Record price for VALIE EXPORT's genital panic
54,000 euros for icon of feminism

The cover subject of the catalogue of the 12th WestLicht Photo Auction was bought by a private collector for three times the starting price. A great result for a work of art of the Austrian post-war avant-garde.
The erotic photographs by Alfons Walde were also among the highlights, reaching prices of up to 11,400 euros. A photograph of Marylin Monroe called at 800 euros was worth 14,400 euros to her admirer. The picture by George Barris shows the famous scene from The Darned Seventh Year in which the air from the underground shaft blows her skirt upwards. Audrey Hepburn also delighted in 1963 Hollywood alongside Cary Grant. The photograph by Philippe Halsman, which was advertised at 1,200 euros, achieved the price of 11,400 euros after an exciting bidding battle. Irving Penn's contact copy of the Woman in Chicken Hat series was called at 6,000 euros and achieved 31,200 euros including buyer's premium. Henri Cartier-Bresson's classic Derrière la Gare Saint-Lazare also sold for 31,200 euros, making it the most expensive photograph by the grand master of reportage photography ever sold at auction in Austria. In the section of Russian photographs, the photo of Lenin at his speech in Moscow in 1918 was the highlight, with a call price of 1,400 and a realised price of 19,200 euros. All prices are hammer prices including premium.

Photos: Christine Miess (WestLicht)