Top 20 photographers auctioned in 2018

Artprice provides an analysis business results to decipher the market trends in art. This week Artprice addressed the photography auction.

Thierry Ehrmann: ” The photography market represents just 1.7% of sales ‘ global business, 3% of the number of lots sold. But it has extremely interesting features that distinguish it from all other segments, starting with the fact that it is strongly dominated by Contemporary Art. Curiously, the figurehead of this market is this year again a woman artist, and even a maturing artist: Cindy Sherman . ”

1. Cindy SHERMAN (1954) – United States
   $ 6,737,871

With 18 lots already sold for more than $ 1 million at auction, Cindy Sherman is one of the three must-haves in the photography market. The price of his shots has been slowly increasing since 2012, but his market is particularly liquid, with more than 60 photographs sold per year, and an unsold rate of only 20%.

1. Richard PRINCE (1949) – United States
   $ 6,504,718

2. Andreas GURSKY (1955) – Germany
   $ 5,147,708

3. Wolfgang TILLMANS (1968) – Germany
   $ 4,947,645

The single-edition photographs of the Freischwimmer, Einzelgänger and Greifber series have been hugely successful for two years now in auction houses , now exceeding $ 600,000. Yet more than 60% of his photos are still sold for less than $ 50,000 at auction. Wolfgang Tillmans was discovered by the general public in 2000, receiving the Turner Prize. In 2017, he was crowned by a retrospective at Fondation Beyeler, Basel.

1. Irving PENN (1917-2009) – United States
   $ 3,940,908

2. Robert MAPPLETHORPE (1946-1989) – United States
   $ 3,433,837

3. Hiroshi SUGIMOTO (1948) – Japan
   $ 3,277,496

While the United States dominates the photography market to a large extent, Germany, Japan and France remain highly committed to this medium. For 15 years, Sugimoto has been the most successful Japanese photographer on the second market. His maritime horizons, made in the four corners of the planet, form his most accomplished and most appreciated work of collectors. Its major editions, in five draws, today exceed $ 300,000.

1. Richard AVEDON (1923-2004) – United States
   $ 2,533,905

2. Ansel Easton ADAMS (1902-1984) – United States
   $ 2,424,772

3. Diane ARBUS (1923-1971) – United States
   $ 2,380,129,129

4. Helmut NEWTON (1920-2004) – Germany
   $ 2,266,289

He is one of the few major photographers to record a price record in 2018. The only known impression of Panor amic Nude with Gun, Villa d ‘ Este, Como (1989) far exceeded the estimates of the Phillips auction house. May 18 in London, to frolic the million dollars.

1. Peter BEARD (1938) – United States
   $ 2,260,378

2. Thomas RUFF (1958) – Allemag only
   1,517,803 $

3. Barbara KRUGER (1945) – United States
   $ 1,507,283

4. Gerhard RICHTER (1932) – Germany
   $ 1,507,119

5. Gustave LE GRAY (1820-1884) – France $ 1,448,561

77 photographs of Gustave Le Gray were auctioned in 2018, with a peak of $ 225,000. This performance makes Le Gray the most successful photographer of the nineteenth century, that is to say the first major historical figure of photography on the Art Market. However, the price of his works tends to be compressed. Boats leaving the port of Le Havre (1856-57), which had set a record $ 1,264,000, on June 18, 2011 at Rouillac ( France ), was resold $ 965,000 on February 17, 2016 at Christie’s in New York .

1. Man RAY (1890-1976) – United States
   $ 1,376,050

The year 2017 will have awakened Man Ray’s market , notably by recording two successive records for his photographs. First Portrait of a tearful woman (1936) on May 17, 2017 in New York , then Black and White (1926) on November 9 in Paris , bought $ 2.2 million and $ 3.1 million respectively. Although the beautiful prints were much rarer in 2018, Man Ray remains one of the pillars of the photography market.

1. Edward Henry WESTON (1886-1958) – United States
   $ 1,353,158

2. László MOHOLY-NAGY (1895-1946) – Hon fie
   $ 1,332,653

3. Robert FRANK (1924) – Switzerland
   $ 1,316,356

After having experienced tremendous growth just before the 2008 crisis, the value of Robert Franck’s works has slowly stabilized. The price of his photos remains 2.5 times higher on average than 20 years ago, with sales regularly exceeding $ 100,000.

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