Auction Results: First Open: Post-War and Contemporary Art Online, July 5, 2022 @Christie’s London

The photography included in Christie’s First Open sale in London last week generally performed to expectations. The top lot Wolfgang Tillmans abstraction found a buyer, as did a David Hockney photocollage which matched the top price. Buoyed by a couple of other positive surprises, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly £150K) came in just above the low end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.

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

Summary Statistics
Total Lots 25
Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate £139500
Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate £207500
Total Lots Sold 17
Total Lots Bought In 8
Buy In % 32.00%
Total Sale Proceeds £149310

Here is the breakdown (using our usual Low, Mid, and High price tier definitions):

Detailed Breakdown
Low Total Lots 17
Total Low Lots Sold 13
Total Low Lots Bought In 4
Low Buy In % 23.53%
Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots £79500
Total Proceeds from Low Lots £62370
Mid Total Lots 8
Total Mid Lots Sold 4
Total Mid Lots Bought In 4
Mid Buy In % 50.00%
Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots £128000
Total Proceeds from Mid Lots £86940
Total High Lots 0
Total High Lots Sold NA
Total High Lots Bought In NA
High Buy In % NA
Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots £0
Total Proceeds from High Lots £0

The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 47, Wolfgang Tillmans, Lighter Black Concave II, 2008, estimated at £20000-30000; it was one of two lots tied for the top photography outcome of the sale at £25200. The other was lot 103, David Hockney, Walking in the Zen Garden at the Royanji Temple, 1983, estimated at £15000-20000 (images above, via Christie’s).

76.47% of the photo lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were 2 positive surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above, via Christie’s):

Lot 107, Hamish Fulton, Coldharbour Moor, 1987, estimated at £3000-5000, sold at £11970

Lot 110, Prince Gyasi, Symbols of Womanhood, 2018, estimated at £2000-4000, sold at £11340

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

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Read more about: David Hockney, Hamish Fulton, Prince Gyasi, Wolfgang Tillmans, Christie's

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