Recent Photography Sales at Auction

It’s October and a number of photography auctions are taking place across the country and around the world.  Here is the first installment of some noteworthy results in our field of study.

Swann Auction Galleries – October 5, 2017
At the recent auction of African-American Fine Art at Swann Auction Galleries, nine photographs by artists such as Carrie Mae Weems, Lorna Simpson, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Louis Draper, P.H. Polk, Roy DeCarava, and James VanDerZee were offered for sale.  The top three lots included:

• Four panels from Carrie Mae Weems’ Sea Island Series produced in 1992, Estimate: 30,000-50,000 USD, sold for 45,000 USD with buyer’s premium;
• Dancers (1956) by Roy DeCarava, silver gelatin photograph, printed in 1981, Estimate: 15,000 – 25,000 USD, sold for 23,750 USD with buyer’s premium; and
• C-Ration (1991) by Lorna Simpson, silver print (diptych), Estimate 3,000 –  5,000 USD, sold for 8,750 USD with buyer’s premium.

LORNA SIMPSON (1960 – )  C-Ration.

Sotheby’s – October 5, 2017

Noteworthy at the Sotheby’s Photographs auction is Charleston, S.C. by Robert Frank.  Estimated to sell between 300,000 – 500,000 USD, the oversized print, signed, titled and dated in 1955, printed in 1967-68, sold for 348,500 USD including buyer’s premium.

Sotheby’s – September 28, 2017

PostWar and Contemporary Photographs featured works by Kudzanai Chiurai and Yinka Shonibare MBE.

 

Some Photography/Art Response and Recovery Resources

For collectors of photographs, whether individuals or institutions, there are several good resources on disaster recovery.

Smithsonian’s Cultural Rescue Initiative

American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works

*Field Guide to Emergency Response videos

Water Segment video, AICHA

CERF+ The Artists Safety Net video

As Hurricanes Descend, Top Conservators Set Up an Emergency Hotline—and App—to Rescue Waterlogged Art – Artnews 9/8/17

Clock is ticking to dry out and salvage flood-damaged possessions left in wake of Hurricane Harvey – Houston Chronicle 9/4/17

 

Top Selling Photographs at Swann African-American Art Auction, April 6, 2017

The top selling photographs at Swann’s recent auction of African-American Art included James Van Der Zee’s Eighteen Photographs, and Carrie Mae Weems’ Chocolate Colored Man.

In Chocolate Colored Man, a three-toned gelatin silver print triptych produced in 1989-90, one views three profiles of a man labeled individually by three different terms: Chocolate Colored Man.  The 16 x 18 inches framed work was produced in an edition of three (3), and is part of the Colored People series.  The work sold for 68, 750 USD (with buyer’s premium),  and had an auction estimate of 35,000-50,000 USD.

The April 6th sale at Swann’s was the fourth time that James Van Der Zee’s Eighteen Photographs were sold at the auction house.  The portfolio was produced in an edition of 75.  It contains eighteen (18) mounted silver and sepia-toned silver prints produced between 1905 and 1938.  As written in the online catalogue about the 32/75 edition:

A handsome portfolio, published by Harry Lunn, Jr., with iconic images from VanDerZee’s photographic career. It includes various subjects of the Harlem Renaissance, as well as studies of Marcus Garvey, Daddy Grace, and formal family portraits.

In this sale, the portfolio sold for 87,500 USD (with buyer’s premium), and had an auction estimate of 40,000-60,000 USD.  On October 15, 2007, edition 36/75 of the portfolio was unsold at Swann’s 19th and 20th Century Photographs and Photobooks auction, with an estimate of 10,000-15,000 USD.   A few months later it sold for 26,400 USD in the February 19, 2008 sale of African-American Art.  The auction estimate was 15,000-20,000 USD.  Later that year, edition 8/75 sold for 40,800 USD, with auction estimate of 15,000-20,000 USD.

Recent Photography Sales at Auction

End of September and October generated a small listing of photographs by black photographers at auction with Swann Auction Galleries and Phillips.  Here’s a quick round-up of the results.

Swann’s October 6th African-American Art Auction
Photographs by James Van Der Zee (1886-1983) were featured at Swann Auction Galleries, October 6th sale of African-American Art.  Portraits of the Barefoot Prophet (Lot 9) and Hazel Scott (Lot 10) were sold at auction estimates, $2,860 and $ 3,250.  And a portfolio of eighteen (18) silver gelatin and sepia prints (Lot 11) sold for $ 87,500, surpassing the auction estimate of $30,000 – 50,000.  From the online catalogue: A handsome portfolio, published by Harry Lunn, Jr., with iconic images from VanDerZee’s photographic career. It includes various subjects of the Harlem Renaissance, as well as studies of Marcus Garvey, Daddy Grace, and formal family portraits.

Prentice Herman Polk (1898-1985), Lot 14, a portfolio of eleven (11) prints featuring such commonly published images as The Boss (1932), and The Pipe Smoker (1932) sold for $ 13,750.  From the online catalogue: Edition of 60 numbered copies. Each signed in ink, lower right. Signed and numbered 18/60 on the title page of the introduction. Published by South Light, Gladewater, Texas in 1981.

Lot 67, Boy and H, Harlem (Stickball) by Louis Draper (1935-2002) sold for $3,000 its low estimate.  Draper was a founding member of Kamoinge, a New York-based black photographers collective, active 1963 to the present.

Carrie Mae Weems’ (1953-) work represented in Lots 142, Mirror, Mirror, and Lot 165, Tell me, I beseech you, when I casted my vote to you, did I cast it to the wind?, sold for $ 25,000 and $2,000 respectively.  Each realized the low estimate.

Phillips’ Photographs Evening & Day Sale, October 5 & 6 featured Roy DeCarava’s Arnette, NY, Lot 103, which sold for $ 16,250, the auction estimate.

Recent Sales of Work by Black Photographers

Just a quick round-up of recent sales of works by black photographers that came to auction.

At the April 7, 2016 Swann Galleries auction of African-American Fine Art, Carrie Mae Weem’s Blue Black Boy was sold for $40,000 (hammer price), the low estimate for this lot.  From the Colored People series, the work consists of a triptych of three toned gelatin silver prints with text and frame, dated 1987-88.  This work is part of an edition of 3.  The artist printed a single image of this work in an edition of 5 in 1997, an example of which sold at Sotheby’s April 1, 2015 for $25,000.

I like to see examples of artist portraits of other artists.  This portrait photograph of Maya Angelou is particularly striking and fetched an impressive sale price of $ 14,000 (hammer price), 14 times the low estimate.  The work was sold at the September 15, 2015 sale of The Art Collection of Maya Angelou at Swann Galleries.  Photographed by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, the 1993 silver print is hand colored measuring 10 x 10 1/2 inches.

American Gothic, one of Gordon Park’s most famous images, sold at Be-Hold, October 22, 2015 for $ 2,600.  The 1942 image was printed in 1991 and measures 10 x 7 1/8 inches on a 13 x 11 inch sheet.  The photograph sold above its high estimate.

 

Carrie Mae Weems lecture at the National Gallery of Art

In this lecture by Carrie Mae Weems she discusses her career and body of work, spanning thirty years.  The talk took place on September 12, 2015 and is part of the Diamonstein-Spielvogel lecture series at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

Happy Holidays 2015

Happy Holidays!

John Collier (1913-1992), Washington, D.C. Christmas rush in the Greyhound bus terminal. Negro soldiers waiting for a bus, Dec. 1941. Nitrate negative, 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches or smaller. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, Washington, DC 20540

Phillips Photography Sales Feature Higgins, VanderZee and Weems

Phillips is holding two photography auctions in October that feature the work of Chester Higgins, James VanderZee, and Carrie Mae Weems.  Both auctions take place on October 1st in New York.

In the Photographs auction, Weems is featured in three black & white prints from the Kitchen Table Series, 1990s.  Lots 284, 286 and  287 have estimates starting at $ 3,000 to $ 25,000.  Weems is featured in each photograph.  Print sizes are from 19 x 18 7/8 to 26 7/8 x 26 7/8 inches.

Chester Higgins’ Muslim Woman, 1990, is estimated at $ 7,000 – 9,000 in the same auction.

In Photographs from the Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, James VanderZee’s Portrait of a Harlem Preacher, Daddy Grace, 1938 and Untitled (young black woman with studio background), 1931 are featured in Lot 21.  The two silver gelatin prints are signed and dated or stamped in ink on the recto: G.G.G. Photo Studio, Inc.  The print is estimated at $ 2,000 – 3,000.

 

 

Carrie Mae Weems NY Exhibits, Recent Auction Results

New York City was fortunate to have two premier art institutions host a retrospective and body of work by the esteemed American photographer, Carrie Mae Weems.  Her work was recently seen at the Guggenheim Museum, Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography and Video, and at the Studio Museum of Harlem, Carrie Mae Weems: The Museum Series, ending Sunday, June 29.  The Guggenheim show has a handsome catalog.

Alongside her New York exhibitions,  Weems’ work was recently sold at auction:

Untitled (from the Kitchen Table Series), 1994, 3/25. Silver gelatin print. Wright Auctions (Chicago, New York): Art & Design. 2/27/14, Lot 218, Est. $2,000-3,000. Sold: $3,825.

The Kitchen Table Series: Untitled (Eating Lobster), 1990, 4/5. Silver gelatin print. Phillips (New York): Contemporary Art Day. 5/16/14, Lot 253, Est. $8,000-10,000. Sold: $27,500.

Jim, If You Choose To Accept, The Mission Is To Land On Your Own Two Feet (1990), 2/5. Silver gelatin print. Christie’s (New York): Post-War and Contemporary Art. 5/14/14, Lot 331, Est. $10,000-15,000. Sold: $20,000.

 

Untitled (Woman and daughter with children), 1990, 4/5. Silver gelatin print. Phillilps (New York): Photographs. 4/1/14, Lot 253, Est. $5,000-7,000. Sold: $32,500.

 

Happy Holidays from ATFA Appraisals

Thank you so much for being a customer of ATFA Appraisals this past year.  We want you to know we appreciate the business you have given us, and we hope to continue serving you in the coming year.

[African Americans selling Christmas trees and holly, Washington, D.C.] ca. 1920, National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA