News
Record Setting Sale as Sotheby’s Auctions 175 Masterworks
12.16.2014
On Thursday, December 11, 2014, Sotheby’s held the first of a two session sale of 175 Masterworks to celebrate 175 years of photography. The collection was the property of the Joy of Giving Something Foundation which has one of the most significant collections of photography in private hands.
The sale did phenomenally well, setting a new record for a photographic auction, generating $21,325,063 in sales, including buyer’s premium. Of the 175 lots sold, 158, found buyers, with an average paid price of approximately $135,000 per lot. The sale fell within 14% of the high estimate and exceed the low estimate by 33%.
Typical of an evening sale, the session was packed with many dealers, collectors and onlookers present. The sales reinforced the notion that the market is willing to pay top dollar for the best for high quality photographs. One of the top lots included a new record for Alvin Landon Coburn with a hammer price of $800,000 for Shadows and Reflections, Venice (lot 11), as well as significant realized prices for works by Alfred Steiglitz, Edward Weston, August Sander, Gustav Le Gray and Lazlo Moholy-Nagy.
In total there were 49 lots that realized hammer prices that realized prices over $100,000. A summary of the sale results are as follows:
| Lot Number | Artist Lot | Hammer Price |
| 1 | Margaret Bourke-White | 70,000 USD |
| 2 | Lee Miller | 310,000 USD |
| 3 | Edward Steichen | 70,000 USD |
| 4 | Alfred Stieglitz | 770,000 USD |
| 5 | Edward Steichen | 160,000 USD |
| 6 | Alfred Stieglitz | 140,000 USD |
| 7 | Paul Strand | 200,000 USD |
| 8 | Alfred Stieglitz | 380,000 USD |
| 9 | Alfred Stieglitz | Bought In |
| 10 | Charles Sheeler | 70,000 USD |
| 11 | Alvin Langdon Coburn | 800,000 USD |
| 12 | Alvin Langdon Coburn | Bought In |
| 13 | Tina Modotti | 90,000 USD |
| 14 | Paul Outerbridge, Jr. | 120,000 USD |
| 15 | László Moholy-Nagy | 640,000 USD |
| 16 | August Sander | 620,000 USD |
| 17 | Christian Schad | 150,000 USD |
| 18 | László Moholy-Nagy | Bought In |
| 19 | Herbert Bayer | 380,000 USD |
| 20 | Hans Bellmer | Bought In |
| 21 | Henri Cartier-Bresson | Bought In |
| 22 | Martin Munkácsi | 160,000 USD |
| 23 | Pierre Dubreuil | 160,000 USD |
| 24 | Martin Munkácsi | 190,000 USD |
| 25 | Wanda Wulz | 50,000 USD |
| 26 | Imogen Cunningham | 90,000 USD |
| 27 | Charles Nègre | 30,000 USD |
| 28 | Jacques-Henri Lartigue | Bought In |
| 29 | André Kertész | 160,000 USD |
| 30 | Josef Sudek | 130,000 USD |
| 31 | Julia Margaret Cameron | 75,000 USD |
| 32 | Félix Teynard | 60,000 USD |
| 33 | Camille Silvy | 95,000 USD |
| 34 | Julia Margaret Cameron | 380,000 USD |
| 35 | David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson | 125,000 USD |
| 36 | August Sander | 220,000 USD |
| 37 | Diane Arbus | 310,000 USD |
| 38 | Walker Evans | 320,000 USD |
| 39 | Robert Frank | 410,000 USD |
| 40 | Eugène Atget | 420,000 USD |
| 41 | Gustave Le Gray | 600,000 USD |
| 42 | Gustave Le Gray | 640,000 USD |
| 43 | Carleton E. Watkins | 270,000 USD |
| 44 | William Henry Fox Talbot | 85,000 USD |
| 45 | Albert Renger-Patzsch | 60,000 USD |
| 46 | Charles Sheeler | 260,000 USD |
| 47 | Tina Modotti | 400,000 USD |
| 48 | Edward Weston | 210,000 USD |
| 49 | Edward Weston | 540,000 USD |
| 50 | Irving Penn | 110,000 USD |
| 51 | Ansel Adams | 45,000 USD |
| 52 | Edward Weston | 65,000 USD |
| 53 | Alfred Stieglitz | 25,000 USD |
| 54 | Frederick Sommer | 47,500 USD |
| 55 | Edward Weston | 90,000 USD |
| 56 | Martin Munkácsi | Bought In |
| 57 | Minor White | 10,000 USD |
| 58 | Alfred Stieglitz | 30,000 USD |
| 59 | Ralph Steiner | 14,000 USD |
| 60 | Berenice Abbott | 20,000 USD |
| 61 | Edward Steichen | 80,000 USD |
| 62 | Alfred Stieglitz | 110,000 USD |
| 63 | Imogen Cunningham | 12,000 USD |
| 64 | Laura Gilpin | 22,000 USD |
| 65 | Alma Lavenson | 20,000 USD |
| 66 | Johan Hagemeyer | 12,000 USD |
| 67 | T. Lux Feininger | 27,500 USD |
| 68 | Walker Evans | 19,000 USD |
| 69 | László Moholy-Nagy | 160,000 USD |
| 70 | Oscar Nerlinger | 11,000 USD |
| 71 | László Moholy-Nagy | 280,000 USD |
| 72 | Man Ray | 16,000 USD |
| 73 | Dora Maar | 40,000 USD |
| 74 | El Lissitzky | Bought In |
| 75 | Dora Maar | 100,000 USD |
| 76 | Man Ray | 55,000 USD |
| 77 | André Kertész | 50,000 USD |
| 78 | Brassaï (Gyula Halász) | 22,500 USD |
| 79 | André Kertész | 140,000 USD |
| 80 | Henri Cartier-Bresson | 42,500 USD |
| 81 | Brassaï (Gyula Halász) | 40,000 USD |
| 82 | Bill Brandt | 70,000 USD |
| 83 | Elliott Erwitt | 15,000 USD |
| 84 | Constantin Brancusi | 160,000 USD |
| 85 | Margaret Bourke-White | 62,500 USD |
| 86 | Aenne Biermann | 9,500 USD |
| 87 | Grit Kallin-Fischer | 30,000 USD |
| 88 | Albert Renger-Patzsch | 55,000 USD |
| 89 | Edward Weston | 30,000 USD |
| 90 | Hans Bellmer | 25,000 USD |
| 91 | Frederick Sommer | Bought In |
| 92 | Etienne-Jules Marey | 70,000 USD |
| 93 | Jacques-Henri Lartigue | 14,000 USD |
| 94 | Gordon Coster | 13,000 USD |
| 95 | Harold Edgerton | 14,000 USD |
| 96 | Lewis P. Tabor | 18,000 USD |
| 97 | Alfred Stieglitz | 90,000 USD |
| 98 | Edgar Degas | 75,000 USD |
| 99 | Frederick H. Evans | 170,000 USD |
| 100 | Heinrich Kühn | 48,000 USD |
| 101 | Karl Blossfeldt | 80,000 USD |
| 102 | Eugène Atget | 35,000 USD |
| 103 | Eugène Atget | 25,000 USD |
| 104 | Baron Adolf de Meyer | 90,000 USD |
| 105 | Edward Weston and Margrethe Mather | Bought In |
| 106 | Hiromu Kira | 27,500 USD |
| 107 | Dr. Dain L. Tasker | 7,000 USD |
| 108 | Doris Ulmann | 35,000 USD |
| 109 | Adam Clark Vroman | Bought In |
| 110 | Timothy O’Sullivan | 28,000 USD |
| 111 | John Plumbe, Jr., studio of | 4,250 USD |
| 112 | George Barnard | 16,000 USD |
| 113 | William Henry Fox Talbot | 18,000 USD |
| 114 | Benjamin Brecknell Turner | 110,000 USD |
| 115 | Horatio Ross | Bought In |
| 116 | Charles Marville | 25,000 USD |
| 117 | Gustave Le Gray | 200,000 USD |
| 118 | Eugène Cuvelier | 47,500 USD |
| 119 | Gustave Le Gray | 100,000 USD |
| 120 | Edouard-Denis Baldus | 11,000 USD |
| 121 | Louis Auguste Bisson and Auguste Rosalie Bisson | 22,500 USD |
| 122 | Charles Nègre | 120,000 USD |
| 123 | Linnaeus Tripe | 47,500 USD |
| 124 | Ernest Benecke | 7,500 USD |
| 125 | Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey | 7,000 USD |
| 126 | Francis Frith | 240,000 USD |
| 127 | John Beasley Greene | 25,000 USD |
| 128 | Félix Teynard | 9,000 USD |
| 129 | Roger Fenton | 7,500 USD |
| 130 | Felice Beato & James Robertson | 6,000 USD |
| 131 | Roger Fenton | 5,000 USD |
| 132 | Roger Fenton | Bought In |
| 133 | Charles Clifford | Bought In |
| 134 | Charles Nègre | 30,000 USD |
| 135 | Josef Sudek | 85,000 USD |
| 136 | Franti?ek Drtikol | 55,000 USD |
| 137 | Heinz Hajek-Halke | Bought In |
| 138 | Umbo (Otto Umbehr) | 35,000 USD |
| 139 | Paul Strand | 230,000 USD |
| 140 | Weegee | Bought In |
| 141 | Robert Frank | Bought In |
| 142 | Harry Callahan | 50,000 USD |
| 143 | Harry Callahan | 110,000 USD |
| 144 | Clarence John Laughlin | 12,000 USD |
| 145 | Ralph Eugene Meatyard | 27,500 USD |
| 146 | W. Eugene Smith | 6,000 USD |
| 147 | William Klein | 9,000 USD |
| 148 | Robert Frank | 47,500 USD |
| 149 | William Klein | 12,000 USD |
| 150 | Lee Friedlander | 25,000 USD |
| 151 | Lee Friedlander | 18,000 USD |
| 152 | Roy DeCarava | 18,000 USD |
| 153 | Ted Croner | 11,000 USD |
| 154 | Josef Koudelka | 30,000 USD |
| 155 | Daido Moriyama | 3,000 USD |
| 156 | Garry Winogrand | 100,000 USD |
| 157 | Henry Wessel, Jr. | 8,000 USD |
| 158 | Lewis Baltz | 42,500 USD |
| 159 | Stephen Shore | 12,000 USD |
| 160 | Stephen Shore | 32,500 USD |
| 161 | Cindy Sherman | 260,000 USD |
| 162 | Bernd and Hilla Becher | 230,000 USD |
| 163 | John Baldessari | 32,500 USD |
| 164 | Thomas Ruff | 95,000 USD |
| 165 | William Eggleston | 85,000 USD |
| 166 | Thomas Struth | 60,000 USD |
| 167 | Philip-Lorca diCorcia | 30,000 USD |
| 168 | Judith Joy Ross | 17,000 USD |
| 169 | Adam Fuss | 13,000 USD |
| 170 | Tseng Kwong Chi | 9,500 USD |
| 171 | Philip-Lorca diCorcia | 25,000 USD |
| 172 | Vera Lutter | 15,000 USD |
| 173 | Richard Misrach | 11,000 USD |
| 174 | Adam Fuss | 12,000 USD |
| 175 | Vik Muniz | 40,000 USD |