A hand-colored 1930s portrait by Man Ray provided the main photographic headlines at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art sales in New York last week. Soaring to $2.1M, the print drove what turned out to be an extremely strong showing for the available photography. All 11 of the photo lots with high estimates of $200K or higher found buyers, and 10 of them did so above their pre-sale ranges. While there were few surprises, this consistency at the top end led to Total Sale Proceeds for the photography that flirted with $10M, far in excess the aggregate estimates.
The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
| Summary Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Total Lots | 43 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate | $5204000 |
| Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate | $7448000 |
| Total Lots Sold | 34 |
| Total Lots Bought In | 9 |
| Buy In % | 20.93% |
| Total Sale Proceeds | $9776750 |
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post):
| Detailed Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Low Total Lots | 2 |
| Total Low Lots Sold | 1 |
| Total Low Lots Bought In | 1 |
| Low Buy In % | 50.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots | $18000 |
| Total Proceeds from Low Lots | $5000 |
| Mid Total Lots | 10 |
| Total Mid Lots Sold | 5 |
| Total Mid Lots Bought In | 5 |
| Mid Buy In % | 50.00% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots | $300000 |
| Total Proceeds from Mid Lots | $181250 |
| Total High Lots | 31 |
| Total High Lots Sold | 28 |
| Total High Lots Bought In | 3 |
| High Buy In % | 9.68% |
| Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots | $7130000 |
| Total Proceeds from High Lots | $9590500 |
The top photography lot by High estimate was tied between two lots: lot 16B, Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #21, 1978, and lot 752, Andreas Gursky, Rimini, 2003, both estimated at $500000-700000 (images in preview post). The Sherman print sold for $871500 and the Gursky print sold for $847500, but the top photography outcome of the sales was lot 7B, Man Ray, Portrait of a Tearful Woman, 1936, estimated at $400000-600000, sold at $2167500 (image above, via Christie’s).
85.29% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there was just 1 positive surprise in the sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
Lot 7B, Man Ray, Portrait of a Tearful Woman, 1936, estimated at $400000-600000, sold at $2167500
The complete lot by lot results can be found here (Evening), here (Morning), and here (Afternoon).
