Fine Art Photographs at Auction: Wegman

Showing posts with label Wegman. Show all posts

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Friday, February 22, 2008

Auction Complete

Photo : black and white photo lithographs created in 1990 by American artist William Wegman
4 prints in total
Size : 26" x 24"
Title : "Bird Dog Suite"

Auctioned publicly by Ro Gallery on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 in New York (Lot #699)

Opening bid was $1500
Estimated value was between $2500 and $3000

Total # of bids : 1
Final price : $1400 + 20% Buyer's Premium = $1680

Full auction details : click here
Search for current Wegman listings : click here
Search for other completed Wegman listings : click here (log-in required, but sign up is trivial)
Brief bio of Wegman : click here
List of Wegman photobooks : click here

Monday, January 21, 2008

William Wegman - January 30

Click on image to view auction details

Auction Complete

Photo : black and white photograph with silkscreen additions, created in 1979 by American artist William Wegman
Size : 20" x 16"
Title : "Man Ray as Cat"

This was an artist's proof impression

eBay listing, completed Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Opening bid was $650

Total # of bids : 0
Final price : Did Not Sell

Full auction details : click here
Search for current Wegman listings : click here
Search for other completed Wegman listings : click here (log-in required, but sign up is trivial)
Brief bio of Wegman : click here
List of Wegman photobooks : click here

Monday, January 7, 2008

William Wegman - January 13

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Auction Complete

Photo : color photograph created in 1989 by American artist William Wegman
Size : 9" x 9"
Title : "Puppy Toss"

eBay listing, completed Sunday, January 13, 2008

Opening bid was $1725

Total # of bids : 0
Final price : Did Not Sell

Full auction details : click here
Search for current Wegman listings : click here
Search for other completed Wegman listings : click here (log-in required, but sign up is trivial)
Brief bio of Wegman : click here
List of Wegman photobooks : click here

Saturday, December 29, 2007

William Wegman - January 3

Click on image to view auction details

Auction Complete

Photo : color photograph created in 2001 by William Wegman
Size : 8" x 8"
Title : "Red Tide"

eBay listing, completed Thursday, January 03, 2008

Opening bid was $900

Total # of bids : 0
Final price : Did Not Sell

Full auction details : click here
Search for current Wegman listings : click here
Search for other completed Wegman listings : click here (log-in required, but sign up is trivial)
Brief bio of Wegman : click here
List of Wegman photobooks : click here

Monday, October 22, 2007

William Wegman - October 27

Click on image to view auction details

Auction Complete

Photo : color photograph created in 2000 by American artist William Wegman
Size : 15 1/4" x 15 1/4"
Title : "Batty Back Up"

Auctioned publicly by Concept Art Gallery on Saturday, October 27, 2007 in Pittsburgh, PA (Lot #845)

Opening bid was $500
Estimated value was between $800 and $1200

Total # of bids : 0
Final price : Did Not Sell

Also currently available for purchase from the Brooklyn Academy of Music for $1750

Full auction details : click here
Search for current Wegman listings : click here
Search for other completed Wegman listings : click here (log-in required, but sign up is trivial)
Brief bio of Wegman : click here
List of Wegman photobooks : click here

Thursday, October 11, 2007

William Wegman - October 17

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Auction Complete

Photo : color polaroid photograph taken in 1988 by American artist William Wegman
Size : 26 1/2" x 20"
Title : "Leg Stand"

Auctioned publicly by Phillips, de Pury & Company on Wednesday, October 17, 2007 in New York City (Lot #1208)

Opening bid was $2600
Estimated value was between $4000 and $6000

Total # of bids : 19
Final price : $8000 + 22.5% Buyer's Premium = $9800

Full auction details : click here
Search for current Wegman listings : click here
Search for other completed Wegman listings : click here (log-in required, but sign up is trivial)
Brief bio of Wegman : click here
List of Wegman photobooks : click here

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

William Wegman Photograph - August 28: UPDATE

The Wegman photograph previously announced sold for $1800. There were 2 bidders. As there was a 20% buyer's premium on this item, the total was $2160.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

William Wegman Photograph - August 28

Description

This is a William Wegman color photograph entitled "Dog and Pony." It measures 24.5" by 19". It is signed and numbered 10/40. It is lot 3188 of Ro Gallery's Late Summer Fine Art Sale Auction. It will go on auction August 28th; the values is estimated between $2000-$2500. Bidding will start at $1000. You can find full auction details here and search for additional Wegman photographs here.

William Wegman - Brief Biography & Book List

Brief Bio

William Wegman is well known in American popular culture as "that photographer who dresses up Weimaraner dogs." He is more complex than this label might suggest however. Born in 1943, he began his career as a painter and drawer, graduating from the Massachusetts College of Art with a BFA in 1965 and from the University of Illinois with an MFA in 1967. He immediately began teaching at various Wisconsin colleges until moving to California in 1970.

From painting and drawing, he extended his work to video and to photography. He acquired his first Weimaraner - Man Ray - in 1970 while in California. The dog grew up in the context of video and photography. Wegman used him in both videos and photographs as a kind of found object. This collaboration between dog and photographer was so successful the Village Voice humorously named Man Ray the "Man of the Year" in 1982. Wegman continued to pursue his collaboration with Weimaraners even after Man Ray passed away in 1984.

In all of Wegman's work - from painting to video to photographs - there pervades a certain sense of humor. The point of the work is not necessarily humor, yet Wegman's deadpan sense of comedy cannot truly be separated from the work itself. Excellent examples of early work can be found on the Haggerty Museum of Art website. A collection of a few of his early videos have also been posted to YouTube here, here, and here (this same early video is also available on the web here). This early interview with Liza Béar also gives a sense of Wegman's style and of details of his video work in particular. This Salon.com article from 2000 provides a more up-to-date survey of his work.

The popularity of his work lead him to such diverse activities as a 1976 appearance on Saturday Night Live, many collaborations with Sesame Street (many of which can be seen here), and a collaboration with Steve Martin (which can be found here). He has authored many books for Children. He also has a permanent outdoor sculpture entitled La Jolla Vista View at UC San Deigo.

In 2006, Wegman had a retrospective at the Brooklyn museum which encompassed all his work to date. The NY Times conducted an informative video interview with Wegman regarding this exhibit. In 2007, he was the artist-in-residence at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA.

A variety of images can be found on-line from the galleries which represent Wegman. There are images from a gallery in NY, a gallery in DC, a gallery in Scottsdale, AZ and a gallery in LA (featuring several paintings in addition to photographs). A detailed chronology of exhibits can be found on Wegman's website.

Books