NEW YORK.- Christie's auction, Photographs from the Estate of Thomas T. Solley, totaled $4,328,460 and set new world auction records for Morton Schamberg, El Lissitzky, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Margaret Watkins, Jean-loup Sieff, and Mary Ellen Mark. Today's sale of Photographs realized $1,231,800 bringing the total to $5,560,260.

“The sale of the Thomas T. Solley Collection of Photographs achieved a very strong result. The total of $4,328,460 well exceeded pre-sale estimates and we were delighted to see a wide international participation. The outcome is a vivid testament to Mr. Solley's sure and individualistic eye. The unexpected highlight of the sale was the $390,000 achieved by a rare 1918 American Dadaist work, 'God', by Morton Schamberg - a dead-pan study of a cast-iron plumbing trap on a mitre box. Works by modern masters including Richard Avedon, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Helmut Newton and Irving Penn attracted consistently lively competition,” said Philippe Garner & Joshua Holdeman, International Directors of the Photographs Department.