Diane Arbus tops the photography sales [05/03/2005]
The photography sales in New York at Christie's, Phillips and Sotheby’s between 26 and 28 April were a tremendous success. Together, the three auction houses generated over USD 14 million. Christie's boasted the most successful auction, generating USD 5 million from the 334 lots sold. The highest hammer price was USD 350,000 for "Child with a Toy Hand Grenade, Central Park, N.Y.C" by Diane Arbus.
The most expensive lot during the three-day auction was Diane ARBUS 's box of 10 photographs (numbered 23/50) which fetched USD 553,600 (including fees) at Sotheby's. Specialised in portrait photography, Arbus was the first American photographer to have been given an exhibition at the Venice Biennale, in 1972, exactly a year after she committed suicide.
According to Artprice, the artist's price index has soared by almost 600% since 1997. Given the enthusiasm for her work, her no-sales ratio is barely 9%. Moreover, despite the spectacular rise in Diane Arbus's prices, some of her photographs remain affordable: between 1997 and 2005, half of them were going for USD 5,000 apiece. Within this price range, "Transvestite with a Torn Stocking, N.Y.C." (1966), a photograph published by Neil Selkirk, sold for USD 4,800 at Phillips & De Pury on 28 April. But these low sales tags are increasingly rare, and we are not expecting any photographs to sell for less than USD 5,000 in the coming months.
On 11-12 May, Christie's will auction two more photographs by the artist estimated at between USD 100,000 and USD 200,000.
|
