: On February 14 at Sotheby's before a crowded room, Edward
Steichen's "The Pond-Moonlight" shattered the world record for a
photograph at auction, selling to applause for $2,928,000, almost
three times its high estimate to Peter MacGill of Pace-MacGill
Gallery on behalf of a private collector.
The photograph was one of 113 lots offered over two days in the
sales of important photographs from the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, including works from the Gilman Paper Company collection,
which totaled $14,982,900 and was 100 percent sold by lot and by
amount. A total of 91 percent of the lots sold over their high
estimates and the average lot value was $132,592.
Also highlighting the single-owner sale, which featured
turn-of-the-last century and Twentieth Century photographs, were
two photographs by Alfred Stieglitz of Georgia O'Keeffe -
"Hands," which brought $1,472,000, a record for the artist at
auction, and "Nude," which achieved $1,360,000, both selling to
Fraenkel Gallery. Additional artist records were set for
Margrethe Mather, Paul Outerbridge Jr and Margaret Bourke-White
at auction, among many others.
Denise Bethel, senior vice president and director of Sotheby's
photographs department in New York, said, "With the outstanding
price achieved for Edward Steichen's magnificent 'The
Pond-Moonlight,' just shy of $3 million, the medium of
photography now ranks in the auction market at a level previously
reserved for the more traditional fine arts of painting,
sculpture and drawing."
Alfred Stieglitz, "Hands," $1,472,000, a record for the artist
at auction.
"This would not be a surprise to Edward Steichen, Alfred
Stieglitz, Edward Weston or to the many other photographers whose
works we have just sold for such incredible prices. Beginning in
the early decades of the Twentieth Century, these photographers all
waged the battle to have photography regarded as an art, which they
believed it to be. A little over a century after it was made, 'The
Pond-Moonlight' proves them right."
"This auction will be remembered as a defining moment in the
annals of the photographs market, both for the prices achieved
and the energy and excitement in the room, especially during the
evening sale. Sotheby's was honored to have been chosen to offer
these works of such impressive dual provenance, The Metropolitan
Museum of Art and the Gilman Paper Company, two of the most
highly regarded collections of photographs in the world. For
those of us who have been passionate about photographs for years,
this auction signals the beginning of a whole new phase in the
development and maturity of our market, and we see only great
things ahead in the years to come."
"We are immensely pleased," said Malcolm Daniel, curator in
charge of the Metropolitan Museum's department of photographs.
"As we had hoped, the proceeds of this sale will go far in
supporting the museum's acquisition of the Gilman Collection."
Steichen's masterful multiple-process photograph "The
Pond-Moonlight" set a new world record for a photograph at
auction and also established a record for the artist.
The best of his early landscapes, "The Pond-Moonlight" was made
by Steichen in his mid-twenties and shows the young photographer
working at the very peak of his aesthetic and technical
abilities. It is one of three known prints of this image; the two
others reside in museum collections -- one retained in the
collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the other in the
collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
Alfred Stieglitz, "Nude," $1,360,000.
The underbidder for "The Pond-Moonlight," Solomon Fine Art,
was bidding on behalf of a private collector and was later
successful in securing another Steichen, "Balzac - The Open Sky,"
for $632,000.
The two photographs by Stieglitz of O'Keeffe - "Hands" and "Nude"
- were part of an extensive series of pictures created soon after
the two became lovers in 1917. Over two decades, in dozens of
sittings, Stieglitz recorded not only her face, her hands and her
torso, but also her moods and metamorphoses.
Rounding out the sales' top ten lots were, Alfred Stieglitz,
"Georgia O'Keeffe (In Front of Charcoal Drawing)," $531,200; Paul
Outerbridge Jr, "Marmon Crankshaft," $374,400 (record for the
artist at auction); Margaret Bourke-White, "Gargoyle, Chrysler
Building, New York," $352,000 (record for the artist at auction);
Alfred Stieglitz, "Georgia O'Keeffe (By Car)," $329,600; Walker
Evans, "Alabama Tenant Farmer (Floyd Burroughs)," $307,200
(record for the artist at auction); and Edward Steichen, "The
Pool - Evening: A Symphony to a Race and to a Soul," $296,000.
Prices reported include buyer's premium, which is 20 percent of
the hammer price on the first $200,000, and 12 percent
thereafter. For information, 212-606-7000 or www.sothebys.com.
