A New Auction Record for Robert Frank

The fall photography auctions in New York roll on this week, and the results from Christie's were strong. The highlight came on Wednesday during the sale of "Important Photographs from a Private American Collection." Lot number 16, a signed and dated print of Robert Frank's "Trolly--New Orleans, 1955" (above), sold for $623,400,a new auction record for the artist. All together the auction from in $2,061,150. Another auction, of images from the collection of Rex, Inc., brought in $1,184,025. The general photography auction brought in $6,532,825, for an overall total of $9.78 million. Other standouts in the sale included Diane Arbus's "A Jewish Giant at Home with his Family, 1967," which went for $421,000,  and Robert Mapplethorpe's "Calla Lily, 1998," which had a high estimate of $120,000 but sold for $217,000. The Mapplethorpe market has been stalled in recent years, and this price may reflect new interest in the artist.
--David Schonauer