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 fifth installment of the liquidation of the holdings of the Pier 24 Photography museum took place earlier this week at Sotheby’s, with a no reserve selection of works. On top of the two sales last May that brought in a combined tally of more that $10.6M (here and here), a smaller sale of anonymous imagery this October (here) that added another $85K, and yet another $2M slice of works several weeks later (here), this sale handled some of what was left. Since there were no reserves, the overall Buy-In rate was 0.00%, but nearly half of the lots sold below ... Read more at Collector Daily.

Aside from the withdrawal of the top photo lot Richard Prince work, the photography included in the last tranche of the Emily Fisher Landau Collection sale at Sotheby’s last week in New York generally met expectations. In an online sale where most of the lots had no reserve, the overall Buy-In rate came in at a tidy 0.00%, leading to Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly $355K) that fell near the top end 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 photography included in the powerhouse Emily Fisher Landau Collection sales at Sotheby’s last week in New York performed admirably, aside from the top photo lot Barbara Kruger print which failed to sell. Everything else on offer (photographically that is) found a buyer, with 5 positive surprises jumping up to even higher heights. When the scales balanced out, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly $1.47M) fell in the middle of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.

The liquidation of the holdings of the Pier 24 Photography museum continued last week at Sotheby’s with a further selection of works, including a deeper run of prints by Robert Adams, Stephen Shore, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Lewis Baltz, and others. This sale marked the fourth sale of works from the museum, following up two sales last May that brought in a combined tally of more that $10.6M (here and here), and a much smaller sale of anonymous imagery earlier this month (here). The results from this sale generally met expectations, with little in the way of unexpected outcomes. The overall Buy-In ... Read more at Collector Daily.

With no photography lots in either the Now Evening or the Contemporary Art Evening auctions at Sotheby’s last week in London, the Day sale was the only venue for photography collectors to track. The results were generally uneventful, with a work by Gilbert & George taking the top photo lot honors just above its estimate range and just one positive surprise. All of the photographs on offer found buyers, so the overall Buy-In rate was a tidy 0.00%, but that number is slightly deceiving, as two photo lots (works by Thomas Ruff and Florian Maier-Aichen) were withdrawn prior to the ... Read more at Collector Daily.

A top lot that didn’t sell, an overall Buy-In rate over 52%, and no positive surprises combined to torpedo the results from the recent Photographs sale at Sotheby’s. The softness was felt in all three price tiers, but particularly in the highest priced offerings. When the tally was complete, the Total Sale Proceeds (of roughly $1.06M) fell well below the low end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.

The piecemeal liquidation of the holdings of the Pier 24 Photography museum continued earlier this week at Sotheby’s with a no reserve sale of works by anonymous photographers. While two other sales last May brought in a combined tally of more that $10.6M (here and here), this smaller sale fared quite a bit less well, perhaps telling us something about the broader demand for even high quality collections of vernacular photography. While all the lots found buyers, nearly 90% of the lots did so below their estimate ranges, in some cases significantly below, so there were definitely some bargains to ... Read more at Collector Daily.

It was an uneven outing for thephotographs included in the Contemporary Curated sale at Sotheby’s in New York last week. The top photography lot Cindy Sherman film still found a buyer within its estimate range, but with an overall Buy-In rate for photography above 55%, many other photo lots didn’t fare as well. With no positive surprises to buoy the numbers, the Total Sale Proceeds for photography (of roughly $660K) came in well below the low end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range.... Read more at Collector Daily.