John Cowey, Head of the Photographs Department in New York, is leaving Bloomsbury Auctions, effective tomorrow. Specialist Hannah Hayden will remain to handle the operational details of the upcoming October sale.

Bloomsbury’s entry into the competitive Photographs auction market in New York last year couldn’t have come at a harder time, just as the overall economy started to get rough. The results of its sales in the past two seasons have been on the soft side, to be expected in building a client base and a new stream of consignments in this kind of economic climate. That said, the proceeds to the house from these two sales can’t have been much (perhaps not even enough to cover the costs of the department), so it isn’t a surprise exactly that the pressure was mounting. What John’s departure means for the future of the department remains unclear.