NEW YORK, NY.- Following a successful year for the Photographs market,
Phillips announced the appointment of Christopher Mahoney as Senior International Specialist, Photographs. Based in New York, Mr. Mahoney began in his role earlier this month and will work with the international team of Photographs specialists to further increase Phillips market share in the category.
Mr. Mahoney began his auction career in the Photographs Department at Swann Galleries in the early 1990s. He joined Sothebys in 1995, where he was directly involved with the sale of some of the most significant photographs and photographs collections to come to auction. He served as Head of the Photographs Department for the last two years of his tenure. After his departure in 2016, he worked as a private consultant, during which time he assisted with Phillips auctions of The Odyssey of Collecting: Photographs from Joy of Giving Something Foundation in 2017.
Vanessa Hallett, Worldwide Head of Photographs and Deputy Chairman, Americas said, On the heels of Phillips strong 2017 performance, we are eager to continue building momentum in the Photographs market. Chris is one of the foremost experts on the evaluation and sale of photographs spanning the 19th through 20th centuries and he was instrumental in the success of our Joy of Giving Something auctions last year. As a permanent member of our team, he will facilitate the growth of the department even further as we prepare for our first sales of the new year.
Mr. Mahoney, Senior International Specialist for Photographs, added, I am very excited to be joining the Photographs Department at Phillips, an energetic and nimble company that has made a serious commitment to photography. I look forward to helping the team build upon its remarkable record of successes in the seasons to come.
With over $22.6 million in sales globally for 2017, Phillips Photographs Department has been an integral figure in the continued rise of the photography market. The team saw exceptional results across the board for seasonal sales and for the December auction of works by Henri Cartier-Bresson from the collection of Peter Fetterman, which doubled its total estimate, selling 93% by lot and 98% by value.
Phillips has established over 100 world auction records in photography and currently holds the top price at auction for works by Nadar, Helmut Newton, Sally Mann, Erwin Blumenfeld, Elger Esser, Masahisa Fukase, Brassaï, Andreas Feininger, Stephen Shore and Leon Levinstein, while having additionally achieved strong results for works by Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, Diane Arbus, Imogen Cunningham and Garry Winogrand.
Mr. Mahoney has researched, written about, and sold the work of such record-setting photographers as Edward Weston, Alfred Stieglitz, Man Ray, László Moholy-Nagy, Eugène Cuvelier, Southworth & Hawes, Robert Frank, and Robert Mapplethorpe, among many others. He earned a BFA in Photography from New York University and remains an active photographer.