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.

The photography included in Christie’s recent First Open online sale didn’t deliver much in the way of excitement, but the end of the year mop auctions hardly ever do. The top lot Richard Prince Instagram portrait sold within its estimate, and with a respectable Buy-In rate for photography of 25%, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly $250K) came in just below the low end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.

The photography included in the 21st Century Evening and Post-War & Contemporary Art Day sales at Christie’s in New York last week muddled along without much in the way of notable news. Two significant photo lots were withdrawn prior to the sale (works by Barbara Kruger and Richard Prince), and while one of the two top lot Cindy Sherman prints did sell, the rest of the sale plugged along without incident. When the dust settled, with no positive surprises to help the numbers a bit, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography came in above $1.7M, just below the low end ... Read more at Collector Daily.

The results from the recent Photographies sale at Paris (online), including selections from the collection of Lothar Schirmer, solidly met expectations. The top lot Helmut Newton set of portfolios found a buyer at the low end of its estimate range, the overall Buy-In rate came in at just above a respectable 21%, and there were a dozen positive surprises to help accelerate the momentum, so when the dust settled, the Total Sale Proceeds (of roughly €2.51M) fell near the top end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.

The photography lots included the contemporary art sales at Christie’s in London last week generally met expectations. The top lot Andreas Gursky print sold within its estimate range, and the overall Buy-In rate for photography came in below 12%, leading to Total Sales Proceeds for photography (of roughly £735K) that tallied up near the top end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.

A serious misjudgment of demand, or of pricing, seems to have occurred at the recent Madonna x Meisel – The SEX Photographs sale last week at Christie’s. More that 60% of the lots (all highly priced) failed to sell, and 75% of those that did sell found buyers below their estimate ranges; almost needless to say, there were no positive surprises. When the dust settled, the Total Sale Proceeds of roughly $1.3M came in at far less than even half of the low end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.

Weakness in the top price tier flattened the results of the Photographs sale at Christie’s last week. The top lot Moholy-Nagy print failed to sell, as did high priced lots from Man Ray and Alfred Stieglitz. An overall Buy-In rate over 35% didn’t help the situation, nor did just two positive surprises. When the dust settled, the Total Sale Proceeds (of roughly $1.25M) came in well below the low end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.

Following up on the first two parts of the Gerald Fineberg Collection sale earlier this May (results here), this online auction gathered up another tranche of photographs. The top lot August Sander portrait sold within its estimate range, only to be bested by a Walker Evans portfolio of African sculpture still lifes. With a solid overall Buy-In rate (under 15%) and a handful of positive surprises, the Total Sale Proceeds came in at roughly $880K, firmly in the middle of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.

Weakness in the highest priced lots dampened the photography results from the recent Post-War to Present sale at Christie’s. The top lot Andres Gursky print failed to sell, as did pricey lots by John Baldessari and Hiroshi Sugimoto, pushing a group Richard Prince appropriated portraits from the 1980s to the forefront. With no positive surprises to boost the numbers, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of just over $830K) came in well below the low end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.

The photography included in Christie’s recent First Open online sale didn’t deliver much in the way of excitement. Both top photo lots failed to sell, and with one withdrawal and a Buy-In rate for photography over 40%, it should come as no surprise that the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly $118K) came in meaningfully below the low end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.