For much of the past year, in my rounds through gallery shows and art fairs, I have anecdotally heard rumbles about slowing demand for photography, about much of photography being “out” at the moment, and other muted tales of woe, but without looking at the private sales books of gallery owners, it’s difficult to get a feel for just how much of a slowdown was actually occurring, and whether it was driven by broad economic malaise or something more intrinsic to the medium. And as the year passed, in tracking the auction data from sale to sale, I had an ... Read more at Collector Daily.

A little too much softness in the results of lots estimated above €10K dampened the numbers from the Photography and Contemporary Art sales at Lempertz in Cologne last week. While the top photo lot Gerhard Richter overpainted image did sell, several others in the middle price tier did not. With an overall Buy-In rate for photography near 38%, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography came in at roughly €520K, just below the aggregate pre-sale low estimate.... Read more at Collector Daily.

The photography included in the various modern and contemporary art sales at Van Ham in Cologne last week generally met expectations. Both top photo lots found buyers above their estimate ranges, and although the overall Buy-In rate for photography came in at 40%, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly €425K) still found their way to the middle of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.

While there was plenty of photographic value on offer at the recent run of Contemporary sales at Sotheby’s in New York last week, the results were largely muted. After no photo lots in the Now evening sale and one high priced Diane Arbus withdrawal before the Contemporary day sale began, the action got started, with two photo lots topping the $1M mark (works by Gerhard Richter and John Baldessari). The overall Buy-In rate for photography hovered near 10% and there were a few positive surprises, but the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly $4.9M) still came in below the low end ... Read more at Collector Daily.

The results for the photography included in the various modern and contemporary art sales at Van Ham in Cologne last week were decidedly underwhelming. Both top lots failed to sell, the overall Buy-In rate for photography topped 50%, and there were no positive surprises. When the music stopped, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly €270K) came in well below the low end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.

While there were no photographs included in the evening sale, the photography lots on offer in Phillips’ 20th Century & Contemporary Art day sales in New York earlier this week generally performed as expected. The top lot Felix Gonzales-Torres puzzle prints both sold (one was the top photo outcome of the sales), and with an overall Buy-In rate for photography of roughly 15%, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly $720K) fell just below the top of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.

Softness in the upper price tiers dampened the photography results from the recent Contemporary Discoveries online sale at Sotheby’s last week. While the top lot Matthew Barney print failed to sell, two Gerhard Richter black-and-white abstractions doubled their high estimates to share the top lot honors. With an overall Buy-In rate for photography of 30%, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly $375K) fell meaningfully below the low end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.

After the withdrawal of a Christian Marclay multi-image collage, the photographs on offer at Phillips’ recent New Now sale in London went white glove, with everything selling through. The top lot John Baldessari work sold within its estimate range, and two Gerhard Richter overpainted photographs jumped up to unexpectedly big prices, leading to Total Sale Proceeds (of just over £425K) that came in solidly above the high end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.

The photography included in the various modern and contemporary art sales at Van Ham in Cologne last week generally met expectations. The overall Buy-In rate for photography hovered just over 20%, and with the top lot Wolfgang Tillmans abstraction finding a buyer above its estimate range, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly €805K) came in near the top end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.