While the jaw-dropping $110M Basquiat sale likely sucked nearly all the air out of the room, a Wolfgang Tillmans “bump” was the prominent factor for the photography included in Sotheby’s recent Contemporary Art sales in New York. Perhaps as a reaction the artist’s recent Tate Modern retrospective, all 4 of the Tillmans prints that were available here (3 of them being large scale abstracts) generated positive surprise outcomes. With the help of a solid result for the top lot Richard Prince cowboy and a generally low overall Buy-In rate (21%), the Total Sale Proceeds for photography fell meaningfully above the aggregate pre-sale estimate.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
| Summary Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Lots | 23 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | $2945000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | $3999000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 18 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 5 |
| Buy In % | 21.74% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | $4750375 |
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 1 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 1 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 0 |
| Low Buy In % | 0.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | $8000 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | $10625 |
| Mid Total Lots | 8 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 6 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 2 |
| Mid Buy In % | 25.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | $246000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | $307500 |
| Total High Lots | 14 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 10 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 4 |
| High Buy In % | 28.57% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | $3745000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | $4432250 |
The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 32, Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 2001, estimated at $1400000-1800000 (image in preview post). It was also the top photography outcome of the sales at $1812500.
94.44% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there was a total of 6 positive surprises in the sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above via Sotheby’s):
Lot 13, Wolfgang Tillmans, Freischwimmer 123, 2004, estimated at $200000-300000, sold at $660500 (image in preview post)
Lot 419, Wolfgang Tillmans, Freischwimmer 176, 2011, estimated at $60000-80000, sold at $324500
Lot 422, Wolfgang Tillmans, Blushes #60, 2000, estimated at $60000-80000, sold at $200000
Lot 438, Wolfgang Tillmans, Gillian & Christopher, 1993, estimated at $50000-70000, sold at $150000
Lot 536, Vik Muniz, Wheat Field with Cypresses, After Van Gogh (Pictures of Magazines), 2011, estimated at $30000-50000, sold at $137500
Lot 538, Barbara Kruger, Untitled (Can Money Buy You Love?), 2011, estimated at $15000-20000, sold at $47500
The complete lot by lot results can be found here (Evening) and here (Day).
