Erotic: Passion & Desire Online Results

Sotheby’s has officially kicked off the year with photography’s first annual auction, Erotic: Passion & Desire – an online auction featuring paintings, film posters, books, drawings and, of course, photography. 

The auction was held online from 5th to 12th February with 67 lots available. Photography lots included work by Bruce Weber, Herb Ritts and David Bailey, to name a few.

After 9 bids Tyler Shields’ Mouthful received the highest bid for a photographic print at the auction, with a hammer price of £23,750 – over £5,000 more than its top estimate of £18,000.

Meanwhile, Terry O’Neil’s Raquel Welch On The Cross, Los Angeles, 1966 was the second most expensive photograph, selling for £16,200 with an original estimate of £10,000-£15,000.

With 5 bids David Bailey’s miniature Lying thigh kiss came in third achieving a hammer price of £3,500 – £500 over its top estimate of £3,000.

This is Sotheby’s second auction of the year to include photographic lots, with a third scheduled for the remaining weeks of February. Christie’s and Phillips are yet to host a photography sale, though both have announced several in March and April.