NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s inaugural sale of Postwar and Contemporary Photographs concluded today in New York with a strong total of $2.5 million. The sale was led by Philip-Lorca diCorcia’s A Storybook Life (Complete Series), a group of 76 chromogenic prints that soared well past the presale high estimate to $468,500 – more than four times the previous auction record for the artist. The sale was led by a group of important photographs from the distinguished Ames Collection, which totaled $1.5 million.

Emily Bierman, Head of Sotheby’s Photographs Department in New York, commented: “We’re delighted with the results of today’s sale – our first dedicated auction of Postwar and Contemporary photographs. We saw robust interest in works by international artists, including Thomas Struth, Helena Almeida and Kohei Yoshiyuki, including a new auction record for Yoshiyuki. It’s been a pleasure to continue the Ames Collection’s storied legacy at Sotheby’s, and following today’s sale we are excited to present an online auction of additional photographs from the Ames Collection this December. We now look forward to continuing the season in New York with our biannual auction of Photographs, which opens for public exhibition this weekend.”

The Ames Collection of photographs featured pivotal images from many of the leading American and German photographers of the late-20th and early-21st centuries. Thomas Struth’s West Broadway, New York, Tribeca opened both the sale and Collection, selling for $68,750 - more than double its high estimate. 17 lots later, Struth’s seminal work Mailänder Dom (Fassade), Mailand, which has been featured in nearly every major exhibition and publication on the photographer’s work, achieved $456,500.

Outside of the Ames Collection, the sale was led by Philip-Lorca diCorcia’s A Storybook Life (The Complete Series), which achieved $468,500 (estimate $250/350,000). The work shattered the artist’s previous auction record of $106,250, which was set by Sotheby’s Photographs in April 2016. A Storybook Life (The Complete Series) was purchased by Kevin Moore for Nion McEvoy, collector and founder of the McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco, which opens in October 2017.

Actor and photographer Norman Reedus made his auction debut in today’s auction. Sub-Basement Of Maximum Security Prison In Moscow and Exercise Yard Of Maximum Security Prison In Moscow together sold for $9,375, the proceeds of which will benefit Hurricane relief efforts.