Legacy: Photographs from the Emily Fisher Landau Collection @Aldrich

JTF (just the facts): A total of 23 black and white and color photographs, variously framed and matted, and hung against white walls in a series of three connected rooms on the second floor of the museum. All of the works come from the collection of Emily Fisher Landau, and were made between 1980 and 2004. The exhibit also includes a camera obscura room. A catalog of the collection was published by Yale University Press in 2011 (here). There is no photography allowed in the galleries, so the installation shots at right are courtesy of the museum's Flickr page.

The following artists/photographers have been included in the exhibit, with the number of works and print details as background:

• Richard Artschwager: 1 sculpture/photographs mounted on wood, 2002
• Matthew Barney: 1 chromogenic print in self-lubricating frame, 2002
• Keith Cottingham: 1 digital chromogenic print, 2004
• Lynn Davis: 1 gold-toned gelatin silver print, 2000/2002
• Philip-Lorca diCorcia: 1 chromogenic print mounted on Plexiglas, 2000
• John Dugdale: 1 hand-coated cyanotype, 1994
• Nan Goldin: 1 silver dye bleach print, 1994
• Rodney Graham: 1 chromogenic print, 1990
• Robert Longo: 1 silver dye bleach print, 1980/1998
• Vera Lutter: 1 gelatin silver print, 1996
• Robert Mapplethorpe: 1 gelatin silver print, 1988
• Abelardo Morell: 1 gelatin silver print, 2003
• Shirin Neshat: 3 silver dye bleach prints, 2002
• Victoria Sambunaris: 1 chromogenic print mounted on aluminum, 2002
• Lorna Simpson: 2 gelatin silver prints in framed with plaque, 1991
• Kiki Smith, 4 chromogenic prints, 2000-2001
• Hiroshi Sugimoto: 1 gelatin silver print, 1994

Comments/Context: Back in 2010, long-time trustee Emily Fisher Landau made a major donation of 367 artworks to the Whitney Museum. Selections from that massive gift have toured around to many smaller museums in the United States in the past few years, and this particular show pulls out a very small subset, focusing on some of the photography to be found in the collection. If this group of works can be taken as any guide, Fisher Landau's approach to contemporary photography has been to employ the "solid example from key figures" method, gathering an impressive list of important names and singular works. While the show is loosely organized into rooms of images with people, those without, and a handful of works related to the camera obscura room that has been installed as part of the exhibit, in essence, it's really more of a parade of exemplary photographs from the 1990s and early 2000s.

 

If a collection is built without a rigid thematic or conceptual structure/system to connect the various artworks together (as most collections are), the only way to look at it critically is to ask, for each individual artist selection, "did the collector pick a superlative example of the artist's work"? In general, I think there are some terrific choices on view here, many which would be considered among the best work done by that artist. There as an enormous, wall dominating, upside down tree by Rodney Graham, smartly flanked by a large Vera Lutter of the Fulton ferry landing with the Twin Towers in the distance. Other standout choices include the late Mapplethorpe self portrait (with skull head cane), the Sugimoto wax museum royal family, the Longo jerking suited man from Men in the Cities, and the Morell camera obscura image taken in the Whitney itself.

 

There are also a few less obvious selections which point to some inspired risk taking. Nan Goldin's swarm of cherry blossoms in Tokyo isn't exactly representative of her work, but is still quietly enchanting. Matthew Barney's array of Chryslers from the Cremaster series lacks the bold originality of many of the scenes from that project, but is nonetheless subtly surreal. And Richard Artschwager's child in a high chair sculpture wouldn't necessarily be considered photography, except that its blocky form is constructed by straight on photographs from every angle, creating a smart multi-perspective portrait.

 

So while it's hard to draw a line that connects all of the works on view here into a coherent whole, this small show certainly delivers a respectable mix of recent photography. I'm sure the larger Fisher Landau collection did plenty of welcome hole filling in the Whitney's permanent collection (in photography and other mediums), and with the new building opening soon, I'm hoping we'll slowly get a chance to see even more of its photographic treasures.

 

Collector's POV: Since this is a museum show, there are, of course, no posted prices, and given the wide diversity of works on view, we will forego the usual discussion of secondary markets and price histories.

 

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

 

Transit Hub:

• Fisher Landau Center for Art site (here)
• Feature: New York Times, 2010 (here)

Legacy: Photographs from the Emily Fisher Landau Collection

Through September 2nd

 

Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

258 Main Street

Ridgefield, CT 06877

Auctions: Contemporary Art Evening and Day Sales, June 27 and 28, 2013 @Phillips London

Phillips completes the early summer Contemporary Art season in London tomorrow with a predictable selection of recent photography. Sherman, Sugimoto, Gilbert & George, and Ruff make up the top lots. Overall, there are a total of 32 lots of photography available across the two sales, with a Total High Estimate for photography of £1528000.

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): 16
Total Mid Estimate: £258000

Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 16
Total High Estimate: £1270000

The top lot by High estimate is lot 6, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #426, 2004, 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):

Cindy Sherman (3)
David LaChapelle (2)
Richard Prince (2)
Thomas Ruff (2)

Other lots of interest include lot 167, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, 1999, at £120000-180000 (image at right, middle), and lot 189, Richard Prince, All the Best, 2000, at £35000-45000 (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
June 27th

Contemporary Art Day Sale
June 28th

Phillips
Howick Place
London SW1P 1BB

Auctions: Contemporary Art, Evening and Day Sales, May 14 and 15, 2013 @Sotheby's New York

Sotheby's is up first in next week's Contemporary Art sales in New York, with Evening and Day sales on Tuesday and Wednesday. There are plenty of high end photographs on offer, led by a Koons duratran lightbox with a big estimate ($2500000-3500000). The rest of the top lots (Prince, Sherman, Gursky, Wall et al) are mostly usual suspects. Overall, there are a total of 53 lots of photography on offer, with an impressive Total High Estimate for photography of $10018000.

Here's the statistical breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 0
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $0

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 22
Total Mid Estimate: $618000

Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 31
Total High Estimate: $9400000

The top photography lot by High estimate is lot 9, Jeff Koons, The New Jeff Koons, 1980, estimated at $2500000-3500000 (image at right, top, via Sotheby's).

Here's the list of photographers represented by three or more lots in the two sales (with the number of lots in parentheses):

David LaChapelle (4)
Vik Muniz (4)
Richard Prince (4)
Hiroshi Sugimoto (3)

Other photographs of interest include lot 57, Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2001, estimated at $800000-1200000 (image at right, middle, via Sotheby's) and lot 504, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Chrysler Building, 1997, estimated at $200000-300000 (image at right, bottom, via Sotheby's.)

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

Contemporary Art (Evening)
May 14th

Contemporary Art (Day)
May 15th

Sotheby's
1334 York Avenue
New York, NY 10021

Auction: Photographs, May 7, 2013 @Bonhams New York

Bonhams has a various owner Photographs sale coming up next week in New York, with a broad selection of mostly lower priced 20th century black and white works. Overall, there are 135 photographs on offer, with a total High estimate of $1204500.

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): $633500

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 20
Total Mid Estimate: $396000

Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 2
Total High Estimate: $175000

The top lot by High estimate is lot 27, Edward Weston, Fiftieth Anniversary Portfolio, 1902-1952, c1952, estimated at $60000-90000.

Below is the list of photographers represented by 4 or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Ansel Adams (11)
Ruth Bernhard (8)
Sebastiao Salgado (8)
Manuel Alvarez Bravo (6)
Brett Weston (5)
Harry Callahan (4)
Robert Doisneau (4)
Andre Kertesz (4)
O. Winston Link (4)

Other items of interest include lot 107, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut, 1998, estimated at $65000-85000 (image at right, top, via Bonhams), lot 109 John Coplans, Self-Portrait (Front Hand III), 1987, estimated at $5000-7000 (image at right, middle, via Bonhams), and lot 105, Garry Winogrand, Park Avenue, 1959/late 1970s, estimated at $20000-30000 (image at right, bottom, via Bonhams).

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.

Photographs
May 7th

Bonhams
580 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Auction Results: Photographs, April 3, 2013 @Phillips New York

Phillips' follow up various owner Photographs sale last week performed nearly as well its earlier single owner sale. The overall Buy-In rate was just over 15% and the Total Sale Proceeds once again came close to the High estimate.

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

Total Lots: 141
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $2411500
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $3527500
Total Lots Sold: 118
Total Lots Bought In: 23
Buy In %: 16.31%
Total Sale Proceeds: $3307375

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

Low Total Lots: 37
Low Sold: 28
Low Bought In: 9
Buy In %: 24.32%
Total Low Estimate: $244500
Total Low Sold: $230875

Mid Total Lots: 91
Mid Sold: 78
Mid Bought In: 13
Buy In %: 14.29%
Total Mid Estimate: $2073000
Total Mid Sold: $1847000

High Total Lots: 13
High Sold: 12
High Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 7.69%
Total High Estimate: $1210000
Total High Sold: $1229500

The top lot by High estimate was lot 177, Edward Steichen, Diagram of Doom - 2, c1922, estimated at $120000-180000; it sold for $122500. The top outcome of the sale was lot 291, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Joe #2134, 2004, estimated at $60000-80000, sold at $170500 (image at right, top, via Phillips).

97.46% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 6 surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 224, William Eggleston, East Memphis, 1972/1985, estimated at $8000-12000, sold at $30000
Lot 239, Helmut Newton, Shoe, Monte Carlo, 1983, estimated at $8000-12000, sold at $30000
Lot 246, Peter Beard, Cheetah cubs orphaned at Mweiga nr. Nyeri for The End of the Game, 1968/later, estimated at $10000-15000, sold at $32500
Lot 291, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Joe #2134, 2004, estimated at $60000-80000, sold at $170500
Lot 297, Gabriel Orozco, Shower Head, 2008, estimated at $7000-9000, sold at $25000 (image at right, middle, via Phillips)
Lot 306, Loretta Lux, Study of a Boy, 2002, estimated at $5000-7000, sold at $16250 (image at right, bottom, via Phillips)

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Phillips
450 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Lake Superior @Pace/MacGill

JTF (just the facts): A total of 12 black and white photographs, framed in black wood and matted, and hung against grey and dark grey colored walls in the main rooms of the gallery. All of the photographs are gelatin silver prints mounted to board, made in either 1995 or 2003. Each mounted image is 20x24; no edition information was available. There is no photography allowed in the gallery, so the installation shots at right are via the Pace/MacGill website.

Comments/Context: Hiroshi Sugimoto's photographic seascapes have become so iconic that at this point, I'm ashamed to say that I think I take them a bit for granted. This isn't to say that I adore or admire them any less, it's just that my brain uses some kind of mental shorthand that assumes I've already absorbed most of what they have to offer, and thereby often skips over them in search of something else. In the past few years, Sugimoto's seascapes have been shown at monumental scale in New York gallery shows, and at that size, their largeness becomes enveloping and almost spiritual. In contrast, this show gathers together images taken of Lake Superior and displays them in the smaller size, forcing the viewer into an entirely different and much more intimate, one-on-one interaction.

The sequencing of this show is important to notice, as there is a careful progression along a spectrum of color and mood. The first image the visitor encounters when coming out of the elevators is an almost pure white on white picture (the best in the show, in my opinion), which is then followed around the wall by whites that become more foggy and unstable, and waves and undulations that become more noticeable. As the viewer passes into the adjoining room, the bisected images become more contrasty, the water darker, sometimes grey and soft, sometimes smooth, sometimes crisp and almost sharp against the featureless sky, ending with a single night seascape with its tonalities of light and dark reversed. Seen together at this size, the changing weather conditions generate forward motion through the gallery, and the subtle gradation enables a meditative flow of muted emotion.
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Sugimoto's seascapes are a tremendous reminder of the power of pared down, photographic simplicity. His views of the water offer endless variations, combining both a cerebral quality of conceptual thinking and a deeply human sense of timeless, elemental purity. Even if you're sure you've seen them before, they undeniably merit a second (or third, or fourth) look.
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Collector's POV: The photographs in this show are priced at $35000 each. Sugimoto's work is routinely available in the secondary markets, in various sizes and at various price points. Images of equivalent size (20x24) as those on display here (seascapes, as well as other subjects/projects) have generally been available at auction at prices ranging between $10000 and $90000.
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Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)
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Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Lake Superior
Through December 3rd

Pace/MacGill Gallery
32 East 57th Street
New York, NY 10022

Auctions: Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening, Morning and Afternoon Sales, May 11 and 12, 2011 @Christie's

Christie's has the middle slot in the Spring Contemporary Art season in New York this week, with various owner sales spread across Wednesday and Thursday. Like Sotheby's, Christie's has found plenty of willing photo consignors, with over $8.5M in photographic value on offer, led by 10 works by Cindy Sherman. Overall, there are a total of 50 lots of photography available in these sales, with a total High estimate for photography of $8696000.
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Here's the simple statistical breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 4
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $31000
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Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 18
Total Mid Estimate: $605000

Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 28
Total High Estimate: $8060000

The top photography lot by High estimate is lot 6, Cindy Sherman, Untitled, 1981, at $1500000-2000000.
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Here's the complete list of photographers represented by three or more lots in the sales (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Cindy Sherman (10)
Hiroshi Sugimoto (6)
John Baldessari (3)
Olafur Eliasson (3)
Andres Serrano (3)

(Lot 4, Gilbert & George, Bad Thoughts #1, 1975, at $700000-1000000, image at right, top, lot 306, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Catherine of Aragon, 1999, at $70000-90000, image at right, bottom, and lot 374, Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #4, 1977, at $200000-300000, image at right, middle, all via Christie's.)

The complete lot by lot catalogs can be found here (Evening), here (Morning), and here (Afternoon). The eCatalogues are here (Evening), here (Morning), and here (Afternoon).

Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale
May 11th

Post-War and Contemporary Art Morning Session
May 12th
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Post-War and Contemporary Art Afternoon Session
May 12th
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Christie's
20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020

Auction: Photographs, May 10, 2011 @Bonhams

Bonhams' various owner Photographs sale in two weeks has a deeper selection of Sugimoto prints than we've seen at auction anywhere this year. The top seven lots in the sale are all Sugimotos, including a solid mix of seascapes and blurred architecture images; another four Sugimotos can be found down the estimate list a little further. Overall, there are 170 photographs on offer, with a total High estimate of $1283600.
Here's the statistical breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 139
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $673600
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Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 31
Total Mid Estimate: $610000

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

The top lot by High estimate is tied between two lots: lot 122, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Colors of Shadow C1018, 2006, and lot 123, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Colors of Shadow C1027, 2006, (image at right, top, via Bonhams), both at $30000-50000.
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Below is the list of photographers represented by 4 or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Ansel Adams (13)
Hiroshi Sugimoto (11)
Lee Friedlander (8)
Edward Curtis (7)
Alfred Eisenstaedt (6)
Joel Meyerowitz (5)
Richard Misrach (5)
Peter Beard (4)
Andre Kertesz (4)
Michael Light (4)
Irving Penn (4)
Sandy Skoglund (4)
Joel-Peter Witkin (4)

(Lot 89, Lee Friedlander, Stems, 1994, at $3000-4000, image at right, middle, and lot 131, Richard Misrach, Plate 4 from Desert Night Series, 1977, at $5000-7000, image at right, bottom, both via Bonhams.)
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The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.

Photographs
May 10th
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Bonhams
580 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10022

Auction Results: Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening and Day Auctions, February 16 and 17, 2011 @Christie's King Street

Christie's had a generally positive response to the photography buried in its two Contemporary Art sales in London last week. While three of the top lots passed, the overall Buy-In rate was under 20%, and the Total Sale Proceeds covered the low end of the range. The high priced Gursky sold in its range, adding nearly £1 million to the overall results.

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

Total Lots: 41

Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £2677000

Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £3920000

Total Lots Sold: 33

Total Lots Bought In: 8

Buy In %: 19.51%

Total Sale Proceeds: £2897800

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: £4000

Total Low Sold: £10625

Mid Total Lots: 23

Mid Sold: 18

Mid Bought In: 5

Buy In %: 21.74%

Total Mid Estimate: £351000

Total Mid Sold: £330975

High Total Lots: 17

High Sold: 14

High Bought In: 3

Buy In %: 17.65%

Total High Estimate: £3565000

Total High Sold: £2556200

The top lot by High estimate was lot 17, Andreas Gursky, Untitled V, 1997, at £800000-1200000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at £937250.

100.00% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate. There were a total of four surprises in these sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 136, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Boden Sea, Uttwil, 1993, at £43250 (image at right, top, via Christie's)

Lot 138, Roni Horn, Still Water (The River Thames for Example), 1999, at £34850 (image at right, middle, via Christie's)

Lot 297, Tunga, A Vanguarda Viperina, 1985, at £22500
Lot 306, Nobuyoshi Araki, Untitled, 2007, at £10625 (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, February 16 and 17, 2011 @Christie's King Street

Christie's begins its 2011 photo season with a solid selection of contemporary photography in its Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening and Day auctions at King Street on the 16th and 17th. The top eight lots consist of work by just four artists: Gursky, Sugimoto, Sherman, and Gilbert & George. Overall, there are 41 photography lots on offer across the two sales, with a Total High Estimate of £3920000, an increase in estimate value of over 240% compared to the same sale last year.

Here's the breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000): 1
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £4000

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000): 23
Total Mid Estimate: £351000

Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 17
Total High Estimate: £3565000

The top lot by High estimate is lot 17, Andreas Gursky, Untitled V, 1997, at £800000-1200000. (Image at right, top, via Christie's.)

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

Andreas Gursky (5)

Hiroshi Sugimoto (5)

Candida Höfer (3)

Anselm Kiefer (3)

Zhang Huan (3)

Nobuyoshi Araki (2)

Gilbert & George (2)

Vik Muniz (2)

Shirin Neshat (2)

Cindy Sherman (2)

(Lot 54, Hiroshi Sugimoto, The Last Supper, 2000, at £400000-600000, image at right, bottom, and lot 15, Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still (#34), 1979, at £200000-300000, image at right, middle, via Christie's.)

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

Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction
February 16th

Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Auction
February 17th

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

Hiroshi Sugimoto: The Day After @Pace

JTF (just the facts): A total of 21 black and white photographs, 2 fossils in glass cases, and 1 sculpture, displayed against grey and black walls in a winding series of four connected spaces. The first small room contains 3 gelatin silver prints (from the diorama series), framed in black, and two fossils (one meteorite fragment and one slab of Mississippi sea bottom), displayed in low light against grey walls. 2 of the prints are 20x24 from 1992, in editions of 25, the other is 47x73, in an edition of 5. The larger front and back rooms have black walls and are completely dark, with bright spot lights on the works. In each room, a pair of monumental gelatin silver panoramas are hung side by side, covering an entire long wall. Each unframed panorama is made up of 6 panels, each entire work measuring 59x23 and 1/2 feet, printed in editions of 5. There are a total of 7 single image gelatin silver lightning field prints spread across the two rooms, framed in silver with no mat, each 59x47, also printed in editions of 5. The sculpture is set apart in the front room, a Tesla coil in birdcage on a stand. A narrow room is situated between the front and back rooms, with grey walls and bright natural light from the overhead skylight. This room contains 7 gelatin silver seascapes from 1987-1993, framed in silver with no mat, each 47x59, printed in editions of 5. A catalogue of the exhibition is available from the gallery for $50. (Installation shots at right, via Pace.)

Comments/Context: Hiroshi Sugimoto's first show at Pace (having recently joined the stable from Gagosian) is a potent reminder of the power of presentation. Rather than offer a predictable sampler of new and old work in this cavernous space, the artist has used architecture (dividing walls and rooms) and lighting (both dark and light) to transform the viewer's experience, controlling the narrative flow and recontextualizing the prior work in new and unexpected ways. The gallery has evolved from a formless white space into a rich storytelling environment to be experienced, where the production values of the entertainment have become almost as important as the work itself.

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The two largest rooms in the show are broad open spaces, subdued by the blackness that envelops them. The only light in these two rooms is provided by the spot lights on the artworks, highlighting the bright flashes of white energy that emerge from the darkness. These Lightning Fields are Sugimoto's newest works, made by using a spark generator to deliver blasts of energy to the film's surface. The artist has likened these images to the crashing of meteorites into the Earth's original primordial soup, introducing energy and foreign chemical compounds into our environment and sparking the creation of life. His monumental panoramas stretch across two long walls (nearly 50 feet), mixing flashes of brightness with textured glimmers and black spots, like growths emerging from the nothingness. Some of the single images are mostly dark, with just a small cluster of delicate incandescent white, while others have evolved into long, thick tendrils of light, like arteries or serpents or ropes, often with tiny fingers branching out and extending from the sides. A few even look like aerial landscapes of dry river beds, with washes of sizzling whiteness cut into the blackness of the land. While many of these works have an organic, natural violence to them, the less successful ones look more like scientific figures from a scholarly paper in Science or Nature, showing some arcane but beautiful properties of electromagnetism. Sugimoto is walking the fine line between art and science here, with varying degrees of memorable aesthetic success. And just when I thought I had absorbed it all, the gallery experience was punctuated by the buzzing crackle of the Tesla coil sculpture, which explodes into a flash of blue light every few minutes, jolting and attacking the viewer with its raw, dangerous power. All I needed was a shard of meteor to crack me on the head in the dark and the visceral experience would have been complete.

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The show also contains a selection of seascapes and dioramas, work we have seen many times before, but which has been reimagined here in the context of Sugimoto's "beginning of the world" narrative. The seascapes have been hung a narrow room with heavenly pure light, all of them day views, including the one at the end of the space which is bathed in glare. What I found fascinating is that they no longer seemed to me to be sublime exercises in timeless meditative contemplation. Instead, these images were transformed by the installation into documents of a specific ancient place and time, when the world was covered by seas in every direction, a kind of alien water planet. The tight installation creates the feeling of being in the middle of it all, surrounded by the flat expanse as far as the eye can see. Similarly, the small room at the entry of the show gathers a few of Sugimoto's natural history dioramas. But there are no familiar polar bears and jackals here, only puzzling biological forms attached to sandy sea bottoms. Juxtaposed with a few fossils (not unlike his spectacular show at the Japan Society a few years ago), and once again, the images have been reimagined. Now instead of a witty inversion of fake and real, the dioramas are documenting yet another period of specific time, as the first organisms started to form and develop. The show thus becomes a continuous historical timeline, from the first sparks of unruly energy to the evolution of life in many forms. While there is still a bit of the "old wine in a new bottle" feel here, I was amazed at how thoroughly the old work could be successfully reconsidered in relation to the new images.

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Overall, this show gets high marks for its careful construction, and for creating a whole that ingeniously integrates several disparate bodies of work that were previously unconnected. Given the chance element associated with the creation of the lightning field images, it is not at all surprising that some bolts of light are much more interesting than others. That said, I once again came away genuinely impressed with Sugimoto, both as a risk taking scientifically-minded artist and as a surprisingly talented and original showman.
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Collector's POV: The works in this show are priced as follows. The large panoramas are $750000 each, the seascapes are $400000, the single image lightning fields are $80000, and the dioramas are either $120000 or between $20000 and $25000 based on size. Sugimoto's work is readily available at auction, at a variety of price points. His Time Exposed portfolio can generally be had at auction for between $3000 and $11000. Small individual prints (in the range of 20x24) typically range between $10000 and $90000. The largest prints (seascapes, wax portraits and architecture) have recently started at $100000 and continued all the way up to over $1 million.

Rating: *** (three stars) EXCELLENT (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Reviews/Features: NY Times (here), New Yorker (here)

Hiroshi Sugimoto: The Day After

Through December 24th

The Pace Gallery
545 West 22nd Street
New York, NY 10011

Auction Results: Contemporary Art Evening and Day Auctions, June 28 and 29, 2010 @Sotheby's London

The photography lots in the pair of Contemporary Art sales at Sotheby's in London earlier this week performed right in line with expectations. The overall Buy-In rate was solidly in the mid twenties (24%) and the Total Sale Proceeds fell in the middle of the estimate range.

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

Total Lots: 25
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £1014000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £1407000
Total Lots Sold: 19
Total Lots Bought In: 6
Buy In %: 24.00%
Total Sale Proceeds: £1191975

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

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

Mid Total Lots: 16
Mid Sold: 12
Mid Bought In: 4
Buy In %: 25.00%
Total Mid Estimate: £222000
Total Mid Sold: £222575

High Total Lots: 9
High Sold: 7
High Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 22.22%
Total High Estimate: £1185000
Total High Sold: £969400

The top lot by High estimate was lot 14, Andreas Gursky, Stateville, Illinois, 2002, at £500000-700000; it was also the top outcome of the two sales at £577250.

94.74% 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 298, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Baltic Sea, Rugen, 1996, at £36050 (image at right, top, via Sotheby's)

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

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

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.