Sotheby’s brushes up against the $10 million dollar mark for photographic value in its Contemporary Art sales next week in New York, using handfuls of works by Cindy Sherman and Andy Warhol to get there. While Sherman’s famous corpse-like portrait lying in the dirt and moss is the headliner, it’s a fairly routine selection of higher priced photography. Overall, there are a total of 48 lots of photography available across the two sales, with a Total High Estimate of $9943000.
Here’s the statistical breakdown:
| Preview Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000) | 1 |
| Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of low lots) | $8000 |
| Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000) | 15 |
| Total Mid Estimate | $475000 |
| Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000) | 32 |
| Total High Estimate | $9460000 |
The top photographic lot by High estimate is lot 54, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #153, 1985, estimated at $2000000-3000000 (image above, via Sotheby’s).
Here’s the complete list of photographers with two or more photography lots in the sales, along with the number of lots on offer:
| Multiple Lots For Sale | |
|---|---|
| Cindy Sherman | 7 |
| Andy Warhol | 5 |
| Andreas Gursky | 4 |
| Bernd & Hilla Becher | 3 |
| David LaChapelle | 2 |
| Louise Lawler | 2 |
| Thomas Ruff | 2 |
Other lots of interest include (images above, via Sotheby’s):
Lot 52, Thomas Struth, Pantheon, Rome, 1990, estimated at $800000-1200000
Lot 223, Andy Warhol, Self Portraits (12 Works), 1979-1982, estimated at $250000-350000
Lot 437, Cory Arcangel, Photoshop CS: 110 by 72 inches, 300 DPI, RGB, Square Pixels…, 2008, estimated at $40000-60000
The complete lot by lot catalogs can be found here (Evening) and here (Day).
