Photography Collection - News for Art Buyers

Totaling an extraordinary $17,608,525, the highest total in auction history for the category, Christie’s presented its week of Photographs sales. The five auctions held across two days: Fine Photobooks, Photographs from the Collection of Gert Elfering Collection, Photographs by Diane Arbus from the Collection of Bruce and Nancy Berman, the Photographs Sale from various owners, and the Ansel Adams Collection of Photographs, collectively offered buyers the most versatile selection of photography. The sales, which were expected to realize in the region of $14.8 million, have demonstrated unprecedented strength and maturity in a market that continues to inspire growth and interest.

The sales kicked off with the collection of Fine Photobooks. Arguably the finest collection of its kind offered at auction to date, this sale realized $2,602,450 against an estimate of $1.5-2.2 million. Most of the books offered were signed or inscribed by the photographers, linking some of the key figures of 20th-century photography. Highlights included Jindrich Styrsky, Emilie prichazi ka mne ve snu, (Emily Comes to Me in a Dream), 1933 (Estimate: $60,000- 90,000), which sold for $193,000 and A complete set of artist’s books, 1963-1978 by Ed Ruscha, (Estimate: $60,000-90,000), which sold for $121,000. Photographs from the Collection of Gert Elfering, an established collector and tastemaker, sold for a total of $4,373,200 against an estimate of $2-3 million. Among the sale’s top lots were Sie kommen (Naked and Dressed), Paris, 1981, by Helmut Newton, (Estimate: $140,000- 180,000) which sold for $241,000 and Irving Penn’s Mouth for L'Oréal, New York, 1986, dye-transfer print, which quadrupled its estimate and demanded $205,000.

The Bruce and Nancy Berman Collection of Photographs by Diane Arbus achieved $1,372,000 and was completely sold. The collection highlighted some of Arbus’s most iconic photographs; Child selling plastic orchids at night, N.Y.C. 1963, was the sale’s top lot and went for $115,000, and A family on their lawn oneSunday in Westchester, N.Y. 1968, (Estimate: $40,000-60,000) achieved $91,000. The sale of Photographs by Ansel Adams from a California Collection totaled $4,678,000 (Estimate $3-4.5million). The works by the legendary American photographer saw heightened and competitive bidding from US buyers. The collection featured highlights from throughout Adams’s distinguished career, and a mural print of Adams’s stunning Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite, 1944 (Estimate: $250,000-350,000) sold for a staggering $481,000.

The Photographs sale of various owners totaled $4,682,875 and smashed records for some of the greatest image-makers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Two masterpieces by Irving Penndemonstrated the breadth and scope of his artistic output from opposite sides of his working spectrum and set unprecedented prices for the artist. The iconic Black and White Vogue Cover, 1950 (Estimate: $200,000-300,000) sold for $481,000 and set a world record for the artist in the morning session; this was to be broken hours later in the afternoon session by his Cuzco Children, 1948 (Estimate: $250,000-350,000), which achieved $529,000 – the highest price at auction for a work by Penn. Other highlights included Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Hyeres, France, 1932 (Estimate: $60,000-90,000), which sold for $265,000 – a world record for the artist and Robert Mapplethorpe, Calla Lily, 1988 (Estimate: $100,000-150,000) which totaled $265,000.