Auction Results: Photography, with Contemporary Art, December 2 and 4, 2010 @Lempertz

Three lots of winding towers from Bernd and Hilla Becher provided nearly half of the Total Sale Proceeds for photography at the recent sales at Kunsthaus Lempertz in Cologne (one photography auction and one contemporary art auction that included photographs). In an otherwise routine set of sales, these and other smaller surprises helped bring the results in over the Total High Estimate. (Lempertz does not provide an estimate range in most cases, just a single estimate number, so this figure is used as the High estimate in our calculations).

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

Total Lots: 217
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: 541600€
Total Lots Sold: 128
Total Lots Bought In: 89
Buy In %: 41.01%
Total Sale Proceeds: 601500€

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 205
Low Sold: 123
Low Bought In: 82
Buy In %: 40.00%
Total Low Estimate: 354600€
Total Low Sold: 298860€
Mid Total Lots: 12
Mid Sold: 5
Mid Bought In: 7
Buy In %: 58.33%
Total Mid Estimate: 187000€
Total Mid Sold: 302640€
High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: NA
High Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: 0€
Total High Sold: NA
The top lot by High estimate was tied between three lots. Each was a group of 4 winding tower prints by Bernd and Hilla Becher (each individual image titled by location): lot 308 from 1966-1973, lot 309 from 1967-1975, and lot 310 from 1966-1973. Each of the lots was estimated at 20000-25000€. Lot 309 was the top outcome of the sale at 138000€; lot 308 sold for 52800€ and lot 310 sold for 91200€.

80.47% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate. There were a total of 20 surprises across the two sales (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
Lot 308, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Merthyr Vale Colliery, Shaft 2, Aberavan, South Wales, GB, and three others, 1966-1973, at 52800€
Lot 309, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Fosse L’Archevque, Aniche, France Nord, and three others, 1967-1975, at 138000€
Lot 310, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Glenrhondda Colliery, Treherbert, South Wales, GB, and three others, 1966-1973, at 91200€ (image at right, top, via Lempertz)
Lot 495, Gerhard Richter, Ohne Titel, 1989, at 5160€
Lot 496, Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Foto, 1989, at 4080€
Lot 571, Rudolph Schwarzkogler, 3. Aktion, Wien, 1965, at 9000€
Lot 706, J. Pascal Sebah, Ohne Titel (Ansichten aus Agypten), 1870s, at 3360€
Lot 732, Willy Maywald, Ohne Titel (Stilleben), 1930s, at 1200€
Lot 748, Max Lohr, Ohne Titel, 1930, at 1320€
Lot 749, Max Lohr, Antike, 1930, at 1320€
Lot 762, George Platt Lynes, Ohne Titel, 1939, at 1680€
Lot 783, Erwin Blumenfeld, Ohne Titel, 1943, at 13200€ (image at right, bottom, via Lempertz)
Lot 798, Koichiro Yahagi, Ohne Titel, 1960s, at 1320€
Lot 821, Charlotte March, Gloria, Silberturban, 1966, at 3720€ (image at right, middle, via Lempertz)
Lot 825, Karl Hugo Schmölz, Ford-Werke, Köln, 1940s, at 1440€
Lot 826, Karl Hugo Schmölz, Drathaus, Düsselforf, 1952, at 1440€
Lot 854, Emmet Gowin, Ice Fish, Danville, Virginia, 1971/1973, at 1560€
Lot 868, Jeanloup Sieff, Bottom, 1969/Later, at 5040€
Lot 884, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Tasman Sea, Ngarupupu, and two others, 1982-1990, at 2880€
Lot 885, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Bay of Biscay, Bakio, and two others, 1991, at 3000€
Complete lot by lot results (for both Photography and Contemporary Art) can be found here.

Kunsthaus Lempertz
Neumarkt 3
D-50667 Köln

Anders Petersen, City Diary @Marvelli

JTF (just the facts): A total of 100 unframed black and white photographs, hung edge to edge in grids covering the walls in the main gallery space. All of the works are digital prints on matte paper, sized 38×26, and printed in editions of 10. The images were taken between 2000 and 2008, with most made in the second half of that period. A monograph of this body of work is forthcoming from Steidl (here). (Installation shots at right via Marvelli Gallery.)

Comments/Context: Swedish photographer Anders Petersen’s new show crackles with raw, gritty energy, assaulting the viewer with an enveloping array of disconnected moments. The works jump from the unsettling and explicit to the more intimate and vulnerable, documenting the shadowy underbelly of life in nameless European cities.

Petersen’s sooty aesthetic was immediately reminiscent for me of the work of Daido Moriyama and other Provoke-era Japanese photographers. His shadowy interiors are often harshly lit by a blast of light, capturing everyday scenes and objects with a mood of disturbing darkness. Muzzled, mangy dogs and bright eyed cats become sinister and threatening. Close-up faces are scarred and bloodied, weary and angry, the sitters unperturbed by the invasion of the camera. His nudes are casual and direct, bodies bluntly exposed. Even his images of brides, cupcakes, flowers and goldfish seem to have a rough edge, finding an undercurrent of something brusque and unpleasant in subjects that would normally be warm and inviting. Dead bugs cluster on a windowsill, a woman sticks out her black tongue, a left-over sausage is tangled on a plaid dinner plate, and a dog hobbles along with a broken leg near a dated van. Europe is seen as a collection of marginal subcultures, a veil of charcoal giving each moment a sense of struggle.

This body of work is successful as an overpowering installation, and will likely be equally potent in book form. Even with their unwavering directness, these pictures never seem voyeuristic, cheap or even particularly pessimistic; instead they have that memorable empathy and stylized realism that can be found in the work of Nan Goldin or Diane Arbus, albeit with a slightly darker point of view. This is a jolting show, one that is not always safe or easy, but one that forces the viewer to see a slice of our world that hides in the shadows.

Collector’s POV: All of the works on display priced at 5000€ each. Petersen’s work has not yet become reliably available in the secondary markets, so gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

  • Artist site (here)
  • Review: New Yorker (here)
  • Interview: Lens Culture (here)

Anders Petersen, City Diary
Through December 30th

Marvelli Gallery
526 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001

Auction Results: Signature Vintage & Contemporary Photography Auction, December 3, 2010 @Heritage New York

While Heritage was able to draw more consignment dollars to its recent photography sale than ever before, the auction house continues to suffer from poor outcomes. With more than 60% of the lots that sold selling below their estimate ranges and a Buy-In rate over 30%, it is no wonder the Total Sale Proceeds missed the estimate range by a wide margin.

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

Total Lots: 196
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $616650
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $916800
Total Lots Sold: 132
Total Lots Bought In: 64
Buy In %: 32.65%
Total Sale Proceeds: $411281

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):
.
Low Total Lots: 187
Low Sold: 124
Low Bought In: 63
Buy In %: 33.69%
Total Low Estimate: $714300
Total Low Sold: $288494
.
Mid Total Lots: 9
Mid Sold: 8
Mid Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 11.11%
Total Mid Estimate: $202500
Total Mid Sold: $122786

High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: NA
High Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: $0
Total High Sold: NA

The top lot by High estimate is lot 74040, Ansel Adams, Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941/1978, at $30000-50000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at $35850.

A troubling 62.88% of the lots that sold had proceeds below their estimate. There were a total of three surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 74068, Garry Winogrand, JFK, Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles, 1960/1983, at $2629 (image at right, bottom via Heritage)
Lot 74133 Michael Kenna, Gondolas I, Venice, Italy, 1980/1981, at $4780 (image at right, middle, via Heritage)
Lot 74138, Ray Metzker, 86 GB-6, Colorado, from Earthly Delights, 1986, at $3346 (image at right, top, via Heritage)
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Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Heritage Auctions
The Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion
2 East 79th Street
New York, NY 10075

Auction Preview: Photographs, December 13, 2010 @Christie’s

Christie’s ends the 2010 auction season for Photographs with a mop-up sale of generally lower end material in New York next week. With a high percentage of later prints or lesser known images, it’s a grab bag to pick through. Overall, there are a total of 187 lots on offer, with a total High estimate of $1234000.

Here’s the statistical breakdown:
.
Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 173
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $951000
Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 14
Total Mid Estimate: $283000
Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 0
Total High Estimate: NA
The top lot by High estimate is tied between two lots: lot 65, Irving Penn, Cuzco Children, Neg. No 142, Peru, Dec 1948, 1949, and lot 137, Irving Penn, Juliet Auchincloss, 1949, both at $30000-50000.
Here’s the complete list of photographers represented by five or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):
Ansel Adams (14)
Henri Cartier-Bresson (8)
Edward Weston (7)
Leonard Freed (7)
Brassai (6)
Harry Callahan (5)
.
(Lot 33, Bill Brandt, Nude #68, London, 1953, at $7000-9000, at right, bottom, lot 55, Irving Penn, Dorian Leigh and Ray Bolger, Vogue cover, 1946, at $20000-30000, at right, middle, and lot 122, Eddie Adams, Symbolism: March on Washington, 1963, $1500-2500, at right, top, all via Christie’s.)
The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here. The eCatalogue is located here.
December 13th
20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020

Arnold Odermatt, On Duty @Amador

JTF (just the facts): A total of 18 color photographs, mounted and framed in black without mats, and hung against cream and grey walls in the main gallery spaces. All of the works on display are modern digital type c prints, made from negatives taken between 1964 and 1986. The images are generally 19×19 (two are sized 19×14), and all are printed in editions of 15. A monograph of this body of work was published by Steidl in 2006 (here). (Installation shots at right.)
Comments/Context: With easy mockery becoming a pervasive lowest common denominator in recent photography, finding subtle undercurrents of genuine, non-ironic humor has proven to be particularly elusive of late. Arnold Odermatt’s staged photographs of Swiss policemen in action are the welcome exception to this unfortunate rule. Made with the help of his fellow officers, his images were designed to expose new potential recruits to the positive aspects of police work. They combine a careful documentary aesthetic with an underlying feeling of the absurd, as if the serious policemen pictured were stifling their urges to burst out laughing.
The show gathers together a collection of different police tasks: directing traffic, fingerprinting, stamping passports, checking travel paperwork, setting radar traps, photographing accident scenes, and training police dogs, each depicted in vivid 1960s color. In every scene, the policemen wear their finest uniforms, complete with white leather sashes, red collars, and crisp white hats. Several images capture the men earnestly racing ahead in their sleek police speed boats, like a chase scene from a James Bond movie. The pictures stand right on the edge of deliberate camp, the posing done with a nuanced mix of studious diligence and not-quite-acknowledged fun.
The rest of the exhibit is peppered with images of oddities: the crumpled remains of sculptural car crashes, the globular wavy forms of melted plastic tail lights, and the unexpected landing of a light plane in the middle of the roadway (with a spectacular snowy mountain vista in the background). Together they are overwhelming evidence that Swiss police work is anything but dull and boring.
Overall, this body of work can’t help but make you smile. It’s advertising of course, but it’s done with such affection that it’s hard not to be seduced by its warmth.
Collector’s POV: All of the prints in this show are priced at 5000€ each. Odermatt’s work has not been widely available in the secondary markets, although a handful of prints have come up for auction in the past few years; prices for these lots have ranged between $2000 and $4000.
By the way, these are some super color prints (particularly the first car crash as you enter the exhibit and the two melted tail lights across from it), even if they are modern. They have none of the faded, dated look that you might expect from negatives from the 1960s and 1970s. Some of these pictures really explode off the wall with the intensity of their colors, making the images surprisingly fresh and timeless.
Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
Transit Hub:
  • Koenig Projekte show, 2010 (DLK COLLECTION review here)
Through January 22nd
Amador Gallery
41 East 57th Street
New York, NY 10022

Auction Preview: MUSIC, December 10, 2010 @Phillips London

Phillips continues its 2010 series of themed sales later this week in London with a selection of works entitled “MUSIC”. The sale is generally grouped by artist/performer (from Mick Jagger and Jimi Hendrix to Patti Smith and the Sex Pistols), with a smattering of album covers, music themed artworks, and other ephemera mixed in amongst the photography. Overall, there are a total of 75 lots of photography available here, with a Total High Estimate for photography of £351450.

Here’s the statistical breakdown:
Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000): 64
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £155450
Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000): 9
Total Mid Estimate: £126000
Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 2
Total High Estimate: £70000
The top lot by High estimate is lot 1, Idris Khan, Rachmaninoff…Preludes, 2007, at £35000-40000. (Image at right, middle via Phillips.)
Here is the list of the photographers who are represented by three or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):
Annie Leibovitz (4)
David Redfern (4)
Claude Gassian (3)
William Gottlieb (3)
Herman Leonard (3)
Mick Rock (3)
Lawrence Watson (3)
Alfred Wertheimer (3)
.
(Lot 215, Joel Brodsky, Jim Morrison, the Doors, the American poet, New York City, 1967/Later, at £20000-30000, at right, top, and lot 124, Art Kane, The Rolling Stones, Circle Portrait, 1966/Later, at £10000-15000, at right, bottom, via Phillips.)
Phillips has recently introduced a fancier, more catalogue-like online viewing system. Unfortunately, it is not as quickly navigable as the old more straightforward layout. In any case, the complete lot by lot catalog for both sessions (Day and Evening) can be found here.
December 10th
Howick Place
London SW1P 1BB

Michael Wolf: iseeyou @Silverstein

JTF (just the facts): A total of 31 color photographs, each framed in black with no mat, and hung in the reception area, front room, and main gallery spaces. The show is a mini-retrospective of sorts, with images culled from a variety of projects. The following projects are represented, with the number of prints on view and their details in parentheses:

  • Architecture of Density (1, 48×58, edition of 9+2, 2006)
  • Night (1, 48×60, edition of 9+2, 2008)
  • Transparent City (5, 48×60 or 48×64 or reverse, in editions of 9+2, 2008)
  • Transparent City Detail (2, 50×40 and 34×27, in editions of 9+2, 2008)
  • Paris Street View (4, various sizes from 27×34 to 60×48 or reverse, in editions of 3+1, 5+2 or 9+2, 2009)
  • Manhattan Street View (2, 40×50 or 48×60, in editions of 5+2 or 9+2 respectively, 2009/2010)
  • A Series of Unfortunate Events (5, various sizes from 27×35 to 48×60 or reverse, in editions of 3+1, 5+2, or 9+2, 2010)
  • Tokyo Compression (11, 42×34 or 10×8, in editions of 5+2, 2010)

All of the works are digital c-prints, except for those from the Tokyo Compression series which are archival inkjet prints. A selection of 13 black and white city views by André Kertész from 1954-1978 (curated by Wolf) is on view in the back room.

Comments/Context: Over the past five years or so, the work of German photographer Michael Wolf seems to be on a trajectory toward finer grained detail, moving inward from wide abstracted city scenes of anonymous hives of geometric apartment blocks to specific personal moments found on city streets around the world. Along the way, his images have opened up prickly questions about the pervasive nature of video surveillance and its impact on our evolving definition of privacy, encouraging and exposing our own implicit voyeurism.
In his newest body of work, Wolf has given up the use of his own camera and instead mined the endless stream of digital images being captured by Google’s automated car-mounted cameras for its Street View product. While these pictures were taken to document buildings in a relentless block by block manner, given the number of people in these big cities, they consistently, if inadvertently, capture pedestrians and passersby. Wolf has appropriated these robotic photographs and then interpreted them via cropping and enlargement, discovering stolen glimpses of urban life. I found the resulting images random and disconnected: a couple kissing, layered reflections in a bus window and mirror, a man giving the camera the finger, a woman collapsed in the gutter; their durable individual significance was generally lost on me. What I liked best was the fabric of pixelization that covers each blown-up image like a thin screen; the repeated red, green, and blue shards resolve into tiny veiled grids of blocked color, creating an almost Pictorialist textured feel.
My favorite images in this exhibit were from the new Tokyo Compression series, where Wolf has photographed commuters pressed up against subway windows. Faces are smashed against doors, creating fogs of condensation; fingers claw as though trying to break free; people close their eyes or adopt masks of indifference and weary disgust to compensate for the crush of humanity. These images make the breakdown of personal space and the invasion of privacy much more explicit than in the context-free Street View scenes. Here the voyeurism is harsh and physical, and the people protect themselves from the onslaught by closing up.

Taken together, the show sees our world from a variety of distances, forcing the viewer to move back and forth, from close-up to broad scale and back again, always voraciously looking and being watched. I think Wolf’s work asks us to consider more fully whether we have entered a 21st century version of Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon, where the knowledge of being under surveillance has started to influence our behavior. In many ways, these new images are evidence of exactly this outcome, and it is this unnerving line of thinking that makes this show worth seeing.

Collector’s POV: The works in this show are priced as follows. The larger prints from Architecture of Density, Night, and Transparent City range between $11750 and $15750. The images from Transparent City Details are either $5900 or $9000 based on size. The prints from Paris Street View, Manhattan Street View, and A Series of Unfortunate Events range between $5900 to $15750, also based on size. The large print from Tokyo Compression is $9000, while the 10 smaller prints from the same series are being sold as part of a set of 30 prints, together $20000. Wolf’s prints have only recently entered the secondary markets, with a few large prints from Architecture of Density finding buyers between between $20000 and $26000.
.
Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
Transit Hub:
  • Artist site (here)
  • Reviews: New Yorker (here), New York (here)
  • Interview: The Morning News (here)
  • Aperture show, 2009/2010 (DLK COLLECTION review here)
Through December 24th
535 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011

Auction Preview: Important Photographs & Photobooks, December 9, 2010 @Swann

Swann has a late season various owner sale in New York later this week, with a broad mix of lower end photographs and photobooks on offer. Overall, there are 364 lots available, with a total High estimate of $1744700.

Here’s the statistical breakdown:
Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 336
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $1193700
Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 28
Total Mid Estimate: $551000
Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 0
Total High Estimate: NA
.
The top lot by High estimate is lot 145, Brett Weston, Twenty Photographs 1970-1977, 1978, at $30000-45000.
Below is the list of photographers with 5 or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):
Berenice Abbott (10)
Ansel Adams (10)
Edward Curtis (8)
Weegee (8)
Walker Evans (6)
Brett Weston (6)
Lee Friedlander (5)
Andre Kertesz (5)
Jacques-Henri Lartigue (5)
Danny Lyon (5)
Stephen Shore (5)
(Lot 21, Edward Curtis, Self portrait, 1899, at $6000-9000, at right, bottom, lot 81, Irving Penn, Nude #17, New York, 1949-1950/1980, at $25000-35000, at right, middle, and lot 191, David Goldblatt, Prostitute, Fordsburgh, Johannesburg, 1975, at $12000-18000, at right, top, all via Swann.)
.
The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here. The 3D version is located here.
December 9th
104 East 25th Street
New York, NY 10010

Auction Previews: Photographie and Selection from an American Collection, December 8, 2010 @Van Ham

Van Ham has has both a various owner Photographs sale and a single owner collection sale in Cologne later this week. The two sessions have a generous selection of lower end material, with plenty of work by Becher students (Gursky, Struth, Ruff, Höfer, Nieweg, Sasse, Ronkholz et al) and from the 1950s subjective photography movement (Schneiders, Keetman, Lauterwasser et al), and as usual, there are large groups of prints from Albert Renger-Patzsch and August Sander. Overall, there are a total of 443 lots on offer in this sale (across both sessions), with a Total High Estimate of 1120800€.

Here’s the breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including 7500€): 424
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): 804800€

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between 7500€ and 35000€): 17
Total Mid Estimate: 231000€

Total High Lots (high estimate above 35000€): 2
Total High Estimate: 85000€

The top lot by High estimate is lot 1046A, Andreas Gursky, Cairo (General View), 1992, at 35000-45000€.

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

Albert Renger–Patzsch (20)
Karl Hugo Schmölz (11)
Robert Doisneau (10)
August Sander (10)
Harold Edgerton (9)
Elliott Erwitt (7)
Andreas Gursky (7)
Henri Cartier-Bresson (6)
Peter Keetman (6)
George Platt Lynes (6)
Paul Wolff & Alfred Tritschler (5)
Candida Höfer (5)
Inge Morath (5)

(Lot 1415, Edward Steichen, An Apple, a Boulder, a Mountain, 1921, at 30000-40000€ , at right, top, lot 1400, Albert Renger–Patzsch, Ruhrchemie, 1933-1934, at 2000-3000€, at right, middle, and lot 1224, Siegfried Lauterwasser, Eisen, 1950s, at 800€, at right, bottom, all via Van Ham.)

The complete lot by lot catalog for both sessions can be found here.

Photographie
December 8th

Selection from an American Collection
December 8th

Van Ham Kunstauktionen
Schönhauser Straße 10 – 16
D – 50968 Köln

Auction Results: Photographs, December 2, 2010 @Bloomsbury London

Bloomsbury’s various owner photographs sale in London last week struggled to find its bearings. With a Buy-In rate over 50% and Total Sale Proceeds meaningfully less than the Total Low Estimate, the auction house continues to search for the secrets of success in the lower end of the market. The vintage Erwin Blumenfeld prints on offer were generally a positive surprise, with 5 out 6 lots selling above their estimate ranges.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
Total Lots: 236
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £236680
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £335620
Total Lots Sold: 109
Total Lots Bought In: 127
Buy In %: 53.81%
Total Sale Proceeds: £174899
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):
Low Total Lots: 227
Low Sold: 105
Low Bought In: 122
Buy In %: 53.74%
Total Low Estimate: £271120
Total Low Sold: £148059
Mid Total Lots: 9
Mid Sold: 4
Mid Bought In: 5
Buy In %: 55.56%
Total Mid Estimate: £64500
Total Mid Sold: £26840
High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: NA
High Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: £0
Total High Sold: NA
The top lot by High estimate was tied between two lots: lot 176, Horst P. Horst, Corset, Paris, 1939/Later, and lot 177, Horst P. Horst, Round the Clock I, 1987/Later, both at £8000-10000; neither print sold. The top outcome of the sale was lot 91, Erwin Blumenfeld, Veiled Beauty, c1931, at £9510.

88.99% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above their estimate. There were a total of 8 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
Lot 38, Melcher Berretty, The Lido Nightclub in Paris, c1950s, at £317
Lot 87, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Untitled, c1970, at £6710
Lot 90, Pierre Boucher, Untitled (Paris), c1940, at £671
Lot 94, Erwin Blumenfeld, Untitled, c1940, at £6710 (image at right, middle, via Bloomsbury)
Lot 95, Erwin Blumenfeld, The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, c1938, at £3416
Lot 96, Erwin Blumenfeld, Eyes Like the Sea, c1938, at £4636
Lot 97, Erwin Blumenfeld, Eyes of Youth, c1938, at £4880 (image at right, top, via Bloomsbury)
Lot 116, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin at the Lunar Module, 1969, at £1403 (image at right, bottom, via Bloomsbury)
Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
24 Maddox Street
Mayfair
London WS1 1PP

Auction Results: Photographie, November 25, 2010 @Villa Grisebach

The results of the recent Photography sale at Villa Grisebach in Berlin solidly met expectations; the Buy-In rate came in under 30% and the Total Sale Proceeds fell right in the heart of the estimate range. In general, the Walter Gropius prints performed well, and a smattering of other positive surprises helped keep the sale on track.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
Total Lots: 196
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: 451700€
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: 634100€
Total Lots Sold: 141
Total Lots Bought In: 55
Buy In %: 28.06%
Total Sale Proceeds: 524722€
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):
Low Total Lots: 182
Low Sold: 129
Low Bought In: 53
Buy In %: 29.12%
Total Low Estimate: 442100€
Total Low Sold: 347700€
Mid Total Lots: 14
Mid Sold: 12
Mid Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 14.29%
Total Mid Estimate: 192000€
Total Mid Sold: 177022€
High Total Lots: 0
High Sold: NA
High Bought In: NA
Buy In %: NA
Total High Estimate: 0€
Total High Sold: NA

The top lot by High estimate was lot 1388, Hiroshi Sugimoto, U.A. Rivoli, New York, 1978/Later, at 20000-25000€; it was also the top outcome of the sale at 39040€.

95.04% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate. There were a total of 16 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
Lot 1218, Marianne Breslauer, Mannequins, Berlin, 1932, at 7930€ (image at right, top, via Villa Grisebach)
Lot 1247, Walter Gropius, Modell des Bauhausmeister–Einzelhauses, Dessau, 1925-1926, at 2074€
Lot 1248, Walter Gropius, Haus Prof. Auerbach, Jena, Modell–Strassen–seite, 1924, at 4148€ (image at right, middle, via Villa Grisebach)
Lot 1249, Walter Gropius/Lucia Moholy, Kuche im Einzelhaus Gropius mit Schrank von Marcel Breuer, 1925-1926, at 1952€
Lot 1251, Walter Gropius, Theaterumbau Jena, Ansicht Innentur, 1922-1923, at 1342€
Lot 1252, Walter Gropius, Adler-Automobil, Standard 8, Modell Gropius, 1930, at 3660€
Lot 1253, Walter Gropius, Sitzecke mit Beistelltisch von Marcel Breuer, 1925-1926, at 1220€
Lot 1254, Walter Gropius, Fagus–Werke Alfeld/Leine und Werkbunduasstellung, Koln, 1910-1914, at 2440€
Lot 1271, Lotte Jacobi, Spaziergang, Berlin, 1930, at 1220€
Lot 1277, Alberto Diaz Gutierrez Korda, Guerillero heroico, 1960/1985, at 9760€
Lot 1292, Will McBride, Romy, Paris, 1964/2001, at 3172€
Lot 1304, Edward Quigley, Building, New York, 1932, at 5368€
Lot 1310, Rudolf Schwartzkogler, 3. Aktion, Wien, Sommer, 1965/1975, at 7442€
Lot 1325, Walter Vogel, Joseph Beuys, 1965/2010, at 7564€
Lot 1366, Tony Mendoza, Aus der Serie Ernie, 1980-1983/1986, at 1952€
Lot 1377, Michael Schmidt, “o.T.” aus der Serie “Frauen”, 1999/2000, at 1769€ (image at right, bottom, via Villa Grisebach)
Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
Fasanenstraße 25
D-10719 Berlin

Rachel Perry Welty: Lost in My Life @Richardson

JTF (just the facts): A total of 7 large scale color photographs, framed in white with no mat, and hung in the main gallery space. The pigment prints are displayed in two different sizes: 56×35, in editions of 6, and 90×60, in editions of 3. There are 6 medium sized works and 1 large work on view. All of the images were made in 2010. (Installation shots at right.)
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Comments/Context: Critiques and satires of our pervasive consumer culture, with its brand obsessions, its throw-away mind set, and its more recent economic dark side have become increasingly common subject matter for contemporary photographers. Rachel Perry Welty’s new work fits snugly into this ever-expanding genre, using a playful, light touch to expose the sheer expanse of our growing mountains of disposable stuff.
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Welty’s images are meticulously constructed in her studio, where reams of cereal boxes, plastic bread tags, self-adhesive price stickers, and brightly colored twist ties have been transformed into clever sculptural environments where the artist hides in plain view. In one picture, she stands in a dress holding a shopping bag, disappearing as if camouflaged by a patterned ocean of yellow, white, and orange stickers. In another, her clothes are striped in a horizontal rainbow of lines, echoing the all-over thicket of twist ties (many marked “organically grown”) pulled taut nearby. In a third, the round blue bubbles on her dress connect to others on the wall behind her and to an encroaching tower of Styrofoam take-out boxes that covers the floor. I was particularly impressed by her cylindrical basket of tiny bread ties, where hundreds of green, red, white, and orange plastic tabs have been woven into an elaborate, textured volume. In each and every image, her face is hidden; they are self-portraits or performances, where the detritus of her life obscures and overwhelms her self.

These works reminded me of JeongMee Yoon’s pink and blue project, as well as of some of Vik Muniz‘ elaborate constructions of unexpected materials. They have a friendly, decorative feel, her message delivered without sober pronouncements or harsh hectoring; they’re the kind of images that can successfully poke fun at the insanity of our consumer culture, without leaving the viewer depressed and disgusted.
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Collector’s POV: Very few of the prints on display in this show were still available for purchase, so these works seem to be selling well. The ones that were left were priced as follows: the 56×35 prints were either $6000 or $7500, apparently depending on their place in the edition (the last two in the edition respectively I believe); the larger 90×60 print was POR, and when I requested the price, I was eventually told it was no longer available, so I’m not clear on what the price actually was. Welty’s work has little or no secondary market history, so gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point.
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Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
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Transit Hub:

  • Artist site (here)
  • Northeastern faculty page (here)
  • Interview: Art 21 (here)
  • Review: New York Photo Review (here)

Rachel Perry Welty: Lost in My Life
Through December 23rd

Yancey Richardson Gallery
535 West 22nd Street
New York, NY 10011

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