Auction Results: 20th Century & Contemporary Art, October 13 and 14, 2022 @Phillips London

The photography lots on offer in Phillips’ 20th Century & Contemporary Art sales last week in London generally performed well. The top lot John Baldessari work failed to sell, but the rest of the available works rallied to pick up the slack. 6 of the 7 photo lots that sold did so above their estimate ranges, and with an overall Buy-In rate for photography of 22%, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly £660K) fell in the middle of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 9
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate £572000
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate £813000
Total Lots Sold 7
Total Lots Bought In 2
Buy In % 22.22%
Total Sale Proceeds £666540

Here is the breakdown (using our usual Low, Mid, and High price tier definitions). Given changing exchange rates, we have adjusted the break points between tiers to better match $10000 and $50000:

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 0
Total Low Lots Sold NA
Total Low Lots Bought In NA
Low Buy In % NA
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots £0
Total Proceeds from Low Lots £0
Mid Total Lots 4
Total Mid Lots Sold 3
Total Mid Lots Bought In 1
Mid Buy In % 25.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots £68000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots £68040
Total High Lots 5
Total High Lots Sold 4
Total High Lots Bought In 1
High Buy In % 20.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots £745000
Total Proceeds from High Lots £598500

The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 35, John Baldessari, Female and Male Faces (With Notations) with Black and White Commentary, 1989, estimated at £250000-350000; it did not sell. The top photography outcome of the sale was lot 37, Cory Arcangel, Photoshop CS: 60 by 60 inches, RGB, square pixels, default gradient “Grey Value Shapes”, mousedown y=17960 x=620, mouseup y=20 x=0; photoshop tool “Wand”, click= y=500 x=1940, tolerance=50; default gradient “Grey Value Shapes”, mousedown y=120 x=5040, 2013, estimated at £70000-100000, sold at £226800 (image above, via Phillips).

100.00% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were 2 positive surprises in the sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (image above, via Phillips:

Lot 37, Cory Arcangel, Photoshop CS: 60 by 60 inches, RGB, square pixels, default gradient “Grey Value Shapes”, mousedown y=17960 x=620, mouseup y=20 x=0; photoshop tool “Wand”, click= y=500 x=1940, tolerance=50; default gradient “Grey Value Shapes”, mousedown y=120 x=5040, 2013, estimated at £70000-100000, sold at £226800

Lot 177, Wolfgang Tillmans, Urgency XIV, 2006, estimated at £45000-55000, sold at £119700

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

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Read more about: Cory Arcangel, Wolfgang Tillmans, Phillips

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