Christie’s begins its 2011 photo season with a solid selection of contemporary photography in its Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening and Day auctions at King Street on the 16th and 17th. The top eight lots consist of work by just four artists: Gursky, Sugimoto, Sherman, and Gilbert & George. Overall, there are 41 photography lots on offer across the two sales, with a Total High Estimate of £3920000, an increase in estimate value of over 240% compared to the same sale last year.

Here’s the breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000): 1
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £4000

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000): 23
Total Mid Estimate: £351000

Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 17
Total High Estimate: £3565000

The top lot by High estimate is lot 17, Andreas Gursky, Untitled V, 1997, at £800000-1200000. (Image at right, top, via Christie’s.)

Here is the list of photographers who are represented by two or more lots in the two sales (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Andreas Gursky (5)

Hiroshi Sugimoto (5)

Candida Höfer (3)

Anselm Kiefer (3)

Zhang Huan (3)

Nobuyoshi Araki (2)

Gilbert & George (2)

Vik Muniz (2)

Shirin Neshat (2)

Cindy Sherman (2)

(Lot 54, Hiroshi Sugimoto, The Last Supper, 2000, at £400000-600000, image at right, bottom, and lot 15, Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still (#34), 1979, at £200000-300000, image at right, middle, via Christie’s.)

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

Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction
February 16th

Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Auction
February 17th

Christie’s
8 King Street, St. James’s
London SW1Y 6QT