Sotheby’s Photographs Auction Results

After Christie’s flurry of photography auctions on Tuesday and Phillips’ first two photography auctions of the year on Thursday, Sotheby’s was hot on their heels with a photography auction of their own. Photographs took place at Sotheby’s New York headquarters on Friday and brought together 189 lots:

‘Sotheby’s Photographs department is delighted to invite participation in our 5 April 2019 Photographs auction. The sale is led by exceptional rare works by El Lissitzky, Margaret Bourke-White, Imogen Cunningham, August Sander, and Ansel Adams. This sale features a broad selection of photographs covering the full history of the medium, from early American daguerreotypes to largescale Contemporary works. Highlights include works by William Eggleston, Lorna Simpson, Hank Willis Thomas, Nobuyoshi Araki, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Helen Levitt, and Helmut Newton, among many others.’

The most expensive lot was El Lissitzky’s rare Pelikan Tinte – a photogram montage with typography. The print was estimated to sell for $300,000 to $500,000 and sold for $459,000. Irving Penn’s Black and White Vogue Cover portrait of Jean Patchett was the second most expensive print, matched by Ansel Adams’ Aspens, Northern New Mexico both of which had original estimates of $150,000-$250,000 and both sold for $187,500. 

View all the lots from this auction at Sotheby’s webpage here.

This is the last known photography auction of the month, with no more scheduled until May.