The main various owner sale of photography at Christie’s next week begins a run of sales (over the next six months or so) with lots consigned by the Museum of Modern Art, a provenance which has proven to be a consistent draw for collectors. Most of the sales (7 out of a total of 8) will be held online, with portions of this sale being the exception. The auction is headlined by a Peter Beard overpainted work, and supported by solid prints from Man Ray, Penn, Mapplethorpe, Brancusi, and others, with plenty of tempting secondary works at lower prices. Overall, there are a total of 111 lots available in the sale, with a Total High Estimate of $3983000.
Here’s the statistical breakdown:
| Preview Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000) | 24 |
| Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of low lots) | $174000 |
| Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000) | 73 |
| Total Mid Estimate | $1649000 |
| Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000) | 14 |
| Total High Estimate | $2160000 |
The top lot by High estimate is lot 190, Peter Beard, Orphaned Cheetah Cubs, Mweiga, near Nyeri, Kenya, March 1968, 1968/2017, estimated at $300000-500000 (image above, via Christie’s).
Here’s the complete list of photographers with three or more lots in the sale, along with the number of lots on offer:
| Multiple Lots For Sale | |
|---|---|
| Robert Mapplethorpe | 9 |
| Irving Penn | 9 |
| Hiroshi Sugimoto | 6 |
| Ansel Adams | 5 |
| Diane Arbus | 4 |
| Man Ray | 4 |
| Peter Beard | 3 |
| Jan Groover | 3 |
| Todd Hido | 3 |
| Robert Adams | 3 |
Other lots of interest include (images above, via Christie’s):
Lot 102, Man Ray, Rayograph, 1928, estimated at $150000-250000
Lot 136, Irving Penn, Poppy: Glowing Embers, New York, 1968/1989, estimated at $150000-250000
Lot 140, Robert Mapplethorpe, Flag, 1987, estimated at $80000-120000
Lot 151, Ilse Bing, Paris Windows with Flags, Bastille Day, 1933, estimated at $12000-18000
Lot 181, Jan Groover, Untitled no. 77-1, 1979 estimated at $5000-7000
The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.
