Contemporary Photography

Every fortnight Artprice posts a theme-based auction ranking. This week’s TOP identifies the ten best auction results generated in the Contemporary photography segment.

With a new personal record of $3.4m, Cindy Sherman is today the world’s most expensive Contemporary photographer on the art market!

Top 10 : ten best auction results for contemporary photography

Cindy Sherman (1954-)

Cindy Sherman is today at the top of the art photography market after a work from her Centerfolds series Untitled (1981) fetched $3.4m against a pre-sale estimate of $1.5 – $2m. This result was $1m better than her previous record of November 2010 at Phillips de Pury for Untitled #153 from a limited edition of six. Before Sherman’s latest record the photography market’s best ever result belonged to the British duo Gilbert & George whose To her Majesty (1973) fetched $3.2m in June 2008 at Christie’s London.
Sherman’s previous auction best was $1.85m ($850,000 above its high estimate) for her Untitled No.92 (1981) at Christie’s prestigious New York May sales in 2007.

Andreas Gursky (1955-)
In May 2006, the German photographer’s 99 cents (1999) fetched $2m. Six months later in 2007, his diptych 99 cent II, (2001) fetched $2.2m at Philips de Pury in New York… and a year after that, the same Cibachrome work fetched $2.9m at Sotheby’s in London (3rd in our ranking).
In 2008, another Gursky cibachrome entitled Los Angeles, 1998 fetched more than double its high estimate when it was acquired for $2.5m at Sotheby’s in London, Gursky’s personal second-best (and 4th in this ranking).
After a difficult year due to the crisis (in 2008/09, his price index contracted 51%), Andreas Gursky returned to 7-figure results in 2010 with the sale of Madonna I, 2001 in February 2007 for $1.4m at Sotheby’s in London (10th in this ranking).
Andreas Gursky is today one of the world’s most expensive Contemporary photographers, and his total auction revenue for 2010 was $8.2m, of which 97% was generated in US and UK auction houses.
In terms of transaction numbers, 19% of Gursky’s auction results are hammered in Germany, the artist’s country of origin. However, 78% of these involve sums under 10,000 dollars.

Richard Prince (1949-)
Three months after the sale of Gursky’s 99 cent II (2001), Richard Prince’s Cowboy (2001) fetched the best result of 2007 at $2.5m at Christie’s New York May sale. In November 2007, again in New York, a 254 cm x 169 cm Ektachrome from the same series entitled Cowboy (2001-2002) – an appropriated Marlboro ad Cowboy – fetched $3m (twice its high estimate) as demand for the artist’s work rocketed. With that result, Richard Prince became the world’s most expensive Contemporary photographer on the market overtaking Andreas Gursky’s record of £1.5m for his famous 99 cent II (Sotheby’s) by several tens of thousands of dollars.Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that for both Richard Prince and Cindy Sherman, the market for their works is not limited to 6- and 7-figure results; indeed works by both these artists can be obtained for much more affordable prices. For example, a number of works by Richard Prince sell for less than $7,500, particularly series photos capturing the mood of the 1980s, produced in limited editions of 25.

Photography sales – with particularly strong results in the US and in London – have demonstrated collector’s appetites for the Contemporary segment of the market. However, this market is still very much in its infancy and only represented 2% of total Fine Art sales revenue in 2010 (and 52% of the total transaction volume in the photography segment as a whole).