ART HOUSE

At the Phillips Photographs New York Auction, several lots exceeded their sale estimations.

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In early April, Phillips held its Photographs New York Auction and realized $6.4 million in sales of vintage and contemporary photographs. More than 300 lots crossed the block. Spanning almost 170 years, from the 1850s all the way through 2019, this sale was indicative of a surge within the art world, where bidding is growing more and more frenzied as connoisseurs look to snap up certain works for investment portfolios and to beautify their homes.

For those looking to get in on the long-term profits of a good art investment, one option is to study and bid for the big names — artists and photographers known for their specific style of work. American photographer Ansel Adams, for instance, is renowned for his black and white landscape and nature photographs. No other photographer from his era was as successful with large prints of nature.

Adams’ work commands strong pricing, and rarely, if ever, does a lot up for sale fail to sell. All of his photographs in the recent Phillips auction sold, most within their estimates but several surpassing them. The top lot in the auction, Lot 203 from the Bunnell Collection (a silver print of Adams’ 1941 photo “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico”) was estimated to hammer between $150,000 and $250,000; it sold for $381,000.

Lot 259, another Ansel Adams stunner, claimed the fifth highest sale overall: the 1931 mural-sized gelatin silver print “Leaves, Mills College.” Estimated to go for between $30,000 and $50,000, it soared up to $254,000.

Lot 177, “Harlequin Dress (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn)” by Irving Penn, was the third highest-selling lot. Printed in 1979 as a platinum palladium print, the signed artwork was estimated to sell for $200,000 to $300,000 and went for $355,600. Penn’s photographs were often seen in glossy magazines. In the 1960s, he turned his attention to the idea of platinum printing because of its grayscale abilities, offering a great array of gradiations from white to black. The process was complex and time consuming but yielded incredible results that contributed to his success. Acclaimed fashion photographer Cindy Sherman, who once shot a series in Iceland with Chanel, had another top-grossing piece. Lot 81, “Untitled #546 from 2010,” is an example of that work. It features two self-portraits mounted together with the waterfalls in the background dwarfed by the large figures in the foreground. The juxtaposition, and the poses of the figures, makes this image a blend of fantasy and fiction. The print was estimated to sell for $150,000 to $200,000 but actually sold for $355,600.

Of the total 317 lots up for sale, lots 203 through 240 comprised a remarkable collection from the late Peter C. Bunnell, a photography historian, teacher, and author. The proceeds from the sales of these lots went to six museums and universities Bunnell was associated with, so they can form endowments to support the study of photographic history. One of the Bunnell Collection images, Lot 213, was by Garry Winogrand. Entitled “World’s Fair, New York City,” the gelatin silver print circa 1964 sold for more than $15,000 above its estimate, going for $40,640.

While these masterpieces have sold, there are a host of upcoming auctions this fall by Phillips and other auction houses where you can get in on the action. The key to buying art at auction: Set your budget beforehand and have fun in the process.

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