Starting with the hypothesis that contemporary works from the 1980s and 1990s were getting overshadowed (and perhaps undervalued) when placed in the now massive Post-War and Contemporary Art auctions, Christie’s tried an experiment this past Monday, pulling out a selection of works from this later period, wrapping them up in a hipper brand (complete with a skateboarding intro video), and pushing them with more aggressive (read higher) estimates. If setting new world auction records is the measure, then the sale was a resounding success, with 16 claimed records.

From a photography perspective, it was an intriguing night for Richard Prince. One of his nurse paintings set a new record for his work (at just over $8.5M), but it was prints of Spiritual America and a cowboy that are more relevant to the audience here. Both works found buyers just under the $4 million dollar mark, both safely within their pre-sale estimates, with the caveat that the estimates were high to begin with. What seems to be happening is that as the larger artistic period gains popularity with the richest and most aggressive collectors, prices are being driven up for the cornerstone works, in effect pulling up the prices for Prince’s most iconic (and many might argue most deserving) photographs. It appears that the anchor point is increasing, which will likely ripple through the market for all of his photography. While it is only one data point, I think it provides another signal that the best/most influential photographic work from this period is on its way to being better recognized in the larger sphere/market of contemporary art.

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

The usual breakdown from the preview post isn’t especially instructive in the case of this particular auction, given the small number of photography lots on offer. Instead, here are the individual lot by lot results – all of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate ranges, and there were no surprises (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 3, Richard Prince, Untitled (Girlfriend), 1993, estimated at $500000-700000, sold at $785000

Lot 8, John Baldessari, Grimm’s Fairy Tales: The Frog King, 1982, estimated at $400000-600000, sold at $485000

Lot 19, Richard Prince, Spiritual America, 1983, estimated at $3500000-4500000, sold at $3973000 (image above, right, via Christie’s). It was the top lot by High estimate and the top photo outcome of the sale.

Lot 24, Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 1998, estimated at $3000000-4000000, sold at $3749000 (image above, left, via Christie’s)

Lot 28, Cindy Sherman, Untitled #122, 1983, estimated at $600000-800000, it did not sell

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.