Phillips Auction Results; October 2018

Phillips held two photography auctions this week, including this season’s Photographs auction which was held on Park Avenue, New York. There were 216 lots available from artists such as Edward Weston, Helmut Newton, Wolfgang Tillmans and Richard Avedon. The second auction was A Constant Pursuit: Photographs from the Collection of Ed Cohen & Victoria Shaw, which had 83 lots available from artists such as Diane Arbus, Irving Penn, Robert Frank and Man Ray. Together Phillips pulled in a combined sales total of $5,879,125 from the auctions.

In the Photographs auction, the most expensive sale went to Cindy Sherman’s United 296 realising $325,000 with an original estimate of $180,000-$220,000. In second was Freischwimmer 20 by Wolfgang Tillmans which had an original estimate of $120,000-$180,000, but sold for $181,250, and Man Ray’s La Priere which sold for $100,000 with an original estimate of $70,000-$90,000. All three of the highest priced sales out-performed their estimates.

At the Constant Pursuit auction, the most expensive lot to sell was Richard Avedon’s Marilyn Monroe, New York City, May 6 which had an estimate of $200,000-$300,000 and realised $250,000. American Flag, 1987 by Robert Mapplethorpe was the second most expensive sale at $187,500 with an original estimate of $150,000-$250,000, and Man Ray’s Lee Miller, Paris with an estimate of $80,000-$120,000 sold for $100,000