Christie’s begins the main Spring Contemporary Art season in New York next week with two days of single collection and various owner sales. There is plenty of top tier art on offer, including works from the collection of author Michael Crichton. In terms of photography, it’s a mixed bag, with a handful of high priced works (Prince, Wall, Gursky), some usual suspects, and some more random inclusions. There are a total of 44 lots of photography available in these sales, with a total High estimate for photography of $6684000.
Here’s the simple statistical breakdown:
Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 1
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $3000
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $3000
Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 22
Total Mid Estimate: $621000
Total Mid Estimate: $621000
Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 21
Total High Estimate: $6060000
Total High Estimate: $6060000
There are two lots that are tied for the top photography lot by High estimate. They are: lot 69, Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 1999, (image at right, top) and lot 73, Jeff Wall, Adrian Walker, artist, drawing from a specimen in the Dept. of Anatomy at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 1992, (image at right) both at $800000-1200000. We’ve only had two photo lots cross the million dollar threshold this year, so if both of these perform well (and/or the Gursky outperforms), that total will rise.Here’s the complete list of photographers represented by two or more lots in the sales (with the number of lots in parentheses):
Hiroshi Sugimoto (6)
Vik Muniz (5)
Cindy Sherman (5)
Mike Kelley (3)
Richard Prince (3)
Jeff Wall (3)
Gregory Crewdson (2)
Tom Friedman (2)
Thomas Ruff (2)
The complete lot by lot catalogs can be found here (Evening), here (Crichton), and here (Morning/Afternoon). The eCatalogues are here (Evening), here (Crichton), and here (Morning/Afternoon).
Post-War and Contemporary Art, Including Works from the Collection of Michael Crichton
May 11th and 12th
May 11th and 12th
