Phillips’ Photographs November Auctions: London & Paris
November was a busy month for Phillips’ Photographs with their London sale on the 21st and Paris a little later on the 30th. As one of the leading auction houses for the medium, Phillips’ present a useful indicator of the current climate, revealing which artists, ideas, eras or genres are performing well in the European market.
London’s sale was predominantly contemporary, offering a slightly more daring selection than their presentation this May. This seems to have paid off, as 92.50% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were four positive surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate). The auction featured some of today’s leading fashion photographers, such as Nick Knight, David LaChapelle, Erik Madigan Heck and Bastiaan Wood. Evelyn Bencicova’s genre-fusing work was estimated between £10-15k for ‘I Don’t Exist From Artificial Tears’, but sold for a staggering £57,150. Some older masters were also on display, like Horst P. Horst’s iconic ‘Lisa with Harp’ which exceeded its value and Irving Penn who once again secured the highest price at £107,950 with ‘Sitting Nude Rear, New York 1993’.
‘The Ultimate’ section featured ‘Young Artists from Africa’ such as Prince Gyasi, Mous Lamrabat and Carlos Idun-Tawiah, all of which exceeded their high estimates with Gyasi’s ‘Limitless’ (boy with kite) doubling expectations at £44,450. Also in the Ultimate section were four Japanese photographers—Nobuyoshi Araki, Ikkō Narahara, Tokuko Ushioda and Eiji Oshashi—presenting images between 1971 – 2022.
Phillips’ Paris went for a more traditional approach with their sale, ‘Impressions Parisiennes: Une Collection de Photographies.’ All from a single owner collection, the works presented a tribute to photographers throughout the 20th Century who found their inspiration in the city, many of them Parisian themselves. Featured artists included Willy Ronis, Robert Doisneau, Martine Franck, Norman Parkinson, Lillian Bassman, Brassai, Elliott Erwitt and William Klein. Henri Cartier-Bresson’s ‘Rue Moffetard’ secured the highest price at €21,590, followed closely by ‘Derrière la Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris 1932′ for €19,050.
For a series of iconic photographs by well established artists, it is somewhat surprising that many of the lots in Paris failed to sell. Aside from Cartier-Bresson, the prices averaged around €4,000, which is markedly lower than London’s sale. It seems that this time round, contemporary photography came out on top.
