Jeff Wall Leads Sotheby's Online $3.6m 'Photographs' Auction

A work by Jeff Wall was the headline sale at Sotheby's, Online 'Photographs' auction on April 10.

• The sale totaled $3.6m, meeting the pre-sale estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 144 works sold totaling $3.6m.
• Estimates totaled: $2.94m (low) and $4.43m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 71% of the original 203 lots announced.

The star lot was: Jeff Wall, A Woman and Her Doctor (1980), which sold for $381,000, 400% above its $70,000 low estimate. It has been traded once in the past.

The outperformer sold for 1100% above its low estimate. David Wojnarowicz, Untitled (Face in Dirt) (1992), sold for $381,000 ($30,000 low estimate). It has been traded twice in the past.

• 47 works, or 33%, sold above their high estimate.
• 57 works, or 40%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 40 works, or 28%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Guaranteed sales

No sales had a guarantee.

Works that did not sell

55 works were bought-in, including: Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, 'Ellen Frank' (1928), estimated at $50,000 (low) to $70,000 (high). It has been traded twice in the past.

Withdrawn before the sale

4 works were withdrawn before the sale, including: Garry Winogrand, Selected Images from Women Are Beautiful (Undated) estimated at $6,000 (low) to $9,000 (high).

Terms and definitions

All results include the fees and premiums added to the price of a work of art when the auctioneer's hammer falls. Sale prices are compared to the auction house’s low estimate, which do not include premiums.

Guarantees: Sometimes an auction house guarantees to pay a seller for a work, regardless of whether the bidding reaches the reserve price, a figure that is typically confidential.

Bought-in: If there are no bids for a work, or if bidding falls short of the reserve price, the lot is unsold or “bought-in”.

Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.

Premiums: Typically a sliding-scale of charges paid in addition to the hammer price by the buyer, plus any other fees.