artnet Auctions - Recent Auction Results Show Strong Demand for Fine Art Photographs

NEW YORK and BERLIN -

artnet Auctions sale of Icons: 20th-21st Century Photographic Portraits showed strength in the photographs market as the ten-day online photographs auction concluded June 25 with outstanding results. The sale featured over 200 original fine art photographs of legends of fashion, film, music, politics, sports, arts and literature from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna.

Top Lots Sold

Screen stars led the sale with spirited bidding for photographs of Hollywood legends Audrey Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe. The top lot sold was a rare 1956 portrait of Audrey Hepburn by Yousuf Karsh. This exquisite portrait, which had never been offered at auction, realized an impressive US$12,650. Photographs of screen siren Marilyn Monroe also commanded top prices. Five of the top ten lots sold were portraits of the actress taken by Bert Stern. Among them, the stunning chromogenic print Marilyn Monroe: From The Last Sitting, “I Beg of You”, 1962 fetched US$1,650, more than double the low estimate. Other top lots included a 1931 gelatin silver print of Greta Garbo by Clarence Sinclair Bull, which sold for US$1,842 against an estimate of US$800-US$1,000 and Marlene Dietrich, by George Hurrell, which realized US$1,760 against an estimate of US$1,000-US$1,500.

Legendary Artists

There was also strong demand for portraits of artists including Salvador Dali, Frank Stella and Pablo Picasso. Two 1970 portraits of Salvador Dali by Marc Lacroix sparked frenzied bidding; Dali and His Muse, Gala realized US$6,053, 400% above the low estimate and Dali’s Profile commanded US$5,610, 370% above the low estimate.

Other top lots demonstrated the appeal of subjects ranging from astronauts to country music stars. A rare 1969 photograph of the NASA Apollo 11 Moonwalk by Neil Armstrong realized US$3,750, 90% above the low estimate while Mark Seliger’s Johnny Cash, Hendersonville, Tennessee, 1992 sold for US$3,025, 21% above the low estimate.

“The success of the sale points to the continued demand for high quality photographs at the right estimates,” said Bill Fine, President of Artnet Worldwide. “Buyers and sellers alike are increasingly turning to artnet Auctions due to the quality of the works offered on our site, and our comparatively low 10% buyer’s and seller’s premiums.”

Note: The sold values above include artnet Auctions’ 10% buyer’s premium.

Visit artnet Auctions at www.artnetonlineauctions.com.

About artnet:

artnet has been online since 1995 and is host to approximately 2,000,000 visitors each month. Through its Price Database of over 3.8 million auction sales results and its Gallery Network of over 2,200 galleries worldwide, artnet is the leading online resource for the international art market. With the new Online Auctions, artnet has added a transaction platform to its successful information services.

www.artnet.com | www.artnet.de | www.artnet.fr Sarah Bradley +1-212-497-9700 ext. 197 sbradley@artnet.com

Source: artnet

Sarah Bradley of artnet, +1-212-497-9700, ext. 197, sbradley at artnet.com