Claude Monet: Late Work @Gagosian

I know, I know.

You come here for photography and this show has absolutely nothing to with photography. But having seen this incredible exhibit, I just couldn’t resist the temptation to pass along a few thoughts. Since this is entirely outside the norm for this site (this is the very first deviation from photography-related topics in nearly two years of writing), I’m going to forgo the usual review structure/detail and just lay out some free form observations and conclusions.

Regular readers know that we reserve our highest “three star” rating for the best photography shows of the year, those shows that not only include superior pictures but add a layer of scholarship that forces the viewer to reconsider their understanding of an artist and his/her entire career. While I won’t pretend to be an expert on Monet, I can say with authority that this group of late works entirely destroyed my original conception of the artist. The use of color and gesture is radical, explosive, and exuberant, and the connection to Abstract Expressionism, which would come decades later, seems downright unmistakable.

The first room of this show is the straight man, the “before” that we all recognize immediately: water lilies on the surface of the pond at Giverny, refined, soft, and delicate. The following three rooms bring together the “after”, works from 1914-1924, and these are the ones that will blow your mind. The brush strokes get long, large, and swirling, with expressive, rhythmic gestures built in layers. The group of paintings in the third gallery use a palette rooted in deep purples and sublime blues. They’re still water lilies, but they have become altogether more abstract, free and lively, the mesmerizing color pulsating from the canvas. In one image, perhaps my favorite in the show, the reflections of willow trees are transformed into thick vertical squiggles that shimmer down the surface.

The last gallery confines its palette to earth tones and fall colors: rust, yellow, orange, brown, with remnants of green thrown in for good measure. These paintings move even closer to complete abstraction; they are nearly unidentifiable as the subjects they supposedly depict. In the three versions of the path under the rose arches (hung together for maximum effect), the layered piling up of colors varies just slightly, with minute shadings of light and dark creating three distinct impressions, each bold and earthy. And in one version of the Japanese bridge, the brush strokes become so wild and unruly that the subject ceases to matter, and the composition is transformed into an all-over blast of chaos and energy.

Sometimes it’s easy to get trapped in the world of photography and lose sight of the bigger picture of the art world. So break out of the photography ghetto and go see this show. Go for the use of color, the masterful blending and mixing of tones, some of which will leave you hypnotized. Go also for the connections to the future, the hints of Abstract Expressionism in the flowing, eruptive gestures. But mostly go because it will make you break the foundation conclusions about Monet stuck in your memory from Art History 101 – I guarantee you’ll leave this show with an entirely new perspective on one of the greats in the history of art. It’s not photography folks, but it’s certainly, undeniably, three stars.

Reviews: NY Times (here), New York (here), WSJ (here), Artnet (here), ArtObserved (here)

Claude Monet: Late Work
Through June 26th

Gagosian Gallery
522 West 21st Street
New York, NY 10011

Uta Barth: … to walk without destination and to see only to see. @Tanya Bonakdar

JTF (just the facts): This show contains a combination of current work and reprints of work from decades ago. The main gallery contains 8 color works, all made in 2010, each a diptych or triptych. In these works, the left panel inkjet print is 41×32 and the right panel inkjet print(s) are 41×46. The works are printed in editions of 6+2 and framed in white with no mat. The rear gallery contains 7 works (ranging from 1 to 16 series prints each), made in 1979-1982 and printed in 2010. The black and white inkjet prints (framed in white with no mat) are all roughly 11×9, and are also made in editions of 6+2. A new monograph of the artist’s work, The Long Now, was recently published by Gregory Miller and is available from the gallery. A companion exhibit of the same bodies of work is now on display at 1301PE Gallery in Los Angeles (here). (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: I’ve recently been reading a book called Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing, by Margaret Livingstone (here). As you might imagine from the title, it covers the technical underpinnings of how our human vision system works (rods and cones etc.), how the eye and brain connect and interact, how luminance and color are processed, and how central and peripheral vision work. It then goes on to show how various artists across the history of art have used color mixing, contrast and other optical techniques to achieve different effects. The reason I have been reading this book is that I have, of late, become more interested in the underpinnings of visual perception, as it relates to how we interact with and understand photography. Given this background study, you could say I was fully primed to enjoy Uta Barth’s excellent new show, as her work has always thoughtfully explored the boundaries and ambiguities of seeing.
The large main gallery space is filled with diptychs and triptychs that have a common structure. In one panel, we look down at the sidewalk from the photographer’s point of view, casting shadows across the field of vision that become two thick parallel lines. In the other panel or panels, we look up into the sky, where the blurs of hallucinatory trees hover overhead. In the downward looking shots, we often see the trace of a shoe or foot, the cracks and lines of the sidewalk, or stray leaves that dapple the greyness, giving us a hint to the perspective, but it is the strong vertical shadows that run edge to edge from top to bottom that seem strange and illusory, especially in the images that have been reversed as negatives. The upward shots have a calligraphic elegance in their shifting fogginess. Branches, leaves, berries and flowers have been abstracted into thin black lines and splashes of color – red, or yellow, or green, or blue, flashed against a blinding white sky. These upward glances seem to oscillate and vibrate, as if we were catching them out of the corner of our eye, out of focus, but still entirely identifiable. When the up and down views are juxtaposed together, there is movement, and wonder, and lyrical simplicity.

The smaller, black and white images in the back rewind thirty years, when Barth was just beginning her explorations of light, space, and time: light streams in through curtains and doorways, chairs are moved around a studio, and shadows divide a wall. Compositionally, the photographs are often consciously unbalanced, with large expanses of emptiness (floor, snow, wall) punctuated by the fragment of an object. It is easy to see where her conceptual ideas began, and then to walk back into the main gallery and see where those same motifs have evolved over her career.

I must admit that as I stood in the middle of the main gallery and let the new works wash over me, I had that uncommon rush of positive feeling, the nodding head, that giddy “aha” that said these pictures were tuned just right. Maybe it was my recent biology diversion that made me acutely aware of Barth’s controlled use of my vision, but regardless, I came away enchanted by the proof that simplicity can still be thrillingly new.

Collector’s POV: The color diptychs and triptychs in the show are priced at $30000 each. The smaller black and white works range in price from $5500 to $30000, based on the number of prints in the work. Barth’s photographs have recently become available in the secondary markets, with a handful of lots coming up for sale in any given year; prices have ranged between $3000 and $38000.

Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

  • UC Riverside faculty page (here)
  • Review: Frieze, 2008 (here)
  • Interview: Journal of Contemporary Art, 1996 (here)

Uta Barth: … to walk without destination and to see only to see.
Through June 19th

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery
521 West 21st Street
New York, NY 10011

Auction Results: AFRICA, May 15, 2010 @Phillips

The results for the photographs in the AFRICA themed sale at Phillips last week fell solidly into the estimate range, led by works by Malick Sidibé and Zwelethu Mthethwa. Overall however, the total photo proceeds were significantly less than the BRIC and SEX themed sales earlier in the year.

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

Total Lots: 75
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $386300
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $554700
Total Lots Sold: 53
Total Lots Bought In: 22
Buy In %: 29.33%
Total Sale Proceeds: $477250

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

Low Total Lots: 62
Low Sold: 41
Low Bought In: 21
Buy In %: 33.87%
Total Low Estimate: $272700
Total Low Sold: $205500

Mid Total Lots: 12
Mid Sold: 11
Mid Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 8.33%
Total Mid Estimate: $202000
Total Mid Sold: $191250

High Total Lots: 1
High Sold: 1
High Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 0.00%
Total High Estimate: $80000
Total High Sold: $80500

The top lot by High estimate was lot 61, Yinka Shonibare, Un Ballo in Maschera (I-X), 2004-2005, at $60000-80000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at $80500.

90.57% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 5 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
Lot 1, Malick Sidibé, Nuit de Noel (Happy-Club), 1963/Later, at $9375
Lot 3, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Untitled from Sugar Cane Series, 2003, at $13750 (image at right, top, via Phillips)
Lot 33, Malick Sidibé, Regardez-Moi!, 1962, 2000, at $12500 (image at right, via Phillips)
Lot 169, George Rodger, The Champion of a Korongo Nuba Wrestling Match is Carried Shoulder High, Kordofan, Southern Sudan, 1949/1999, at $8750
Lot 185, Malick Sidibé, Les nouveaux circoni, 1983/1995, at $7500

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

450 West 15th Street
New York, NY 10011

Eirik Johnson: Sawdust Mountain @Aperture

JTF (just the facts): A total of 37 color photographs, framed in blond wood with no mat, and hung in the large gallery space, further separated by two dividing walls. The archival pigment prints come in two sizes 24×30 (or reverse), in editions of 10, and 40×50 (or reverse), in editions of 5; there are 25 small images and 12 large images in the exhibition. All of the works were made between 2006 and 2008. The show was curated by Elizabeth Brown. A monograph of this project has been recently published by Aperture and is available in the shop for $40 (here). (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Eirik Johnson’s contemporary photographs of the Pacific Northwest expose the gap between the promise and grandeur of the region’s staggering natural resources and the 21st century reality of its depleted and declining industries and rural communities. It’s a depressing and increasingly desperate portrait of the region, where man’s encroachment on the environment seems to have gone too far, forcing the people dependent on timber and fishing to hang in the balance, looking to recover some kind of elusive sustainable equilibrium.
If you look back at the early 20th century photographs of Darius Kinsey (review here), the power of nature over man was obvious. Even though tiny loggers with hand saws were pulling down massive firs and cedars that dwarfed them in size, it was clear that the forest was king and we were insignificant interlopers. These people were pioneers and homesteaders, clawing out a rough living from the bounty that surrounded them. Kinsey’s pictures have a palpable sense of romance and awe, with teams of men sitting on beasts they have just vanquished.

Fast forward a century and the scene has changed dramatically. Cut logs are now stacked in huge yards, entire landscapes have been clear cut, and seedlings are grown in greenhouses. The balance of power has noticeably reversed – man is no longer looking up at nature, but is now peering down trying to “manage” it for optimum profitability. The scale has increased dramatically: boards and planks multiply, sawdust piles up, and lumber offices stand ready to organize it all. And yet, the boom has already come and gone, and we’re now left on the other side of the expansion, looking back at what happened and trying to make sense of the lost jobs, the empty fisheries, the crumbling dams and the ecological failure.

Stylistically, Johnson is travelling down a thoroughly American road, mixing understated portraits and unexpected landscapes in the same long form project – there are compositional connections to Joel Sternfeld, Mitch Epstein and Alec Soth, as well as tangential ties to other images of the region made by Robert Adams (West from the Columbia) and Frank Gohlke (Mount Saint Helens). Johnson is telling his complex story via the aggregation of many small pieces and vignettes that together paint a bigger picture of life in these communities: grey skies, dead fish, abandoned moss covered houses, truck cabs, hollow-eyed workers, salmon jerky, dryer lint artwork, and a dispiriting array of things for sale (sweaters, firewood, rusty trucks, Star Wars memorabilia, and porn).

What I found most sad about this whole story was the leaden silence that seems to hover everywhere in Johnson’s images. The rain falls, life moves on, the people stay or move away (it doesn’t seem to matter), and quiet envelops everything. Individually, these subtle, often straightforward works don’t shout from the walls, but their collective effect (particularly in book form) hits home with surprising force.
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Collector’s POV: Since this isn’t a selling show, there aren’t any posted prices for the works on display. Eirik Johnson is represented by G. Gibson Gallery in Seattle (here) and Rena Bransten Gallery in San Francisco (here). His work has not yet become 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)
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Transit Hub:
  • Artist site (here)
  • Henry Art Gallery, 2009 (here)
  • Reviews: Artforum (here, scroll down), Another Bouncing Ball (here)
  • Book Review: Conscientious (here)
  • Interview: Ahorn (here)
Eirik Johnson: Sawdust Mountain
Through June 10th
547 West 27th Street
New York, NY 10001

Auction Preview: Photobooks, May 21, 2010 @Christie’s South Kensington

We’re now quite a few years into the establishment of the secondary market for photobooks, with Swann and Christie’s having emerged as the dominant players and Bloomsbury beginning to ramp up efforts as well. As the market becomes more liquid, the “usual suspects” are starting to be become more standardized, with iconic and well known titles (often well correlated with the Parr/Badger anthologies) showing up in every sale. This sale has its fair share of these books, as well as a strong group of photobooks from Central Europe, carved off in their own special section. Overall, there are a total of 136 lots on offer, with a Total High Estimate of £347400. (Catalog cover at right, via Christie’s.)

Given the pricing realities of collectible photobooks, I’ve modified the scale used for photographs and brought the various thresholds down a bit to better reflect the spirit of the labels Low, Mid, and High. I’ll apply this scale to photobook sales on a going forward basis (adjusted for different currencies). As such, here’s the revised statistical breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £800): 38
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £26000

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £800 and £5000): 88
Total Mid Estimate: £202400

Total High Lots (high estimate above £5000): 10
Total High Estimate: £119000

The top lot by High estimate is lot 265 (the cover lot), Emmet Gowin, Concerning America and Alfred Stieglitz, and Myself, 1965, at £18000-25000.

This is a diverse photobook sale, with most of the photographers/book makers represented by a single lot. Only a handful are represented by three or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Nobuyoshi Araki (4)
Josef Sudek (4)
Shomei Tomatsu (4)
Karl Blossfeldt (3)
Yasuhiro Ishimoto (3)

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here. The eCatalogue is located here.

Photobooks
May 21st

Christie’s
85 Old Brompton Road
London SW7 3LD

Auction Preview: Photographs, May 20, 2010 @Bonhams London

Following up on its New York Photographs sale earlier in the week, Bonhams has scheduled a twin Photographs auction in London for this coming Thursday. This sale has primarily lower end and lesser known material, with a healthy mix of British photographers. Overall, there are a total of 137 lots on offer, with a Total High Estimate of £490400. (Catalog cover at right, via Bonhams.)

Here’s the statistical breakdown:
Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000): 109
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £219400
Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000): 27
Total Mid Estimate: £236000
Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 1
Total High Estimate: £35000
The top lot by High estimate is lot 125, Thomas Ruff, Porträt (V. Liebermann), 1998, at £25000-35000. (Image at right, via Bonhams.)
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):
Horst P. Horst (9)
Thurston Hopkins (6)
Nobuyoshi Araki (5)
Ken Griffiths (5)
O. Winston Link (5)
Wolfgang Suschitzky (5)
Brassaï (4)
Norman Parkinson (4)
Grace Robertson (4)
Sebastião Salgado (4)
Jock Sturges (4)
André Villers (4)
Andy Warhol (4)
David Bailey (3)
Lillian Bassman (3)
Terence Donovan (3)
Mario Giacomelli (3)

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.

May 20th
Bonhams
101 New Bond Street
London W1S 1SR

Auction Preview: Photographs, May 20, 2010 @Phillips London

The upcoming Photographs sale at Phillips later this week continues the unbroken string of “in the middle” sales for this London spring season. While this auction has a few more contemporary works than the others, there just aren’t enough jaw-dropping stand out images on offer at any of the sales to really draw significant attention. Overall, there are a total of 127 lots available here, with a Total High Estimate of £1166500. (Catalog cover at right, via Phillips.)

Here’s the statistical breakdown:
Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000): 57
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £173500
Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000): 61
Total Mid Estimate: £628000
Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 9
Total High Estimate: £365000
The top lot by High estimate is lot 54, Robert Mapplethorpe, X, Y, Z Portfolios, 1977/1978, at £60000-80000.
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):
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Peter Beard (4)
Nobuyoshi Araki (3)
Lillian Bassman (3)
Bryn Campbell (3)
Horst P. Horst (3)
Robert Mapplethorpe (3)
Irving Penn (3)
Sebastiao Salgado (3)
While there weren’t too many great fits for our own collection, the wit in the Graham Smith image above certainly made me smile. (Graham Smith, Who She Wanted and What She Got, South Bank, Middlesbrough, 1982/2008, at £1800-2200; image at right, via Phillips.)
The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.
Photographs
May 20th
Howick Place
London SW1P 1BB

Auction Previews: The Photographs Sale, May 19, 2010 @Bloomsbury London, Rome and New York

Rather than spread out its Photographs sales for London, Rome and New York across multiple months, Bloomsbury has taken the unusual step of scheduling all three back to back on one day (leveraging Internet bidding) and placing all the lots in one handy catalog. There are certainly some economies of scale with this approach and likely some cross pollination of geographies that wouldn’t normally have happened.

In general, all three sales are filled with lower end material; there are no High lots in any of the sessions. Each sale has its own primary currency, which makes aggregating the financial data a bit trickier. In the London sale, there are a total of 120 lots on offer, with a Total High Estimate of £252100. In the Rome sale, there are a total of 178 lots on offer, with a Total High Estimate of 282050€. And in the New York sale, there are a total of 126 lots on offer, with a Total High Estimate of $490700. I’ve outlined the statistical details for each session separately below. (Catalog cover at right, via Bloomsbury.)

London: Session I

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000): 113
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £190100

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000): 7
Total Mid Estimate: £62000

Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 0
Total High Estimate: NA

The top lot by High estimate in this session is lot 27, Eugenio Courret, Vistas Monumentos Y Tipos De Lima, 1870, at £10000-15000.

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

Willy Ronis (7)
Constantin Brancusi (4)
Harry Benson (3)
Bill Brandt (3)
Brassai (3)
Elliot Erwitt (3)
Jacques-Henri Lartigue (3)
Leni Riefenstahl (3)
Orthon Von Ostheim (3)

Rome: Session II

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including 7500€): 175
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): 243050€

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between 7500€ and 35000€): 3
Total Mid Estimate: 39000€

Total High Lots (high estimate above 35000€): 0
Total High Estimate: NA

The top lot by High estimate in this session is effectively tied between lot 227 (the cover lot), Robert Mapplethorpe, Patti Smith, N.Y.C., 1976, at 10000-15000€, and lot 280, Elio Luxardo, Pietro Donzelli, Federico Vender and others, Con una piccola Rondine, 1951, at 12000-15000€.

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

Edouard Boubat (5)
Willy Ronis (5)
Thomas Hopker (4)
Andre Kertesz (4)
Vincenzo Castella (3)
Denise Colomb (3)
Robert Doisneau (3)
Mario Giacomelli (3)
Luigi Ghirri (3)
Mimmo Jodice (3)
Federico Patellani (3)
Domenico Riccardo Peretti Griva (3)
Fulvio Roiter (3)

While not one of the top lots, lot 211, Gabriele Basilico, Rotterdam, 1986, at 2800-3200€, is one of our favorite images by Basilico. (image at right, via Bloomsbury)

New York: Session III

This session includes both photographs and photobooks.

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 123
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $438700

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 3
Total Mid Estimate: $52000

Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 0
Total High Estimate: NA

The top photography lot by High estimate in this session is tied between lot 417, Imogen Cunningham, Nude, 1932/1960 and lot 426, Marilyn Minter, Mardi Gras, 2007, both at $15000-20000.

The following is the list of photographers represented by three or more lots in this portion of the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):

George Barris (3)
Elliot Erwitt (3)
Andre Kertesz (3)
William Klein (3)
Daido Moriyama (3)
Weegee (3)

Complete lot by lot catalogs are available for London (here), Rome (here), and New York (here).

Photographs
May 19th

Bloomsbury Auctions

24 Maddox Street
Mayfair
London W1S 1PP

Palazzo Colonna
via della Pilotta 19
00187, Roma

6 West 48th Street
New York, NY 10036

Auction Results: Contemporary Art, Parts I and II, and the Halsey Minor Collection, May 13 and 14, 2010 @Phillips

The photographs in the various Contemporary Art auctions at Phillips last week delivered more mixed results than those in the preceding sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s. While the Total Sale Proceeds did cover the low estimate, the buy-in rate was over 35%. Dennis Hopper’s works performed well beyond expectations, perhaps signalling a run-up ahead of his MOCA show this summer.

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

Total Lots: 93
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $2232000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $3157000
Total Lots Sold: 58
Total Lots Bought In: 35
Buy In %: 37.63%
Total Sale Proceeds: $2413563

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

Low Total Lots: 34
Low Sold: 24
Low Bought In: 10
Buy In %: 29.41%
Total Low Estimate: $225000
Total Low Sold: $240375

Mid Total Lots: 45
Mid Sold: 26
Mid Bought In: 19
Buy In %: 42.22%
Total Mid Estimate: $1302000
Total Mid Sold: $596788

High Total Lots: 14
High Sold: 8
High Bought In: 6
Buy In %: 42.86%
Total High Estimate: $1900000
Total High Sold: $1576400

The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 13, John Baldessari, Two Cars, One Red, in Different Environments, 1990, at $300000-400000; it sold for $338500. The top outcome of the sale was lot 134, John Baldessari, Lion Jet Truck, 1988, at $554500. (Image at right, top, via Phillips.)

81.03% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 6 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 225, Dennis Hopper, Ed Ruscha, 1964, at $23750
Lot 229, Dennis Hopper, Andy Warhol and Members of the Factory, 1964, at $26250
Lot 230, Dennis Hopper, Dennis Hopper, 1962, at $31250
Lot 231, Dennis Hopper, John Wayne and Dean Martin, 1962, at $27500
Lot 279, Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 1992, at $96100
Lot 564, Catherine Opie, Untitled #13 (Wall Street), 2001, at $16250 (image at right, via Phillips)

Complete lot by lot results can be found here (Minor), here (Part I) and here (Part II).

Phillips De Pury & Company
450 West 15th Street
New York, NY 10011

Auction Preview: Photographs, May 21, 2010 @Christie’s South Kensington

The upcoming Christie’s Photographs sale takes place at the South Kensington office in London later this week, and this particular location (in contrast to the King Street space) is often a signal of lower end material. 44 of the lots in this sale come from the collection of picture editor Norman Hall, and there are quite a few Brandt nudes mixed in across the action. Overall, there are a total of 111 lots on offer, with a Total High Estimate of £797500. (Catalog cover at right, via Christie’s.)

Here’s the statistical breakdown:
Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000): 67
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £173500
Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000): 37
Total Mid Estimate: £404000
Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 7
Total High Estimate: £220000
The top lot by High estimate is lot 47, Gustave Le Gray, View across the Nile, 1867, at £30000-40000. (Image at right, via Christie’s.)
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):
Henri Cartier-Bresson (9)
Helmut Newton (8)
Bill Brandt (7)
Irving Penn (7)
Mario Giacomelli (5)
Robert Mapplethorpe (5)
Brett Weston (5)
Cecil Beaton (3)
Robert Doisneau (3)
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The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here. The eCatalogue is located here.
May 21st
85 Old Brompton Road
London SW7 3LD

Auction Preview: Photographs, May 20, 2010 @Sotheby’s London

After a series of disappointing Photographs sales in the London office in previous seasons, Sotheby’s took a breather last fall and focused its attentions on Paris. This spring, Sotheby’s is back with a Photographs offering in London, filled with both usual suspects (Penn, Mapplethorpe, etc.) and lesser known works. 30 of the lots come from a single French collection and a large group of vintage prints from the estate of the German photographer Heinz Hajek–Halke have been included. As an aside, I think the Mapplethorpe photogravures on offer have surprisingly high estimates. In any case, there are a total of 125 lots on offer, with a Total High Estimate of £1557000. (Catalog cover at right, via Sotheby’s.)

Here’s the statistical breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including £5000): 6
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): £24000

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between £5000 and £25000): 110
Total Mid Estimate: £1138000

Total High Lots (high estimate above £25000): 9
Total High Estimate: £395000

The top lot by High estimate is lot 76, Irving Penn, Two Liqueurs, New York, 1951/1960, at £60000-80000.

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

Heinz Hajek–Halke (13)
Robert Mapplethorpe (7)
Irving Penn (7)
Nobuyoshi Araki (5)
Horst P. Horst (5)
Helmut Newton (5)
Henri Cartier-Bresson (4)
Robert Doisneau (4)
Lee Friedlander (4)
Hiroshi Sugimoto (4)
William Eggleston (3)
Alexander Rodchenko (3)
Anton Stankowski (3)
Andy Warhol (3)

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here.

Photographs
May 20th

Sotheby’s
34-35 New Bond Street
London W1A 2AA

Auction Results: Contemporary Art, May 12 and 13, 2010 @Sotheby’s

The results for the photography buried in Sotheby’s various Contemporary Art sales earlier this week, coupled with those at Christie’s in the days before, are making me think that the confident art market swagger is on its way to a full recovery. Sotheby’s total photo proceeds topped their high estimate with room to spare, with a buy-in rate hovering around 10% and more than 50% of the lots that sold selling above their range. Virtually all the high end lots found buyers. On a going forward basis, I think we can expect this positive, optimistic momentum to swell the Fall consignments.

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

Total Lots: 52
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $2894000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $4099000
Total Lots Sold: 46
Total Lots Bought In: 6
Buy In %: 11.54%
Total Sale Proceeds: $4255750

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

Low Total Lots: 1
Low Sold: 1
Low Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 00.00%
Total Low Estimate: $10000
Total Low Sold: $8125

Mid Total Lots: 30
Mid Sold: 25
Mid Bought In: 5
Buy In %: 16.67%
Total Mid Estimate: $849000
Total Mid Sold: $896125

High Total Lots: 21
High Sold: 20
High Bought In: 1
Buy In %: 4.76%
Total High Estimate: $3240000
Total High Sold: $3351500

The top photography lot by High estimate was lot 49, Andreas Gursky, Rimini, 2003, at $500000-700000; it was also the top outcome of the sales at $722500.

97.83% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 4 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
Lot 327, Matthew Day Jackson, Bucket, 2007, at $34375
Lot 425, Candida Höfer, Musee Du Louvre, Paris XV, 2005, at $104500 (image at right, top, via Sotheby’s)
Lot 431, James Casebere, Spiral Staircase, 2002-2003, at $50000 (image at right, via Sotheby’s)
Lot 432, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Satellite City Towers, 2002, at $28125
Complete lot by lot results can be found here (Evening) and here (Day).

1334 York Avenue
New York, NY 10021

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