Photography in the News, Shake It Edition

Is there any news from the world of photography involving a world-class collection of photographs being sold off piece-by-piece rather than going to a museum? Unfortunately, there is, so now's your chance to purchase one of the 1,200 items up for auction...

Sotheby's to Sell Off Polaroid Collection

"The bankrupt Polaroid company will be selling off the highlights of its photography collection. Sotheby's has scheduled the auction for June 21st and 22nd, following a six-day-long display filling the entirety of Sotheby's headquarters."

Monday at Sotheby's

On Monday night, I joined Mrs. New York Portraits at Sotheby's for the photography auction.

Edward Weston's Nude Sells For $1.6 Million at Sotheby's Setting a New Record For The Artist

This evening at Sotheby’s, before a packed salesroom, the sale of The Quillan Collection of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Photographs, a connoisseur’s collection of 68 rare and unique images ranging in date from 1847 to 1985, sold for $8,901,350 far exceeding the high estimate (est. $4.6/7 million) and setting records for nineteen artists.

Ninety-two percent of the lots sold tonight achieved prices at or above their pre-sale estimates.

Highlighting the sale was Edward Weston’s Nude, from 1925, which was the object of a heated battle between two bidders, finally selling, to applause, to Peter MacGill of the Pace-MacGill Gallery for $1,609,000, far above its high estimate and setting a new record for the artist at auction

Photography in the Auction Houses

I managed to catch the Monday and Tuesday photography auctions at Sotheby's live on the Web. I've been to one in person, and it's an amazing thing to see: ripples go through the audience of live bidders, both of anticipation and -- sometimes -- of shock.

It's still great to watch online -- you sit at home with the catalog in hand, then see video of the auctioneer. But you don't hear the murmurs of the crowd, and you don't get to see the back and forth of the paddle-raisers.

Some highlights:

A complete set of Camera Work -- 50 volumes of the Quarterly published between 1903-1917 -- went for $229,000 (with Buyer's Premium).

An Edward Weston Nautilus went for $1,105,000 (with Buyer's Premium). And a Weston Nude on Sand, Oceano was $193,000.

A Herb Ritts made a surprising showing: with a catalog estimate at $20,000 - $30,000, it sold for $109,000.