María Magdalena Campos-Pons' Auction Record Jumps 15%

María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Abridor de Caminos (The One Who Opens the Path) (1997) sold for $116,800, more than twice the low estimate at Rago Arts & Auction Center in Lambertville on June 10. The unique large-format Polaroid Polacolor prints in ten parts has not been traded before.

Dated, numbered and inscribed "1/1 Boston 1997 Maria Campos-Pons", it featured in the 2017 touring exhibition "The Polaroid Project: At the Intersection of Art and Technology".

Cuba-born María Magdalena Campos‑Pons (1959), whose work often explores Afro‑Cuban heritage, created the work for the Polaroid company, which acquired it directly from the artist for its remarkable corporate collection.

Beginning in the late 1960s, Polaroid had commissioned leading artists to create original works using its cameras and film. Housed for decades at the corporation's HQ, after the company's demise much of the archive was donated to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The sale beat the artist’s previous auction record by $16,000, a 15% rise. The previous record was set by Soy una fuente (I Am a Fountain) (1990), which sold for $100,800 at Christie's on March 09, 2023. The work had not been traded before.