, early 1950s, at £3250

Lot 34, Sam Haskins, Sunday, early 1960s, at 2500

Lot 40, Peter Beard, Lolindo Lion Charge, 1964, at £23750

Lot 64, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Grand Prix d'ACF, 1912/Later, at £11250

Lot 95, Ellen Von Unwerth, Christy Turlington, New York, 1996, at £10000 (image at right, bottom, via Christie's)

Lot 114, Annie Leibovitz, Alice in Wonderland, Olivier Theyskens and Natalia Vodianova, Paris, 2003, at £8125 (image at right, top, via Christie's)

Lot 151, Shirin Neshat, I am its Secret, 1993, at £10000

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Christie's

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

Weekend Grab Bag

A handful of unrelated photography items from the weekend:

• Cindy Sherman's studio spread in Vogue (here). I'm always interested to see what is hanging on the walls of an artist's studio, especially when it's photography. There is a slide show linked at the bottom of the article, with shots of her work space, prop closets and the like.
• Erwin Olaf contributes some dark images of cobwebbed kitchens with rotting food to an article by Michael Pollan in the New York Times Magazine about the slow demise of cooking (here). Given the Edgar Martins fiasco, notice the extra obvious "photo illustration" captions under each image.
• A generally sad article in the New York Times about the deteriorating financial situation of Annie Leibovitz (here). It's an astonishing but seemingly real possibility that she could lose control of the rights to the output of her entire career.
• Alec Soth's new work, Black Line of Woods, done as commission for the High Museum in Atlanta, opens later this week (here) and is featured/profiled in the New York Times (here). The subject matter of this project is people who are living out in the woods, off the grid, separated from society: "monks, hermits, and survivalists" according to the article. While I haven't seen the pictures (except for the few included in the feature), I think this subject has some timely resonance, especially for those who are feeling trapped by the bad economy and the encroaching world, and are either forced to leave or are looking to "run away" and return to a simpler existence of some kind. I also liked the idea of his list of things to watch for while driving, taped to his steering wheel; it reminded me of the endless obsessive lists of things to photograph that Diane Arbus made.