A Richard Prince cowboy print soared to over £2M at the recent contemporary art evening sale at Christie’s in London, notching the top price for a photograph sold at auction so far this year. The other related sales over the next few days also proved to be photographically strong, led by a Dadaist photomontage by Hannah Höch that jumped to over £275K. Overall, the Buy-In rate for photography across the various auctions was an enviable 3%, and with a few positive surprises to boost the numbers further, the Total Sales Proceeds for photography (of roughly £3.0M) came in above the top end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
| Summary Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Lots | 30 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | £1834000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | £2707000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 29 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 1 |
| Buy In % | 3.33% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | £3024738 |
Here is the breakdown (using our usual Low, Mid, and High price tier definitions):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 13 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 13 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 0 |
| Low Buy In % | 0.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | £68000 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | £77490 |
| Mid Total Lots | 10 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 10 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 0 |
| Mid Buy In % | 0.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | £169000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | £157248 |
| Total High Lots | 7 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 6 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 1 |
| High Buy In % | 14.29% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | £2470000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | £2790000 |
The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 14, Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 1997, estimated at £1200000-1800000; it was also the top photography outcome of the sales at £2097000 (image above, via Christie’s.)
79.31% of the photo lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were 4 positive surprises in the sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above, via Christie’s):
Lot 113, Wolfgang Tillmans, The Air Between, 2016, estimated at £3000-5000, sold at £15120
Lot 119, Anton Corbijn, Clint Eastwood, 1994, estimated at £3000-5000, sold at £13860
Lot 142, David Douglas Duncan, Pablo Picasso’s Eyes, La Californie, Cannes, 1957, estimated at £4000-6000, sold at £17640
Lot 143, Hannah Höch, Da-Dandy, 1919, estimated at £60000-80000, sold at £277200
Complete lot by lot results can be found here (20th/21st Century: London Evening), here (Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper), here (Post-War and Contemporary Art Day), and here (Post-War and Contemporary Art Online)
