Andreas Gursky: 99 Cent II Diptychon 2001 $3,346,456
Sotheby’s 2007
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Edward Steichen: Moonlight -1904 $2,928,000 Sotheby’s
New York 2006
The 41x50cm photograph, depicts moonlight between
trees and reflecting on a pond, and appears to be in
color. However, color photography did not begin until
1907, three years after the photograph was taken.
Steichen used layers of light-sensitive gum to create
an impression of color. Only three prints exist
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Richard Prince: Cowboy -1989 $1,248,000 Christie’s New
York, 2005
This modern cowboy is one of the most famous works by
one of the masters of the contemporary photography
Richard Prince. Cowboy was perhaps an odd choice as
the first photograph to reach a million dollars at
auction.
The photograph, which was taken in 1989
as part of a Marlboro ad.
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Gustave Le Gray: The Great Wave -1857 $838,000
Sotheby’s London 1999
Le Gray is arguably the most important French
photographer of the 19th Century. This beautiful work
was previously in the Jammes Collection until
auctioned by Sotheby’s. Le Gray’s image marked the
first time that a photographer had managed to expose
landscape and sky correctly in the same image. He did
this by creating one negative for the sky and one for
the sea and printing them together on the same sheet
of paper
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Robert Mapplethorpe: Andy Warhol -1987 $643,200
Sotheby’s 2006
Robert Mapplethorpe is one of the key
figures of contemporary photograph,
portraying
celebrities such as Patti Smith, Peter Gabriel & Andy
Warhol.
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Andreas Gursky: Untitled 5 -1997 $559,724 Christie’s
London 2002
A typical work by Gursky, depicting a shoe shop.
Five
years later, another work by Gursky was sold for 6
times the sum paid for this photo
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Diane Arbus: Identical Twins - 1967 $478,400 Sotheby’s
New York, 2004
A strange and almost disturbing photo depicting twin
sisters in almost identical pose is said to inspire the
terrible "ghost twins"
in Stanley Kubrick’s The
Shining |
