Spring 2025 Auctions: Phillips, Sotheby’s and Bonhams
The early April 2025 photography auctions at Phillips (New York) and two online sales at Bonhams and Sotheby’s, have invigorated collectors and market watchers alike, delivering a mix of results for rediscovered classics, as well as strong performances across both contemporary and vintage works. These seasonal sales, from some of the world’s top auction houses, provide an insight into the state of the art market, shedding light on the artists, eras, genres and trends that are currently gaining traction in North America and internationally.
Phillips (New York):
In New York, Richard Avedon secured the top lot with his ‘Avedon/Paris’ portfolio (1947-1957). Consisting of eleven silver gelatin prints, the portfolio was self-published by Avedon in 1978 in conjunction with his landmark retrospective at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This lot was also the highest estimate ($150-200K) and Phillips found a buyer just above this range, settling on $215,900.
The overall Buy-In rate came in under 20%, and there were more than a dozen positive surprises (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate). New auction records were set for works by Tyler Mitchell, Deborah Turbeville and Alec Soth. Other impressive results were for Francesca Woodman, where two of her works secured prices well over double of her high estimates. ‘On Being An Angel #1’ was especially noteworthy, estimated between $7-9K and selling for $27,940. David Wojnarowicz’s, ‘Untitled (Falling Buffalo), 1988’, sold at $101,600 (estimated between $15-25K), which also appeared at the Bonhams sale.
Some other interesting submissions in Phillips’ April sale were Robert Frank’s ‘Parade – Hoboken, New Jersey’ (sold for $101,600), a number of works by Bauhaus photographer Florence Henri, and Robert Mapplethorpe’s ‘Ken Moody Portfolio’ (1985), featuring five photogravures with watercolour, screenprint and flocking. Horst P. Horst’s ‘Mainbocher Corset’ and ‘Lisa with Harp’ also performed well, the former selling for $17,780 and the latter for $12,065.
Sotheby’s (Online):
Ansel Adams secured the top lot at Sotheby’s, with ‘Moonrise, Hernandez’ as the highest outcome at $635K (estimated between $500-700K).
The Buy-In rate was under 20%, even with just five positive surprises, three of which were lots from Ansel Adams. Helen Levitt’s ‘New York (Two Children in Window), c. 1939’ performed well, selling for $19,050 after an estimate of $5-7K, as did Harold Edgerton’s portfolio of ten Dye Transfer photographs (1938-1973), which were estimated at $8-12K but sold for $27,940.
The auction featured some duplicates from Bonhams and Phillips, including Ansel Adams’ ‘Tetons and Snake River’ (which sold at Sotheby’s for $152,400), as well as David Wojnarowicz’ ‘Untitled (Falling Buffalo)’. Other interesting submissions from this sale were Saul Leiter’s painted photographs, a few works by Chris McCaw and Andrew Moore’s ’The Yellow Porch, Sheridan Country, Nebraska’.
Bonhams (Online):
The top lot by high estimate at Bonhams was tied between two entries, each estimated at $70K-100K: Edward Weston’s ‘Bertha Wardell, Glendale (Legs of a Dancer), 1927’, and László Moholy-Nagy’s ‘Untitled (Photogram), 1939’. Neither of these found a buyer, therefore the top outcome of the sale landed on Ansel Adams, where his ‘Tetons and Snake River (Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming), 1942’ sold at $46,080 (estimated at $20-30K).
The majority of the sale featured American and European photographers from the mid-20th century, including Edward Weston, Alma Lavenson, W. Eugene Smith, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Andre Kerteśz and Ruth Bernhard. There was also a strong mix of Asian photographers, featuring Eikoh Hose, Masahisa Ukase, Daido Moriyama, Ishiuchi Miyako, Yang Yongliang, Dodo Jin Ming and Zhang Huan.
The overall Buy-In rate was over 33% and there were only five positive surprises in the sale, two of which were from Japanese photographers, Hiroshi Hamaya and Shomei Tomatsu. Michael Kenna and Elliott Erwitt also featured in the sale.
Visit Collector Daily for more statistics on Phillips, Sotheby’s and Bonhams.
