Christies’ April Auction Results
Since the start of 2019 Christie’s has hosted only one auction to feature photographic prints, an annual auction that took place in March and featured design and photography lots. Since the start of April, however, Christie’s has gone all out with three photography-specific auctions hosted on the same day.
The ‘Photography spring season’ kicked off on Tuesday (2 April) with Daydreaming: Photographs from the Goldstein Collection – an auction of 69 lots from some of the most renowned artists in the field like Ansel Adams, W. Eugene Smith, Julia Margaret Cameron, Eugene Atget, Paul Strand and Alfred Stieglitz.
The auction realised a sales total of $1,614,750 with Richard Avedon’s infamous Dovima with Elephants print taking the top spot as the most expensive print sold at the auction with a hammer price of $615,000 (original estimate: $350,000-$550,000). Irving Penn’s Harlequinn Dress print was the second most expensive with a sales price of $325,000 (estimate of $200,000-$300,000), and a portrait of Marilyn Monroe by Richard Avedon came third at $100,000 (estimate of $70,000-$100,000).
View the results of the Goldstein Collection on Christie’s lots page here.
The second photography auction of the day was The Face of the Century auction a collection of 90 photographs from a private collection from artists such as Eadweard Muybridge, Julia Margaret Cameron and Gustave Le Gray. The auction brought in a sales total of $1,812,000.
Helmut Newton had a number of prints in the auction including The most expensive lot: Self Portrait with Wife and Models, which was expected to fetch $40,000-$60,000 but sold for $100,000. Newton also had the second most expensive lot with Tied-Up Torso, Ramatuelle which also sold for $100,000 (estimate of $50,000 to $70,000). Man Ray’s Rayograph (Kiki silhouette, Positive) rounded out the top three at $87,500 selling below its original estimate of $100,000 to $150,000
View the results of the Face of the Century auction at Christie’s lots page here.
The final auction of the day was the first Photographs auction of the year, bringing together 141 lots from artists such as Richard Avedon, Peter Lindbergh, and Irving Penn as well as 19 photographs from Robert Mapplethorpe that ‘span his career’. The auction realised a sales total of $3,511,750.
The most expensive lot was the iconic Lestnitsa (steps) by Alexander Rodchenko, which sold for $281,250 with an original estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. Taking second place was A family on their lawn one Sunday in Westchester by Diane Arbus which saw a hammer price of $275,000 (estimate of $250,000-$350,000) and coming in third was Paul Strand’s The Family, Luzzara, Italy which sold for $250,000 after an estimate of $200,000-$300,000.
View the results of the Photographs auction via Christie’s Lots page here.
In all, Christie’s day of photography auctions brought in over $6.9 million in sales and marks the start of Photography’s spring sales. Expect more photography auctions this month from Sotheby’s and Phillips.