Contemporary Photographs

Sotheby’s concluded their month of photography-inclusive auctions last week with Contemporary Photographs, the third edition of an annual sale taking place in New York.

The auction brought together 91 photographic lots of…

‘…significant, cutting-edge contemporary works by David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg, Catherine Opie, Cindy Sherman, Vera Lutter, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Thomas Ruff, Ana Mendieta, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Wolfgang Tillmans, Richard Prince, and many more’

The close of sales brought in a total of $1,885,375.

The most expensive print was Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Still # 10, which had an original estimate of $120,000 to $180,000 and far surpassed its top estimate by selling for $300,000. The print was the third edition of ten.

Sherman’s work was particularly popular at this sale with another print by the artist taking the second place for most expensive photograph at the auction. Untitled Film Still #45 was edition four of ten and sold for $162,500 after an initial estimate of $120,000-$180,000.

Coming in third was Peter Beard’s Large-Maned Lion at Cottar’s Camp, which also out-performed its initial estimate of $40,000-$60,000 by selling for $106,250.

View each individual image by clicking on its title, or see all the lots and their hammer prices at Sotheby’s auction page here.