Auction Results: Photographs, May 18, 2011 @Bloomsbury London

It's a slow climb uphill for Bloomsbury to establish a viable Photographs department, and this sale marked some incremental progress from last year in terms of value on offer, Buy-In rate, and Total Sale Proceeds. The auction still missed the low end of the range by a wide margin and plenty of lots went unsold, but it's a small improvement that can be built on.

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

Total Lots: 225
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £283100
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £405750
Total Lots Sold: 127
Total Lots Bought In: 98
Buy In %: 43.56%
Total Sale Proceeds: £209858

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

Low Total Lots: 207
Low Sold: 89
Low Bought In: 118
Buy In %: 57.00%
Total Low Estimate: £254750
Total Low Sold: £150078

Mid Total Lots: 18
Mid Sold: 9
Mid Bought In: 9
Buy In %: 50.00%
Total Mid Estimate: £151000
Total Mid Sold: £59780

High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: NA
High Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: £0
Total High Sold: NA

The top lot by High estimate is lot 125, Irving Penn, Five Dahomey Girls, One Standing, 1967/1974, at £10000-15000; it did not sell. The top outcome of the sale was lot 21, PH Delamotte for Negritti & Zambei, The Reception of Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, 1855, at £10980.

81.10% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate. There were a total of 11 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 4, Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, With the Wind and Tide, 1880s, at £1159
Lot 13, Fred Judge, Conway Bridge and Castle, c1910, at £3660 (image at right, bottom, via Bloomsbury)
Lot 33, John Edward Sache, Collection of Images of India, 1860s, at £2684
Lot 34, Felice Beato, The Dumi Gate and Emanbarra, Lucknow; Bailey Guard Gate from the Inside, Lucknow, c1858, at £854
Lot 66, Arvid Gutschow, Untitled, c1930s, at £2684 (image at right, middle, via Bloomsbury)
Lot 89, Edouard Boubat, Self Portrait in Mirror, 1951, at £4880
Lot 94, Andre Villers, The Hands of Pablo Picasso, 1960, at £5490
Lot 121, Robert Capa, Omaha Beach, D-Day, 6, June 1944, 1944/before 1955, at £6710 (image at right, top, via Bloomsbury)
Lot 130, Albert Rudomine, Female Nude, 1930s, at £1464
Lot 175, Richard Sadler, Weegee, Coventry, 1963, at £854
Lot 218, Roksana Ciurysek, Butterfly, 2010, at £2684

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Bloomsbury Auctions
24 Maddox Street
Mayfair
London WS1 1PP

Auction: Photographs, May 18, 2011 @Bloomsbury London

Bloomsbury's upcoming Photographs sale in London next week continues the house's pattern of gathering a broad variety of lower end and lesser known vintage material, much of it European. Most of the lots have a high estimate of £2000 or lower, so bargain hunting will be the norm. Overall, there are a total of 225 lots on offer, with a Total High Estimate of £405750.

Here's the breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000): 207
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £254750

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000): 18
Total Mid Estimate: £151000

Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 0
Total High Estimate: NA

The top lot by High estimate is lot 125, Irving Penn, Five Dahomey Girls, One Standing, 1967/1974, at £10000-15000.

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

Eugene Atget (5)
Walker Evans (5)
George Rodger (5)
Cecil Beaton (4)
Edouard Boubat (4)
Bob Carlos Clarke (4)
Frank Horvat (4)
Yoshiyuki Iwase (4)

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.

(Lot 67, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Petals of the Echinopsishybride, 1928, at £1000-1500, at right, middle, lot 79, Bill Brandt, East Sussex Coast, 1957/1960, at £3000-4000, at right, top, and lot 112, Berenice Abbott, Canyon: Broadway and Exchange Place, 1936, at £9000-12000, at right, bottom, all via Bloomsbury.)

Photographs
May 18th

Bloomsbury Auctions
24 Maddox Street
Mayfair
London WS1 1PP

Auction Results: Photographs, December 2, 2010 @Bloomsbury London

Bloomsbury's various owner photographs sale in London last week struggled to find its bearings. With a Buy-In rate over 50% and Total Sale Proceeds meaningfully less than the Total Low Estimate, the auction house continues to search for the secrets of success in the lower end of the market. The vintage Erwin Blumenfeld prints on offer were generally a positive surprise, with 5 out 6 lots selling above their estimate ranges.

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

.

Total Lots: 236

Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £236680

Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £335620

Total Lots Sold: 109

Total Lots Bought In: 127

Buy In %: 53.81%

Total Sale Proceeds: £174899

.

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

.

Low Total Lots: 227

Low Sold: 105

Low Bought In: 122

Buy In %: 53.74%

Total Low Estimate: £271120

Total Low Sold: £148059

.

Mid Total Lots: 9

Mid Sold: 4

Mid Bought In: 5

Buy In %: 55.56%

Total Mid Estimate: £64500

Total Mid Sold: £26840

High Total Lots: 0

High Sold: NA

High Bought In: NA

Buy In %: NA

Total High Estimate: £0

Total High Sold: NA

The top lot by High estimate was tied between two lots: lot 176, Horst P. Horst, Corset, Paris, 1939/Later, and lot 177, Horst P. Horst, Round the Clock I, 1987/Later, both at £8000-10000; neither print sold. The top outcome of the sale was lot 91, Erwin Blumenfeld, Veiled Beauty, c1931, at £9510.
.

88.99% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate. There were a total of 8 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

.

Lot 38, Melcher Berretty, The Lido Nightclub in Paris, c1950s, at £317

Lot 87, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Untitled, c1970, at £6710

Lot 90, Pierre Boucher, Untitled (Paris), c1940, at £671

Lot 94, Erwin Blumenfeld, Untitled, c1940, at £6710 (image at right, middle, via Bloomsbury)

Lot 95, Erwin Blumenfeld, The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, c1938, at £3416

Lot 96, Erwin Blumenfeld, Eyes Like the Sea, c1938, at £4636

Lot 97, Erwin Blumenfeld, Eyes of Youth, c1938, at £4880 (image at right, top, via Bloomsbury)

Lot 116, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin at the Lunar Module, 1969, at £1403 (image at right, bottom, via Bloomsbury)

.

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Bloomsbury Auctions

24 Maddox Street

Mayfair

London WS1 1PP

Auction: Photographs, December 2, 2010 @Bloomsbury London

As usual, Bloomsbury's upcoming London Photographs sale is a lower end mix of mostly lesser known vintage material. With the vast majority of lots having a high estimate of £2000 or lower, it will certainly possible to pick up some prints at reasonable prices. Keep your eyes open for Brassaï's city cats. Overall, there are a total of 236 lots on offer, with a Total High Estimate of £335620.

Here's the breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000): 227

Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £271120

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000): 9

Total Mid Estimate: £64500

Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 0

Total High Estimate: NA

The top lot by High estimate is tied between two lots: lot 176, Horst P. Horst, Corset, Paris, 1939/Later, and lot 177, Horst P. Horst, Round the Clock I, 1987/Later, both at £8000-10000.

.

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

Brassaï (14)
Erwin Blumenfeld (6)
Edouard Boubat (4)
Julia Margaret Cameron (4)
Robert Doisneau (4)
De Lancey Gill (4)
Weegee (4)

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here. While we won't have the opportunity to do a statistical analysis on Bloomsbury's Rome Photographs sale coming up on December 3rd, the lot by lot catalogue can be found here.

(Lot 21, Julia Margaret Cameron, Cecilia Tennyson, 1871-1872, at £3000-5000, at right, bottom, lot 77, Walker Evans, Fulton Market Area, New York, c1934, at £3000-4000, at right, middle, and lot 195, Ed van der Elsken, Vali a St-Germain-des-Pres (Reve), 1952, at £600-800, at right, top, all via Bloomsbury.)

Photographs

December 2nd

Bloomsbury Auctions

24 Maddox Street

Mayfair

London WS1 1PP

Auction Results: The Photographs Sale, May 19, 2010 @Bloomsbury London, Rome and New York

Bloomsbury's triple play of London, Rome, and New York photographs auctions last week delivered discouragingly dismal results, with all three sales tallying buy-in rates of 50% or higher and total sale proceeds far beneath each of their respective total low estimates. New York was the weakest of the three, with a buy-in rate above 70% and and total sale proceeds just over a third of the total low estimate. It appears that the first major problem is a lack of real bidders, likely a result of a combination of less enticing material, a smaller client database, and not enough additional publicity. While we'd like to see Bloomsbury have some success, these are tricky, interrelated issues, and until they make progress on all of them, I'm afraid this photographs department will continue to struggle.

London: Session I

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

Total Lots: 120
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £174200
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £252100
Total Lots Sold: 56
Total Lots Bought In: 64
Buy In %: 53.33%
Total Sale Proceeds: £119011

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

Low Total Lots: 113
Low Sold: 50
Low Bought In: 63
Buy In %: 55.75%
Total Low Estimate: £190100
Total Low Sold: £72651

Mid Total Lots: 7
Mid Sold: 6
Mid Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 14.29%
Total Mid Estimate: £62000
Total Mid Sold: £46360

High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: NA
High Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: £0
Total High Sold: NA

The top lot by High estimate in this session was lot 27, Eugenio Courret, Vistas Monumentos Y Tipos De Lima, 1870, at £10000-15000; it was also the top outcome of the session at £15860.

71.43% of the lots that sold had proceeds above or in the estimate range. There was only one surprise in this session (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 6, Adolphe Braun, Views in Switzerland, c1865, at £3660

Complete lot by lot results for London can be found here.

Rome: Session II

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

Total Lots: 178
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: 202250€
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: 282050€
Total Lots Sold: 89
Total Lots Bought In: 89
Buy In %: 50.00%
Total Sale Proceeds: 126330€

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

Low Total Lots: 175
Low Sold: 87
Low Bought In: 88
Buy In %: 50.29%
Total Low Estimate: 243050€
Total Low Sold: 104330€

Mid Total Lots: 3
Mid Sold: 2
Mid Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 33.33%
Total Mid Estimate: 39000€
Total Mid Sold: 22000€

High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: NA
High Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: 0€
Total High Sold: NA

The top lot by High estimate in this session was effectively tied between lot 227 (the cover lot), Robert Mapplethorpe, Patti Smith, N.Y.C., 1976, at 10000-15000€, and lot 280, Elio Luxardo, Pietro Donzelli, Federico Vender and others, Con una piccola Rondine, 1951, at 12000-15000€. The Mapplethorpe sold for 11000€; it was tied for the top outcome of the session with lot 318, Julia Margaret Cameron, Holy Family, 1872, which also sold for 11000€. The Luxardo et al. did not sell.

Only 67.42% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate. There were a total of 3 surprises in this session (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 237, Sebastiao Salgado, Lisbon, Portugal, 1975 at 2400€
Lot 329, Willy Ronis, Place Vendome, 1947/1980, at 2200€
Lot 348, Cesare Colombo, Apprendisti N. 1, c1970, at 1000€

Complete lot by lot results for Rome can be found here.

New York: Session III

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

Total Lots: 126
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $330000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $490700
Total Lots Sold: 37
Total Lots Bought In: 89
Buy In %: 70.63%
Total Sale Proceeds: $114314

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

Low Total Lots: 123
Low Sold: 36
Low Bought In: 87
Buy In %: 70.73%
Total Low Estimate: $438700
Total Low Sold: $104554

Mid Total Lots: 3
Mid Sold: 1
Mid Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 66.67%
Total Mid Estimate: $52000
Total Mid Sold: $9760

High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: NA
High Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: $0
Total High Sold: NA

The top photography lot by High estimate in this session was tied between lot 417, Imogen Cunningham, Nude, 1932/1960 and lot 426, Marilyn Minter, Mardi Gras, 2007, both at $15000-20000; the Cunningham sold for $9760 and was the top outcome of the session, while the Minter did not sell.

70.27% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were no surprises in this session (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate).

Complete lot by lot results for New York can be found here.

Bloomsbury Auctions

24 Maddox Street
Mayfair
London W1S 1PP

Palazzo Colonnavia della Pilotta 19
00187, Roma

6 West 48th Street
New York, NY 10036

Auctions: The Photographs Sale, May 19, 2010 @Bloomsbury London, Rome and New York

Rather than spread out its Photographs sales for London, Rome and New York across multiple months, Bloomsbury has taken the unusual step of scheduling all three back to back on one day (leveraging Internet bidding) and placing all the lots in one handy catalog. There are certainly some economies of scale with this approach and likely some cross pollination of geographies that wouldn't normally have happened.

In general, all three sales are filled with lower end material; there are no High lots in any of the sessions. Each sale has its own primary currency, which makes aggregating the financial data a bit trickier. In the London sale, there are a total of 120 lots on offer, with a Total High Estimate of £252100. In the Rome sale, there are a total of 178 lots on offer, with a Total High Estimate of 282050€. And in the New York sale, there are a total of 126 lots on offer, with a Total High Estimate of $490700. I've outlined the statistical details for each session separately below. (Catalog cover at right, via Bloomsbury.)

London: Session I

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000): 113
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £190100

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000): 7
Total Mid Estimate: £62000

Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 0
Total High Estimate: NA

The top lot by High estimate in this session is lot 27, Eugenio Courret, Vistas Monumentos Y Tipos De Lima, 1870, at £10000-15000.

Here is the list of the photographers who are represented by three or more lots in this portion of the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Willy Ronis (7)
Constantin Brancusi (4)
Harry Benson (3)
Bill Brandt (3)
Brassai (3)
Elliot Erwitt (3)
Jacques-Henri Lartigue (3)
Leni Riefenstahl (3)
Orthon Von Ostheim (3)

Rome: Session II

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including 7500€): 175
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): 243050€

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between 7500€ and 35000€): 3
Total Mid Estimate: 39000€

Total High Lots (high estimate above 35000€): 0
Total High Estimate: NA

The top lot by High estimate in this session is effectively tied between lot 227 (the cover lot), Robert Mapplethorpe, Patti Smith, N.Y.C., 1976, at 10000-15000€, and lot 280, Elio Luxardo, Pietro Donzelli, Federico Vender and others, Con una piccola Rondine, 1951, at 12000-15000€.

Here is the list of the photographers who are represented by three or more lots in this portion of the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Edouard Boubat (5)
Willy Ronis (5)
Thomas Hopker (4)
Andre Kertesz (4)
Vincenzo Castella (3)
Denise Colomb (3)
Robert Doisneau (3)
Mario Giacomelli (3)
Luigi Ghirri (3)
Mimmo Jodice (3)
Federico Patellani (3)
Domenico Riccardo Peretti Griva (3)
Fulvio Roiter (3)

While not one of the top lots, lot 211, Gabriele Basilico, Rotterdam, 1986, at 2800-3200€, is one of our favorite images by Basilico. (image at right, via Bloomsbury)

New York: Session III

This session includes both photographs and photobooks.

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 123
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $438700

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 3
Total Mid Estimate: $52000

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

The top photography lot by High estimate in this session is tied between lot 417, Imogen Cunningham, Nude, 1932/1960 and lot 426, Marilyn Minter, Mardi Gras, 2007, both at $15000-20000.

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

George Barris (3)
Elliot Erwitt (3)
Andre Kertesz (3)
William Klein (3)
Daido Moriyama (3)
Weegee (3)

Complete lot by lot catalogs are available for London (here), Rome (here), and New York (here).

Photographs
May 19th

Bloomsbury Auctions

24 Maddox Street
Mayfair
London W1S 1PP

Palazzo Colonna
via della Pilotta 19
00187, Roma

6 West 48th Street
New York, NY 10036

Auction Results: Photographs, November 10, 2009 @Bloomsbury London

Bloomsbury's various owner photographs sale in London continued the auction house's struggles to find a successful formula. Total Sale Proceeds were meaningfully less than half the Total Low Estimate and the Buy-In Rate topped 65%. My guess is that these woes stem from a combination of the wrong material matched to the wrong client base; and of course, there are no easy answers or solutions to these problems. It seems that Swann is the only one to have figured out the trick to consistently surviving (and often thriving) on the lower half of this market.

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

Total Lots: 239
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £320600
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £470500
Total Lots Sold: 82
Total Lots Bought In: 157
Buy In %: 65.69%
Total Sale Proceeds: £126124

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

Low Total Lots: 225
Low Sold: 80
Low Bought In: 145
Buy In %: 64.44%
Total Low Estimate: £324500
Total Low Sold: £105628

Mid Total Lots: 13
Mid Sold: 2
Mid Bought In: 11
Buy In %: 84.62%
Total Mid Estimate: £118000
Total Mid Sold: £20496

High Total Lots: 1
High Sold: 0
High Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 100.00%
Total High Estimate: £28000
Total High Sold: £0

Only 62.20% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate. There were six surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 15 Kusakabe Kimbei, GR Lambert, World Album, 1860-1880, at £4392
Lot 40, Anonymous, Dundee, 1926, at £6344
Lot 42 Underwood & Underwood, Titanic - A group of 5 glass positive slides, 1911/1912, at £1830
Lot 58 Helmut Newton, Sumo, 1999, at £8540
Lot 65 Vladimir Fyman, Chrysanthemum, 1941, at £2074
Lot 126 Elliot Erwitt, New York City, Coney Island, 1974/Later, at £3660

The top lot by High estimate was lot 230, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Mediterranean Sea, Crete, 1990, at £22000-28000; it did not sell. The top outcome of the sale was lot 222, Irving Penn, Lily Melridge, 1971/2007, at £15860.

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Bloomsbury Auctions
24 Maddox Street
Mayfair
London WS1 1PP

Auction: Photographs, November 10, 2009 @Bloomsbury London

Bloomsbury's upcoming London Photographs sale is a lower end mix of mostly lesser known vintage material, with a handful of photo books thrown in for good measure. While there are very few stand out contemporary works on offer, there will almost certainly be some bargains to be found here (the vast majority of lots have a high estimate of £2000 or lower). There are a total of 239 lots on offer, with a Total High Estimate of £470500. (Catalog cover at right, via Bloomsbury.)

Here's the breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000): 225
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £324500

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000): 13
Total Mid Estimate: £118000

Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 1
Total High Estimate: £28000

The top lot by High estimate is lot 230, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Mediterranean Sea, Crete, 1990, at £22000-28000.

Here is a short list of the eclectic group of photographers who are represented by four or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Willy Ronis (10)
Osvaldo Salas (9)
Elliot Erwitt (6)
Thurston Hopkins (5)
Bob Willoughby (5)
Jack Eden (4)
Cornel Lucas (4)
Steve Pyke (4)
Chris Steele-Perkins (4)
Antanas Sutkus (4)

While this sale doesn't have too many works that fit well with our collection, the cover image, lot 222 Irving Penn, Lily Melridge, New York, 1971/2007, would certainly match nicely with our other florals.

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here. A 3D version is also available.

Photographs
November 10th

Bloomsbury Auctions
24 Maddox Street
Mayfair
London WS1 1PP

Auction Results: Photographs and Photographic Editions, October 6, 2009 @Bloomsbury

Regular readers here will hopefully realize that we do our best to provide honest critical thinking as applied to the world of fine art photography, but we generally refrain from overly harsh slicing and dicing; it's hard enough being an artist without having slings and arrows being thrown from collectors as well. When we come across an exhibit or show that doesn't interest us or meet our standards, we simply omit it from the editorial calendar. Auctions are, on the other hand, a slightly more objective experience; they are the unadorned matching of buyers and sellers, finding equilibrium prices via the invisible hand of the market. As such, we tend to report even the less than positive outcomes that occur from time to time at auction, as these seem to us to be mostly a retelling of the facts, rather than any imparting of opinion or critique.

With that preamble, it gives me no pleasure to report the results from Bloomsbury's sale last week. As I gathered up the statistics for this post, I can say that this outcome is the single most dispiriting set of auction results that I can remember in a decade of collecting photography; what it must have been like to be in the room as the lots went by makes me shudder in sympathy, especially for the set of Weegees that went 5 for 50. This sale had two parts (photography and photographic literature) and we'll discuss each in turn below; continue to read, if you dare.

The summary statistics for the photography lots are as follows (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 197
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $660000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $1000000
Total Lots Sold: 35
Total Lots Bought In: 162
Buy In %: 82.23%
Total Sale Proceeds: $154994

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

Low Total Lots: 192
Low Sold: 33
Low Bought In: 159
Buy In %: 82.81%
Total Low Estimate: $911000
Total Low Sold: $124494

Mid Total Lots: 5
Mid Sold: 2
Mid Bought In: 3
Buy In %: 60.00%
Total Mid Estimate: $89000
Total Mid Sold: $30500

High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: 0
High Bought In: 0
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: $0
Total High Sold: NA

Of the lots that did sell, 37.14% sold below the low estimate. There were no surprises in the photo portion of the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate).

The top photo lot by High estimate was lot 19 Richard Avedon, Cyd Charisse, Evening Dress by Macrini, 1961/1981, at $20000-30000; it was the top outcome in the sale at $21960.

The photographic literature performed better in comparison, but the total proceeds were still quite low. The summary statistics for the books are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 95
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $124800
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $185800
Total Lots Sold: 60
Total Lots Bought In: 35
Buy In %: 36.84%
Total Sale Proceeds: $76770

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

Low Total Lots: 94
Low Sold: 60
Low Bought In: 34
Buy In %: 36.17%
Total Low Estimate: $170800
Total Low Sold: $76770

Mid Total Lots: 1
Mid Sold: 0
Mid Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 100.00%
Total Mid Estimate: $15000
Total Mid Sold: $0

High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: 0
High Bought In: 0
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: $0
Total High Sold: NA

Of the lots that did sell, 41.67% sold below the low estimate. Again, there were no surprises (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) in this portion of the sale.

The top book lot by High estimate was lot 219 Alexander Rodchenko and Volya Lyakhov, Poet Vladamir Mayakovsky, 1924; Soviet Advertising Posters 1917-1932, at $10000-15000; it did not sell. The top outcome in the book portion of the sale was lot 229 William Klein, Life Is Good & Good For You In New York, 1956, at $7930.

Complete lot by lot results can be found here. The silver lining for collectors in all of this is that perhaps there are some after sale bargains available.

Bloomsbury Auctions
6 West 48th Street
New York, NY 10036

Auction: Photographs and Photographic Editions, October 6, 2009 @Bloomsbury

Bloomsbury begins the Fall auction season in New York with its dual sale of photographs and photographic editions coming up on the 6th. As such, I've split this post and the usual statistical measures into two sections, to reflect the differences between the two groups of items on offer. (Catalog cover at right.)

The photography section is headlined by a group of 50 Weegee prints (including quite a few of his distortions) from the Suzanne and Hugh Johnston Weegee Collection; a special reception with the collectors (who hold the largest collection of Weggee's work in private hands) and a screening of their documentary on Weegee is scheduled for October 2nd. In general, beyond the Weegees (who will appeal to a relatively small audience), the sale lacks real star power, with most of the lots in the affordable range. Overall, there are 197 photographs on offer, with a total High estimate of an even $1000000.

Here's the photography breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 192
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $911000

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 5
Total Mid Estimate: $89000

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

The top photo lot by High estimate is lot 19 Richard Avedon, Cyd Charisse, Evening Dress by Macrini, 1961/1981, at $20000-30000.

Our favorites from this portion of the sale include:

Lot 3 Lee Friedlander, Nude, 1981
Lot 37 Ruth Orkin, 3 White Stoops, 1952
Lot 77 Weegee, West 51st Street Sign, New York City, Distortion, 1955 (at right)
Lot 164 Iwase Yoshiyuki, Untitled (nude), 1950

The second section of the sale includes photographic editions and books; there are a total of 95 books on offer, with a total High estimate of $185800.

Here's the book breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 94
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $170800

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 1
Total Mid Estimate: $15000

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

The top book lot by High estimate is lot 219 Alexander Rodchenko and Volya Lyakhov, Poet Vladamir Mayakovsky, 1924; Soviet Advertising Posters 1917-1932, at $10000-15000.

For our own library, we would be interested in:

Lot 235 Yoshikazu Suzuki and Shohachi Kimura, Ginza Haccho, Ginza Kaiwai, 1954
Lot 261 Lee Friedlander, Flowers and Trees, 1981
Lot 280 David Goldblatt, Particulars, 2003

The complete lot by lot catalog (including both photographs and books) can be found here.

Photographs and Photographic Editions
October 6th

Bloomsbury Auctions
6 West 48th Street
New York, NY 10036

John Cowey Leaving Bloomsbury Auctions

John Cowey, Head of the Photographs Department in New York, is leaving Bloomsbury Auctions, effective tomorrow. Specialist Hannah Hayden will remain to handle the operational details of the upcoming October sale.

Bloomsbury's entry into the competitive Photographs auction market in New York last year couldn't have come at a harder time, just as the overall economy started to get rough. The results of its sales in the past two seasons have been on the soft side, to be expected in building a client base and a new stream of consignments in this kind of economic climate. That said, the proceeds to the house from these two sales can't have been much (perhaps not even enough to cover the costs of the department), so it isn't a surprise exactly that the pressure was mounting. What John's departure means for the future of the department remains unclear.

Auction Results: Photographs, May 21, 2009 @Bloomsbury London

The results of Bloomsbury's recent photography sale in London were at the bottom end of this season's general range: more than half bought-in and total proceeds less than half the total Low estimate.

This outcome makes me wonder about the layering of auction houses in the photography market, and whether a house that takes a lower price, higher volume strategy has different expectations about what the results should look like; perhaps all that matters if this strategy is employed is maximizing the total proceeds. The buy-in rate in this situation is interesting to specialists for tuning the mix of material and spotting changing trends/tastes, but not as much of a useful benchmark for collectors or other outsiders.

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

Total Lots: 269
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £293900
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £443200

Total Lots Sold: 112
Total Lots Bought In: 157
Buy In %: 58.36%
Total Sale Proceeds: £135810

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

Low Total Lots: 254
Low Sold: 109
Low Bought In: 145
Buy In %: 57.09%
Total Low Estimate: £293200
Total Low Sold: £110610

Mid Total Lots: 14
Mid Sold: 3
Mid Bought In: 11
Buy In %: 78.57%
Total Mid Estimate: £100000
Total Mid Sold: £25200

High Total Lots: 1
High Sold: 0
High Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 100.00%
Total High Estimate: £50000
Total High Sold: £0

70.54% 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 4, Alfred Stieglitz, Selected plates from Camera Work, at £7200, lot 124, Florence Henri, Portrait of Erica Brausen, 1931, at £3600, lot 151, Alberto Korda, Entrance of Fidel Castro & Camilo in Havana, 1959 at £5760, and lot 269, William Baker and John Burke, Black Mountain Campaign, 1891, at £4080.

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Bloomsbury Auctions
24 Maddox Street
Mayfair
London WS1 1PP

Auction: Photographs, May 21, 2009 @Bloomsbury London

Bloomsbury's upcoming Photographs sale in London has a heavy dose of portraiture: musicians and rock stars, actors and actresses, celebrities and artists, political figures and wealthy patrons. For collectors interested in pictures of famous (and not so famous) people, this sale has plenty to explore. Overall, the auction has a total of 269 lots on offer, with a total high estimate of £443200. (Catalog cover at right.)

Here's the breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate £5000 and below): 254

Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £293200

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

Total Mid Estimate: £100000

Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 1

Total High Estimate: £50000

Given the overall focus of this sale, there aren't as many lots that fit our collection well. The elegant cover image, Lot 8 Erwin Blumenfeld, (Nude), 1943, would however match nicely with our other nudes.

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.

Photographs

May 21st

.

Bloomsbury Auctions

24 Maddox Street

Mayfair

London WS1 1PP

Auction Results: Photographs and Photographic Editions, New York, April 2, 2009 @Bloomsbury

There aren't many easy ways to sugar coat the results at Bloomsbury last week - it was a rough outing. Whether this was due to the material they collected, their place last in line after an exhausting run of AIPAD and the other auctions, the general economic malaise, or some combination of all three, the results were a dose of reality after a glimmer of optimism coming out of the big crowds at AIPAD. When half the lots fail to sell, it's a splash of very cold water.

The summary statistics are below:

Total Lots: 140
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $559900
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $832200
Total Lots Sold: 70
Total Lots Bought In: 70
Buy In %: 50.00%
Total Sale Proceeds: $333304

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

Low Total Lots: 132
Low Sold: 67
Low Bought In: 65
Buy In %: 49.24%
Total Low Estimate: $695200
Total Low Sold: $291214

Mid Total Lots: 8
Mid Sold: 3
Mid Bought In: 5
Buy In %: 62.50%
Total Mid Estimate: $137000
Total Mid Sold: $42090

High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: NA
High Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: NA
Total High Sold: NA

84.29% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. While there were both photographs and photo books in this sale, they generally performed at about the same rate in terms of sell through. There were no surprises (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) in this sale.

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Bloomsbury Auctions
6 West 48th Street
New York, NY 10036

Auction: Photographs and Photographic Editions, New York, April 2, 2009 @Bloomsbury

Bloomsbury made its entry into the New York Photographs market last fall with its debut sale, and has returned with a small but sensible sophomore effort this spring. There are a total of 140 lots in this sale (93 lots of photographs and 47 of books and editions) with a total high estimate of $832200. Given Bloomsbury's overall strength in books, I imagine photo books will gain more and more focus at this house over time. (Catalogue cover at right.)

Here's the breakdown (grouping photographs and books together):

.

Total Low lots (high estimate $10000 or lower): 132

Total Low estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $695200

Total Mid lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 8
Total Mid estimate: $137000

Total High lots (high estimate over $50000): 0
Total High estimate: NA

While there aren't any major masterpieces in this sale (as evidenced by the small number of Mid and High estimated lots), the highlights include a small group of abstractions and still lifes (lots 40-47) from the New Bauhaus, which were an unexpected and welcome surprise. For our specific collection, I liked the Rudolph Koppitz Hand Studie, from 1920, best (lot 5, at right), as it would fit well with other nudes we own.

The lot by lot catalogue can be found here. There is also fancier version that looks and acts like a catalogue ("3D View") rather than a web page.

Photographs and Photographic Editions
April 2, 2009

Bloomsbury Auctions

6 West 48th Street

New York, NY 10036

Luigi Ghirri: It's Beautiful Here, Isn't It... @Aperture and Bloomsbury

JTF (just the facts): 88 color prints (and one wall sized montage) with white frames, arrayed in the main gallery space at Aperture. An additional 16 images shown in the entry and near the reception desk at Bloomsbury. The combined exhibition is a mixture of vintage C-prints and Polaroids and modern pigment prints. All of the images are from the 1970s and 1980s. (Installation shot of Aperture show at right.)

Comments/Context: Even within the short history of photography, there seem to be plenty of high quality photographers who get lost for one reason or another. The Italian photographer Luigi Ghirri was one of these misplaced artists who, having been virtually unknown in the United States his entire career, has recently been "rediscovered". This pair of shows is the first major exhibition of Ghirri's work in America, and coincides with a new monograph being published by Aperture.

.

Ghirri is now being positioned as a trail blazer in color photography, placing him in the same category and time period as 1970s Eggleston, Shore, Christenberry, and Sternfeld. And yet, his aesthetic, as evidenced by the works in these shows, was markedly different from these American photographers, and seems more clearly derived from European threads of photography.

.

The first thing that struck me about these images was Ghirri's palette. All of the images have a washed out, sunny coloring, full of soft pastels and light colors; there are no crisp blacks or high contrasts in any of these pictures. The colors are far less saturated than any of his American contemporaries, softening any harshness and making the images somehow more friendly and welcoming.

.

Beyond the color sensations, the works clearly extend many of the ideas of Surrealism, in a magical, playful, Italo Calvino-esque way. There is an "edge of reality" feeling throughout Ghirri's work, and experiments with collage and montage, as well as eclectic camera angles and conceptual stagings, are explored and delivered as simple and subtle surprises. There doesn't seem to be one dominant set of ideas here, but more a series of related explorations, and the works seem to alternate between a quiet, contemplative mood and one with a little more zest and humor. The fact that he was doing all of this within the new confines of color makes the pictures all the more intriguing.

.

The exhibit itself needs some editing; there are a few too many pictures and the whole show feels a bit flabby as a result. 10-15 less pictures would have made the argument that much tighter and would have minimized the fatigue; by the end, all the faded colors were starting to blend for me. The overflow pictures shown at Bloomsbury didn't add anything to what I had already seen at Aperture, so these are likely a pass, unless you are a die hard Ghirri fan and want to see every last image on view.

Collector's POV: I particularly enjoyed Ghirri's series of images from Morandi's studio, and few of his more painterly topographic-style images of walls and doors. None of the images in either of these exhibitions is directly for sale, but when I inquired, I was eagerly told to make a list of images I was interested in and someone would get back to me, so perhaps some are potentially available (at what price I don't know). The Ghirri estate is represented by Julie Saul Gallery.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Luigi Ghirri: It's Beautiful Here, Isn't It...

Through January 29th (at Aperture)

Through January 8th (at Bloomsbury)

Aperture Gallery

547 West 27th Street

New York, NY 10001

Bloomsbury Auctions

6 West 48th Street

New York, NY 10036

Auctions: Heritage, Millon, and Bloomsbury

Here are three more upcoming photography auctions that are worth a look. We won't have time to do the usual thorough analysis of these sales, but wanted to provide links just the same:

Heritage Auctions
Vintage & Contemporary Photography
December 12

348 lots of photography.

Millon & Associes
Photographie Contemporaine
December 13

113 lots of contemporary photography in a sale also offering design/furniture.

Bloomsbury Auctions
20th Century Arts, New York
December 17

118 lots of photography in a sale also offering prints/multiples.

Auction Results Fall 2008: Bloomsbury London, Rago, and Phillips London

We've got three additional photography sales to cover from last week: Bloomsbury London, Rago, and Phillips London. All results include the buyer’s premium.

Bloomsbury London

Total Lots: 302
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: 434100 Pounds
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: 632300 Pounds

Total Lots Sold: 126
Total Lots Bought In: 176
Buy In %: 58.28%
Total Sale Proceeds: 181344 Pounds

Like the drubbing at Sotheby's London earlier in the week, this sale was pretty disastrous all over. Even the things that did sell often sold well below their Low estimates. With only about 30000 Pounds of premium, I imagine this sale was awfully close to failing to break even against the auction house's costs plus overhead.

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

Low Total Lots: 287
Low Sold: 121
Low Bought In: 166
Buy In %: 57.84%
Total Low Estimate: 506300 Pounds
Total Low Sold: 128970 Pounds

Mid Total Lots: 15
Mid Sold: 5
Mid Bought In: 10
Buy In %: 66.67%
Total Mid Estimate: 126000 Pounds
Total Mid Sold: 22150 Pounds

High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: 0
High Bought In: 0
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: 0 Pounds
Total High Sold: 0 Pounds

I think the lesson here is (again) about needing to source high quality material. There just weren't enough great pictures in this sale to draw out the buyers.

Rago

Total Lots: 301
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $963900
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $1453600

Total Lots Sold: 203
Total Lots Bought In: 98
Buy In %: 32.56%
Total Sale Proceeds: $505290

As a reminder, this was the Dan Berley sale, with many solid images and portfolios on offer at generally low estimates, so it's a little surprising that this sale performed only passingly well, even in these tough economic times.

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

Low Total Lots: 277
Low Sold: 205
Low Bought In: 72
Buy In %: 25.99%
Total Low Estimate: $857600
Total Low Sold: $377490

Mid Total Lots: 22
Mid Sold: 8
Mid Bought In: 14
Buy In %: 63.64%
Total Mid Estimate: $476000
Total Mid Sold: $127800

High Total Lots: 2
High Sold: 0
High Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 100.00%
Total High Estimate: $120000
Total High Sold: $0

The Mid and High ranges performed quite poorly here, and many Low lots sold for under their Low estimates, which together clearly impacted the total proceeds. My guess is that the overall buyer turnout was weak, ultimately driving down prices.

Phillips London

Total Lots: 188
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: 1105500 Pounds
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: 1623500 Pounds

Total Lots Sold: 127
Total Lots Bought In: 61
Buy In %: 32.45%
Total Sale Proceeds: 1003951 Pounds

The sale was a grab bag of different styles and periods, but the targeting seems to have produced a solid outcome.

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

Low Total Lots: 98
Low Sold: 65
Low Bought In: 33
Buy In %: 33.67%
Total Low Estimate: 296500 Pounds
Total Low Sold: 160876 Pounds

Mid Total Lots: 81
Mid Sold: 54
Mid Bought In: 27
Buy In %: 29.63%
Total Mid Estimate: 807000 Pounds
Total Mid Sold: 608125 Pounds

High Total Lots: 9
High Sold: 5
High Bought In: 4
Buy In %: 44.44%
Total High Estimate: 520000 Pounds
Total High Sold: 234950 Pounds

The Mid range really carried this sale. There were actually quite a number of lots that sold above their High estimates, which has been virtually unheard of this auction season. Credit here goes to the Phillips team for digging out some unexpected material for which stingy buyers were willing to open their wallets.

NOTE: This will be the last post this week, given the Thanksgiving holiday. We'll be back on Monday, December 1st, with a review of Cindy Sherman's new exhibit at Metro Pictures.

Auction: Photographs of London and Contemporary, 20th Century & 19th Century Photographs, November 20, 2008 @Bloomsbury London

Bloomsbury's upcoming photography auction in London has two distinct parts: a thematic grouping of pictures loosely centered on the city of London, and then a more straightforward mixed group of photography from across the history of the medium.

The London group has a wide variety of images, from all time periods (19th century through to contemporary), displayed in roughly chronological order. There are city landscapes and architectural views, street scenes and people, wartime shots, portraits of politicians, London fashion images, and even a few pictures of the Beatles, the Clash, and Johnny Rotten. I'm not sure the "London" theme gives resonance to everything that's included here, but I understand the idea of using a theme to put a framework around a group of pictures like these.

The rest of the sale (displayed in reverse chronological order, just to keep you guessing) follows well worn paths. In total, the sale has a total of 302 lots on offer, with a total high estimate of 632300 Pounds. Here's the price breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate below 5000 Pounds): 287
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): 506300 Pounds

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between 5000 and 25000 Pounds): 15
Total Mid Estimate: 126000 Pounds

Total High Lots (high estimate above 25000 Pounds): 0
Total High Estimate: 0 Pounds

With 95% of the lots in this sale below 5000 Pounds, and many below 1000 Pounds, this is the definition of a Low end sale, with a broad range of material available at reasonable prices.

For our collection, in the London section of the sale, we liked:

• Lot 26 Wolfgang Suschitzky, St. Paul's Cathedral, 1942
• Lot 70 Roger Mayne, Southam Street, 1958 (image at right)

In the more general area of the sale, we found the following lots of interest:

• Lot 166 Elliott Erwitt, New York City (Tony's of Worth Street), 1969/Later
• Lot 184 Bill Brandt, Nude, 1954
• Lot 185 Bill Brandt, East Sussex Coast, 1959
• Lot 245 Walker Evans, Barn Window Detail, 1930/Later
• Lot 247 Berenice Abbott, Financial District Rooftops, 1938
• Lot 263 Charles Jones, Gazania Splendorous, c1900
• Lot 265 Charles Jones, Narcissus, Madame De Graaf, c1900 (image at right)
• Lot 300 William Henry Fox Talbot, Fern, 1863

While there are few real stand out images in this sale, there are plenty of attractively priced secondary images that are worth a look.

Photographs of London and Contemporary, 20th Century & 19th Century Photographs
November 20th

Bloomsbury Auctions
Bloomsbury House
24 Maddox Street
Mayfair
London W1S 1PP

Auction Results Fall 2008: Bloomsbury and Swann

Sales at Bloomsbury and Swann (last Friday and yesterday respectively) continued this year's New York auction season. Both sales had a significant percentage of lower end material, which had performed decently well in the previous sales at Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips, despite the economic downturn. The results are below.

Bloomsbury Inaugural Photographs Sale

Total Lots: 145
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $1767200
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $2588800

Total Lots Sold: 75
Total Lots Bought In: 70
Buy In %: 48.28%
Total Sale Proceeds: $710760

These numbers are a bit skewed, given that the big trophy lot (the five volume 19th century Russian set) didn't sell, thereby zeroing out a major portion of the estimated proceeds. Given the combination of Bloomsbury's new entry into the marketplace and the financial crisis, I think you can call this sale a lukewarm success; they sold a bunch of lots, tested all their infrastructure, and established themselves as credible. The bar will be much higher next season.

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

Low Total Lots: 118
Low Sold: 59
Low Bought In: 59
Buy In %: 50.00%
Total Low Estimate: $733800
Total Low Sold: $309360

Mid Total Lots: 24
Mid Sold: 15
Mid Bought In: 9
Buy In %: 37.50%
Total Mid Estimate: $515000
Total Mid Sold: $299400

High Total Lots: 3
High Sold: 1
High Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 66.67%
Total High Estimate: $1340000
Total High Sold: $102000

As an aside, we had hoped to sneak off with the tasty Lewis Baltz image from the New Industrial Parks series (one of the best from that series we have seen at auction in several years), assuming we might be able to get a bargain, given it was Bloomsbury's first NY sale. No such luck. We were trounced, as the lot estimated $6000-8000 went for $12600 (including premium). It was one of only four lots in the entire sale to go above its high estimate.

Swann Galleries Important 19th & 20th Century Photographs

Total Lots: 390
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $1815300
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $2659900

Total Lots Sold: 257
Total Lots Bought In: 133
Buy In %: 34.10%
Total Sale Proceeds: $1462921

This was a solid, workmanlike performance for Swann. The range of material was broad, the buy-in percentage was respectable, and the total proceeds were decently close to the pre sale low estimate, despite the challenging external conditions.

Here's the breakdown (again using definitions from the preview post, here)

Low Total Lots: 346
Low Sold: 226
Low Bought In: 120
Buy In %: 34.68%
Total Low Estimate: $1732900
Total Low Sold: $930731

Mid Total Lots: 43
Mid Sold: 30
Mid Bought In: 13
Buy In %: 30.23%
Total Mid Estimate: $867000
Total Mid Sold: $488990

High Total Lots: 1
High Sold: 1
High Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total High Estimate: $60000
Total High Sold: $43200

This sale was remarkably consistent across all categories, likely a result of generally less volatile material (price-wise).