Sotheby’s Contemporary Photographs Auction Results 2021

The second of Sotheby’s 7-day photography auctions brought together over 80 lots of work by prominent living artists such as Wolfgang Tillmans, Cindy Sherman, Sam Taylor-Johnson and Annie Leibovtiz. Sotheby’s Contemporary Photographs auction ran at the same time as the Classics, from 28th September to 5th October with live bids taking place on the last day. Like most contemporary photography auctions, the results were modest compared to the classics, however, a sales total of nearly a million was reached at $833,868.

Just like the Classic Photographs auction, there were some lots available without reserves meaning acclaimed work was available for low prices, such as Nigel Henderson’s Linda Pin-up which had an estimate of $3,000-$5,000 but sold for $630. The inverse was true for Annie Leibovitz’s Philip Johnson, Glass House, New Canaan, Connecticut which was given a estimate of $8,000-$12,000 but almost doubled its top estimate with a hammer price of $21,420.

Bernd and Hilla Brecher’s famous Water Towers typology was the most expensive lot at the auction raising a hammer price of $119,700 after an original estimate of $100,000-$150,000. Coming second was Cindy Sherman’s Untitled 116 outperforming its estimate of $60,000-$80,000 with a hammer price of $88,200. The third most expensive lot was Wolfgang Tillmans’ downpour, which received an estimate of $50,000-$70,000 and achieving a hammer price of $56,700. Tillman also took the fourth spot with a $44,100 print.

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