Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Art Business

Abstract

This dissertation explores the evolving position of fashion, glamour and erotic-fashion photography within the contemporary auction market. This aim is met through a case study of the landmark Icons of Glamour and Style: The Constantiner Collection sales, which took place at Christie's New York and Christie's Paris in 2008, 2009 and 2019. Photography entered the auction market as a dedicated genre in the early 1970s, by the early 2000s prints of editorial photography from the pages of Vogue, Vanity Fair and Harper’s Bazaar began to circulate regularly on the market. In 2008, at the precipice of the financial crisis and following the success of several smaller sales from the collection of Gert Elfering, Christie’s offered its biggest sale of dedicated fashion and glamour photography to date from the extensive single-owner collection of Leon Constantiner. Through academic research, quantitative analysis, least square regression models and interviews with leading photography market experts, this dissertation identifies key factors and historical context that lead to market success and sustainability for erotic-fashion and glamour photography. Findings reveal that the period between 2007-2019 was strongest for this material on the auction market, titans like Newton, Penn, and Avedon sustain visibility and profitability, single-artist and single-owner sales remain the the most effective platforms, and while prices have mellowed in the past five years, this material is still in regular circulation on the auction market in the low-to-medium price range.

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