Top Ten Galleries Every Photographer Should Visit

April 27, 2011


Top Ten Galleries Every Photographer Should Visit

Via The Photo Life
Written by Rachel LaCour Niesen

Call me old school. Go ahead, it’s true. I love seeing photographs in galleries. Not the galleries confined to a computer. I’m talking about the ones with walls.

There’s just something magical about stepping into a gallery and approaching large photographs hanging around you. It’s like meeting a kindred spirit for the first time; by standing face-to-face, you have a chance to savor their subtle nuances, to get lost in the rich hues of their eyes. Above all, you feel comfortable exploring, discovering and learning.

Sometimes, my palms sweat as I walk into a favorite gallery and glimpse a new exhibit. Rounding the corner of Canal and Chartres in New Orleans, I instinctively look up, toward the worn wooden sign and bold red door marking the entrance to A Gallery for Fine Photography. It was the first real photography gallery I visited, when I was a high school student discovering my passion for photojournalism. When I’m in New Orleans, A Gallery is my first stop. The space always draws me in, like the magnetic force of first love.

When I view photographs in a gallery, I don’t just see them. I experience them. It’s like full immersion in another culture, and it can’t be matched by a computer.

For years, I’ve been visiting galleries, cataloging my favorites. Here are my must-see galleries for photographers. I hope you’ll have a chance to stop by each of them and get lost for awhile. Please share your favorite galleries in the comments section. I look forward to finding some new places to visit!

1. A Gallery for Fine Photography, New Orleans, LA

Located in an historic 19th-century building at 241 Chartres in New Orleans’ French Quarter, A Gallery houses a dazzling collection of historic photographs spanning the 19th and 20th centuries. Set up like a living room, or informal Parisian Salon, the gallery immediately makes visitors feel at ease. Poke around, walk upstairs, and stare at images of Ernest Hemingway and Louis Armstrong. The singular vision and unforgettable personality of gallery owner, Joshua Mann Pailet, are evident around every corner. That’s precisely why this space feels like home to me.

2. Monroe Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

 

Located just off the historic city center, The Plaza, the Monroe Gallery specializes in classic black-and-white photography with an emphasis on humanist and photojournalist imagery. From Robert Capa’s pioneering photojournalism to Joe McNally’s contemporary coverage of New York city firefighters, the Monroe gallery is a living, breathing archive of photojournalism. Plus, the owners are casual, friendly and willing to strike up a conversation about their passion for photography.


3. Polka Galerie, Paris, France

The Polka Galerie is located in my favorite Parisian neighborhood, The Marais, and is actually part of three outlets dedicated to photography. The physical space is supplemented by a beautiful, quarterly magazine and a website showcasing exhibits. The founder and owner of Polka is Alain Genestar, former editor-in-chief of Paris Match, which is one of the most powerful weekly magazines in the France and is renowed for its use of photographs.

4. Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, NY

Formerly a photographer and founder of The Center for Photography in Woodstock in 1977, Howard Greenberg is one of a small group of gallerists, curators and historians responsible for the creation and development of the modern market for photography. The Howard Greenberg Gallery, which was founded in 1981, was the first to consistently exhibit photojournalism and ‘street’ photography, which are now accepted as important components of photographic art.

5. International Center for Photography, New York, NY

Nestled in the heart of New York City, the International Center of Photography is dedicated to exploring the photographic medium through dynamic exhibitions of historical and contemporary work. More than a gallery, ICP is a haven for education and scholarship. ICP also holds the famed “Mexican Suitcase,” which comprises a rare collection of rediscovered Spanish Civil War negatives by Capa, Chim, and Taro.

6. The George Eastman House, Rochester, NY

The world-renknowed George Eastman House combines the world’s leading collections of photography and film with the stately style of the Colonial Revival mansion that George Eastman called home from 1905 to 1932. This is the world’s oldest photography museum and one of the world’s oldest film archives, which originally opened to the public in 1949.

7. Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

The Fahey/Klein Gallery is devoted to the enhancement of the public’s appreciation of photography through the exhibition and sale of 20th Century and Contemporary Fine Art Photography. Since the gallery’s inception, exhibitions have embraced a diverse range photographers from Edward Weston to Berenice Abbott; Man Ray to Henri Cartier-Bresson.

8. Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, MA

Founded in 1980, the Robert Klein Gallery is devoted exclusively to fine art photography. The gallery deals with established photographers of the 19th and 20th centuries including those who are considered masters such as: Muybridge, Berenice Abbott, Ansel Adams, Irving Penn, Brassai, Cartier Bresson, Helen Levitt, Yousuf Karsh, Man Ray, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Weston and Walker Evans. The exhibition schedule is also designed to introduce new photographers to the public. Recently exhibited contemporary artists include: Julie Blackmon, Bill Jacobson, Jeff Brouws, Cig Harvey, Laura Letinsky, Wendy Burton and Chip Hooper.

9. Photo Eye Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

If you’re into collecting photo books, especially rare and out-of-print volumes, don’t miss Photo Eye! Simply put, it’s a treasure trove of photo books. You’ll be consistently surprised every time you step into this gallery a few blocks off Canyon Road. Dealing in contemporary photography, the gallery represents both internationally renowned and emerging artists.

10. Peter Fetterman, Santa Monica, CA

Peter Fetterman set up his first gallery over 20 years ago. He was a pioneer tenant of Bergamot Station, the Santa Monica Center of the Arts, when it opened in 1994. His gallery has one of the largest inventories of classic 20th Century photography. Diverse holdings include work by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sebastião Salgado, Ansel Adams, Paul Caponigro, Willy Ronis, and André Kerstez. Peter and his colleagues are committed to promote awareness and appreciation of photography in an intimate, user-friendly environment.


Link to article and comments here.

Flash of New Talent: Photography Auctions Embrace Some New Stars

 


The New York Observer
By Julia Halperin

Auctions are nothing if not ruthless. Last week, Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips held multimillion-dollar spring photography sales of a combined 644 images. The results offered clues, as the art market continues to thaw from the 2008 recession, as to which contemporary photographer's stocks have risen, whose have fallen and whose are holding steady post-crash. In a surprising market move, prices for works by a handful of auction virgins took off; demand for photographs by the rising stars of perhaps 5 or 10 years ago, meanwhile, like Iranian artist Shirin

 

Neshat and Spencer Tunick, famous for staging photos of crowds of nudes, headed in the other direction.

"It's not that the younger clients are purchasing the new photographers—we have stable collectors going after fresh new talent," said Vanessa Kramer, worldwide director of photographs at Phillips. "The price point is more accessible—you can buy a really important photograph for $3,000."

In a shift in taste, the photographers who sold well often seemed to feature either striking, ethereal imagery or wildlife themes. Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf specializes in sleek, lonely interior scenes (think Edward Hopper meets Apple). He sold three of five works for sale—impressive for a basically unknown name. His Grief, Troy, an image of a man leaning against a window in despair, brought in $11,500, well above the high estimate of $7,000. And the price of a single work offered by artist Dash Snow, who died tragically in 2009 of a heroin overdose, also soared.

All told, the three auctioneers sold about four out of every five works offered and raised more than $16 million. (The biggest prices were made by classic photographers; Christie's got $80,500 for a 1950 Irving Penn, for example.) The totals were at least half a million dollars higher than last year at every house, though Philips de Pury, which specializes in more contemporary photography, showed the most improvement.

Wildlife and fashion photographer Peter Beard was a breakout star. Born in 1938, he's far from a newbie, but "he's getting stronger and stronger. This is just the beginning for him," said Phillips' chairman, Simon de Pury. Mr. Beard's works brought in a total of almost $950,000 to the three houses last week.

But British photographer Adam Fuss, who had work added to the collections of the Israel Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art a few years ago, didn't make a splash. One Fuss piece, Woman Weeping From My Ghost, returned to Phillips for the second time since 2009—but now with an estimate $2,000 lower. (It went for $11,250, just above the low estimate.) The New York-based artist and former waiter at the Metropolitan Museum of Art specializes in carefully constructed photograms. Several of his works sold at the low end of their estimates, and two were passed over entirely "We don't have to offer work again—we'll only do it if we think it's important," said Ms. Kramer. German photographer Loretta Lux also didn't sell strongly. The artist, who specializes in dreamlike, creepy images of children, was regularly selling at auction in excess of $30,000 five years ago.

Photographs by Ms. Neshat, known for her provocative images of Muslim women and a superstar within the art world, performed unevenly. Perhaps it was too much of a good thing. Sotheby's sold one Neshat a few thousand dollars over estimate—Rebellious Silence (1994) sold for $18,750—but Phillips, who had several, had mixed results. "One thing that you need to be careful [of] with recent work is having too much of it on the market," said Christopher Mahoney of Sotheby's. "It undermines people's assurance of the specialness of the material."

British filmmaker-turned-wildlife photographer Nick Brandt, relatively new to auctions, saw both of his works up for sale bring well over their high estimates. Mr. Brandt filmed Michael Jackson's "Earth Song" music video in Kenya, and now works in East Africa. His Elephant with Exploding Dust, a majestic black-and-while image, sold for $59,375, well above the presale estimate of $35,000.



editorial@observer.com

Spring Auctions Looking Bright

Via Photograph Magazine
Posted April 12, 2011 by Jean Dykstra


The weather still felt a bit wintry, but the spring photography auctions suggested that a new season might be upon us. The sales had lower buy-in rates than we’ve been seeing (under 20 percent for most) and totals surpassing the firms' estimates. Sotheby’s kicked off the season on April 6 with a successful general-owners sale totaling $5,632,187, and a buy-in rate of 18.8 percent. Jaromir Funke’s abstract Composition, 1929, set a record for the artist at auction, selling for $350,500, far above the $70,000 high estimate. Mathew Brady’s portrait of politician John C. Calhoun, from 1849, sold for $338,500, also above the high estimate of $50,000. Two Man Ray images sold in the top ten: Untitled (Photomontage with Nude and Studio Lamp), 1933, was the top lot, bringing a whopping $410,500, and Solarized Male Torso, 1936, sold for $122,500.

On a side note, Sotheby's announced in February that it has made Paris its European center for photographs and decorative arts. Sotheby's won't hold photo sales in London, but the firm will hold bi-annual sales in Paris in May and in November, to coincide with Paris Photo and capitalize on the active market for photography in Paris. The department is headed by Simone Klein, who joined the firm in 2007.

Christie’s had three photography sales in April: Part I of the Consolidated Freightways collection, which focuses on American photography, was sold on April 7; 130 lots were offered, and the buy-in rate was 15 percent. The top lot was Robert Mapplethorpe’s Flag, 1987, which brought $158,500. That same day, a private collection went on the block, in a sale dubbed "The Feminine Ideal;" it brought a total of $942,125, with 18 percent of the 79 lots sold. Given that the sale focused on female beauty, it was no surprise that the top three lots were by Irving Penn, or that two of them should feature Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn. Balenciaga Mantle Coat, Paris, 1950, sold for $80,500, and Woman with Umbrella (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), New York, 1950, brought $60,000. Penn’s photographs, reliable favorites in the marketplace, were also top sellers in the general-owners photographs sale on April 8, with Bee on Lips, New York, September 22, 1995, selling for $182,500. Twentieth-century masters such as Avedon, Eggleston, Penn, and Frank were well represented in the top lots, with Avedon’s Marilyn Monroe, New York, May 6, 1957, bringing $482,500, and Eggleston’s iconic Memphis (Tricycle), c. 1969-1970, selling for $266,500

Robert Mapplethorpe, Flag. Courtesy Christie's New York

On April 9, Phillips de Pury and Company held its first photography sale in its new digs at 450 Park Avenue. The sale offered 260 lots, and totaled $5,802,250, with a slim 9.6 percent buy-in rate. Phillips’s chief auctioneer, Simon de Pury, held a Photographs Aficionado Class before the auction, and he conducted the sale as well. The top ten list included such contemporary works as Cindy Sherman’s Oriental-themed Untitled #278, which sold for $242,500. Dutch photographer Desiree Dolron’s Xteriors VI, referencing the history of Flemish portraiture, brought $194,500, well above its high estimate of $60,000. Peter Beard’s Tsavo North on the Athi Tiva, circa 150 lbs, - 160 lbs, side Bull Elephant, February, sold for $120,100. And Florian Maier-Aichen’s contemporary take on the Sublime, Untitled, 2005, brought $104,500.

Desiree Dolron, Xteriors VI. Courtesy Phillips de Pury and Company

Two weeks earlier, photobooks, photographic albums, and historical and 20th-century photographs sold well Swann Galleries on March 24. The total was $1,037,574, with a 20 percent buy-in rate. Adam Clark Vroman’s album Arizona and New Mexico, Volume II, with more than 165 platinum prints of Native Americans, from 1897, sold for $62,400, a record for the photographer at auction and Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Children at Puppet Theatre, Paris, 1963, printed 1991, brought $48,000, the top price for an individual photograph at the sale.

Swann Auction: Yesterday's top selling photograph was Alfred Eisenstaedt's Children at Puppet Theater, 1963

The Spring auction season has started. First up yesterday, Swann (via Swann blog)


FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 2011
Yesterday's Top Lots: Fine Photographs

Adam Clark Vroman, Arizona and New Mexico, Volume II, album with more than 165 platinum prints, 1897. Sold for $62,400 on March 24, 2011.


Two rare photographic albums were the top lots in yesterday's Fine Photographs auction at Swann. Adam Clark Vroman's Arizona and New Mexico, Volume II, 1897, which featured more than 165 platinum prints of Native Americans, their dwellings, the famous Snake Dance and more, brought $62,400, a record price for both Vroman and the album. Linnaeus Tripe's album, Photographs of the Elliot Marbles, which can be read about here, brought $57,600.

Alfred Eisenstaedt, Children at Puppet Theatre, Paris, silver print, 1963, printed 1991. Copyright Time Inc. Sold for $48,000.


The day's top selling photograph was Alfred Eisenstaedt's Children at Puppet Theater, 1963, which sold for $48,000.
 
Also, via Swann's Twitter: "Bert Stern's unique contact sheet of Marilyn Monroe sold yesterday at Swann's Fine Photographs auction for a record $22,800"
 
Related: Born December 6: Alfred Eisenstaedt

McLeans Canada: Scenes from the AIPAD photography show in NYC

Via MCLEANS

Every year, the world’s best galleries and photographers come together to pitch their wares under the same roof at the AIPAD (Association of International Photography Art Dealers) Photography Show New York, held in the Park Avenue Armory. For photographers, dealers, and art-lovers, this is the Big One.

The AIPAD Photography Show New York

Portraits of some of the prominent gallery owners showing at The AIPAD Photography Show New York: (clockwise) Robert Mann of Robert Mann Gallery in New York City, Kim Bourus of Higher Pictures in New York City, Deborah Bell of Deborah Bell Photographs in New York City, and Sidney S. Monroe of Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe, NM. Photo by Zoran Milich

Full slide show here 

GOING HOME

Ernst Haas: Utah, 1952

We sincerely and graciously thank each and everyone of you who visited our booth at this years AIPAD Photography Show. We look forward to keeping in touch with all of our new friends, and hope you might find time to visit us in Santa Fe.

"A Visual Escape: AIPAD photo show is a must see for aficionados"

Behind The Lens
A Visual Escape


Section Sponsored By AIPAD photo show is a must see for aficionados.
By Bob Krasner

Friends


Photo editor Adrienne Aurichio, photographer (and husband) Bill Eppridge with photographer (and friend) Stephen Wilkes. Credit: Bob Krasner


So you like photography? You'll want to go to the AIPAD Photography Show. You love photography? You may not want to leave.


Over 75 photo dealers from all over the world have moved into the Park Avenue Armory in NYC for the weekend. Coming from London, China and numerous U.S. locations, these dealers have brought with them the cream of their collections for the benefit of serious collectors and the window shoppers among us.

The range of work on display is fascinating. Classic works by Brassai and Ansel Adams sit next to Bettie Page's naughty nudes.

Prices range, too. The Halsted Gallery offered original vintage prints which ran from $600 to $130,000. From Franklin, Minn., they are the oldest photography gallery in the country, according to Wendy Halsted-Beard.

One could spend too much time at their space alone, perusing images from Andre Kertesz, Arnold Newman, Irving Penn, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Berenice Abbott and Brett Weston, to name a few.

The show leans to the classic photographers and we were thrilled to be looking at and sometimes holding vintage prints by some of our favorites, such as Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Ray Metzker and the aforementioned Cartier-Bresson. There were some surprises too in the form of recently discovered work by Leopoldo Pomes (Michael Hoppen Gallery) and G.P. Fieret (Deborah Bell).

Moving on, we found contemporary work as well. The John Cleary Gallery had many fine examples of Maggie Taylor's work. Her creations were a beautiful example of how one can digitally create an image that is about something more than how to use photoshop. Niniane Kelley, from the gallery, noted that Taylor "leads the pack in digital, surreal work."

If you are lucky, you may have a chance to talk to some of the artists. Stephen Wilkes took the time to explain how he painstakingly created his images of the High Line and Times Square (12 hours in a cherry-picker and a whole lot of post-production).

We were also fortunate to spend time chatting with Bill Eppridge, whose 40-plus years as a photojournalist have been documented in National Geographic, LIFE magazine and Sports Illustrated. He was in Vietnam and Woodstock and is well known for his tragic image of Bobby Kennedy moments after being shot. He was having a great time at the show, being "surprised every time you turn around."

If you suffer from visual overload, stay home. But if you go, make sure you give yourself a few hours to visit all the booths. And bring a camera -- you'll probably be inspired to use it when you leave!

A GREAT ESCAPE:
The AIPAD Photography Show New York
March 18 - 21, 2010 Park Avenue Armory at 67th Street
643 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10065-6122
Show Hours
Thursday, March 17 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Friday, March 18 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 19 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sunday, March 20 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Tickets are only available for purchase during Show hours.
Each ticket admits one person.
Admission
$40 for run-of-show
Includes exhibition access for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, plus one show catalogue (as available). Does not include panel discussions.
$25 daily
Only includes exhibition access for Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
$10 daily with valid student ID
Only includes exhibition access for Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
Special Events
$10 per session for Saturday panel discussions
Seating for panel discussions is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Download the panel discussion program.

Related: THE AIPAD PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW: "Where photojournalism is exhibited alongside artier and more experimental work

FRIDAY UPDATE FROM THE AIPAD PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW

Reports from the 2011 AIPAD Show are being published across the print and blog spectrum. We are pleased to share this report from Elizabeth Avedon:

AIPAD Photography Show


March 17-20 • Park Ave Armory x 67th St

Photo Collector's Alert: The Association of International Photography Art Dealers, the best of the best, are here in NYC this weekend. Check out all the modern, contemporary work, old masters, civil war treasures, salt prints and painted tin types. It's like the History of Photography all under one roof - only it's for sale. Mona Kuhn at M+B #109, The Oval Office, 2001 at Monroe Gallery #417, Laura Gilpin's 1928 Narcissus platinum print at Scheinbaum & Russek #214...over 70 galleries

AIPAD: DAY ONE


 After last night's benefit opening, today the AIPAD Photography Show opens today for regular hours:

Thursday 11 - 7
Friday 11 - 7
Saturday 11 - 7
Sunday 11 - 6

Visiting our booth (#417) today will be Stephen Wilkes and   Bill Eppridge. We hope to see you!

PHOTO DISTRICT NEWS PHOTO OF THE DAY: GREY VILLET - LITTLE ROCK NINE

© Grey Villet. Above: The Little Rock Nine enter a classroom to register after escort from Army’s 101st Airborne Division, September 25, 1957.

March 15, 2011
A daily selection by the editors of Photo District News
Posted on Tuesday, March 15th, 2011 at 11:00 am ET by Amber Terranova

Grey Villet was a master of the classic “fly on the wall” style of photojournalism and he was the absolute master of the 180mm f/2.8 Sonnar. In addition to covering the news in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957 — when a group of high school students attempted to enroll in Little Rock Central High School and were initially prevented by Governor Orval Faubus who called on the National Guard to stop the school’s integration, his assignments included the 1958 arrest of Martin Luther King Jr, Fidel Castro’s triumphant drive into Havana, Jackie Robinson’s daring steal of home base in the 1955 World Series, and the now classic LIFE photo essay “Going Under” about farm foreclosures in the 1980s. Villet’s work will be on display with the Monroe Gallery at the AIPAD Photography Show New York, March 17-20, 2011, at the Park Avenue Armory.- AIPAD. To see more of Villet’s work click here.

Previous post: E-Photo Newsletter Names its List of The Most Influential Photography Sources In 2010-2011

Monroe Gallery of Photography is located at Booth #417 during the AIPAD Photography Show

E-PHOTO NEWSLETTER NAMES ITS LIST OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PHOTOGRAPHY SOURCES IN 2010-2011

We have previously recommended the E-Photo Newsletter as a regular must-read source for news related to photography. The just-released edition gives us another reason to recommend this informative source as it names Monroe Gallery of Photography "the most influential gallery devoted to photojournalism".

 By Alex Novak


These are mostly my personal choices for this past year, although I have been asking others for their choices/feedback by email and on the Vintage Photography group on LinkedIn, etc. By the way, please feel free to join this group and its active discussions here, although you will have to join LinkedIn first.

Undoubtedly there will be disagreements with many of my choices (after all, these are admittedly very subjective), but I sincerely think that these are some of the most influential in their given category. "Best" is a more difficult and
subjective decision and is also very situational; in other words, for example, many dealers could have wonderful pieces in these categories but are not listed as most influential in them. Other galleries and dealers may also be excellent sources, but because their inventory and interests are more evenly spread out, they did not make our more specific lists. Finally, other factors besides the quality of work offered were factored into the decision, including publications, lectures, leadership, availability/activity for this period, programs, etc.

Many named for their category are clearly the cream of the crop in a general way--at least over the last 12 months. Some other sources that are not cited may have had stronger records in the past, or may have stronger ones in the future. One editorial disclosure: I own Vintage Works, Ltd., which I have named--legitimately, I feel--below in three categories. We list at most shows as Contemporary Works/Vintage Works.

I was tempted to do a "worst" list, considering some of the photography shows, etc. that I've seen recently, but decided to spare the offenders. But just an aside to certain French curators: don't hang lots of tiny photos right next to each other and then give visitors a plastic sheet as a magnifying glass so that they can block other viewers from seeing the work--if that were even possible in the near pitch blackness and overcrowded conditions.

I'm sure I will get a lot of additions, opinions, ideas, critiques and responses to this list--both negative and positive. Consider that I am stirring the pot, so to speak, to get people and institutions thinking about striving to get better, including those both on and off the list. Certainly send me your email feedback to info@iphotocentral.com , and I will add it to the article. Please check those responses/discussions out at the I Photo Central news and archives section at:

http://www.iphotocentral.com/news/article_view.php/190/180/1123 .
 
International locations are noted. Other sources are based in the United States unless otherwise noted. I skipped a European/International curator selectiononly because my knowledge is somewhat limited in this area, although I know some very good ones. I expect we'll restructure this list and add that category nextyear, as well as changing up the selection process a bit.

PHOTOGRAPHY DEALERS/GALLERIES:

19th-Century Gallery/Dealer
Hans P. Kraus, Jr., Inc.
Also Robert Hershkowitz, Ltd. (London and Sussex), Daniel Blau Photography (Berlin and London), Alain Paviot (Paris), Charles Isaacs, Serge Plantureux (Paris), Vintage Works, Ltd., Lee Gallery and Marc Pagneux (Chanteloup, France)

Surrealism and Experimental Photography
Galerie 1900-2000 (Paris) and Ubu Gallery (New York and Berlin)

American 20th-Century Modernism and Between-the-Wars Photography
Howard Greenberg Gallery and Stephen Daiter Gallery
Also Paul Hertzmann, Inc., Lee Gallery and Weston Gallery

American Mid-Century (1940s-1970s) Photography
Etherton Gallery, Fraenkel Gallery, Pace/MacGill and Stephen Daiter Gallery
Also Silverstein Gallery, Robert Mann Gallery, Robert Koch Gallery and Howard Greenberg Gallery

European 20th-Century Photography
Howard Greenberg Gallery, Kicken Berlin, Galerie Johannes Faber and Vintage Works, Ltd.
Also Alain Paviot (Paris), Robert Koch Gallery, Gitterman Gallery, Edwynn Houk, Michael Hoppen (London) and Galerie Priska Pasquer (Cologne)

Contemporary Photography Gallery
Fraenkel Gallery, Pace/MacGill and Weinstein Gallery
Also Rose Gallery, Bonni Benrubi, Nicholas Metivier Gallery (Toronto), Camera Work (Berlin), HackelBury Fine Art Ltd. (London), Hamiltons Gallery (London), Flowers (New York and London) and Edwynn Houk (New York and Zurich)

Cutting-Edge Contemporary Photography Gallery
Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery
Also Catherine Edelman Gallery

Photojournalism
Monroe Gallery

American Western Photography
Andrew Smith Gallery

Fashion Photography
Staley+Wise Gallery and Camera Work (Berlin)

Daguerreotypes
William L. Schaeffer
Also Dennis Waters, Mark Koenigsberg, Vintage Works, Ltd., Charles Isaacs, Michael Lehr, Serge Plantureux (Paris), Frederic Hoch (Offwiller, France), Greg French and Bruno Tartarin (Paris)

Vernacular/Snap Shots
Barbara Levine, Richard Hart and Stacy Waldman
Also Fabien Breuvart (Paris), Gargantua Photos/Steve Bannos, Joel Rotenberg, Wolfram Harmuth (Berlin) and Pixidiom/Norm Kulkin

The next two categories have changed incredibly over the last few years, with many physical bookstores going private or retiring, such as Dawson Books (now a private dealer), and other photography dealers and galleries dabbling in high-end photography books.

Photo Bookstore
Arcana Books, Harper's Books/Harper Levine, Schaden.com (Cologne) and Chambre Claire (Paris)
Also Photo-Eye, Tristan Schwilden (Brussels) and Lead Apron

Photo Book Private Dealer
Dawson Books, Jeff Hersch, Andrew Cahen, and Charles Woods III
Also Steven Daiter Gallery, Paul Hertzmann, Inc. and Fred Pajerski

MULTI-DEALER PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW:
AIPAD's New York Photography Show
Neither Paris Photo nor Photo LA are currently even close in top galleries/dealers and important material on offer. Both have faded considerably  in quality over the last few years, while AIPAD has come back from its financial problems very successfully. We will have to see if the other shows can come back, especially with Paris Photo getting new top management and a new venue recently (see the last newsletter). While not strictly speaking photography shows, watch out for the Armory Show in NYC (March), Art Week in Miami (December), Art Basel (June) and TEFAF at Maastricht (March), especially if you are interested in better contemporary and 20th-century modernism. These events often have as many dealers in photography and at a higher level than many
photography-specific fairs, although you have to go to many more locations to see the dealers and their work.

MOST INTRIGUING AUCTION:
Binoche Auctions, Paris, June 2010

MOST INTERESTING (ON PHOTOGRAPHY) SMALLER MUSEUM:
Antwerp Museum of Photography, Antwerp, Belgium

MOST INTERESTING (ON PHOTOGRAPHY) LARGE MUSEUMS:
New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum

MOST INTERESTING (ON PHOTOGRAPHY) NEW MUSEUM:
Fotografiska, Stockholm, Sweden

MOST INFLUENTIAL AMERICAN CURATORS, 2010:
Sarah Greenough, National Gallery of Art; Malcolm Daniels, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Anne Tucker, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Keith Davis, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; and Sandra Phillips, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

MOST IMPORTANT MUSEUM PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW OF THE YEAR:
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris: Primitifs de la photographie: Le calotype en France, 1843-1860

MOST INTERESTING PHOTO EXHIBIT AT A MULTI-DEALER FAIR:
Hans P. Kraus, Jr., Inc. for its William Henry Fox Talbot exhibition at the 2010 Winter Antiques Fair

MOST IMPORTANT NEW PHOTO BOOKS OF THE YEAR:
--"Czech Photography of the 20th Century" by Vladimir Birgus and Jan Mlcoch
--"Primitifs de la photographie: Le calotype en France, 1843-1860" by Sylvie Aubenas and Paul-Louis Roubert

MOST INFLUENTIAL DEALER CATALOGUES OF THE YEAR:
--"About Sixty French Calotypes" by Robert Hershkowitz, Ltd.
-- Hippolyte Bayard: Photography and the Spirit--A Collection of Photographs from 1839-1849 by Daniel Blau Photography
--Teachers of the New Bauhaus by Stephen Daiter Gallery

BEST DEALER-SENT PHOTOGRAPHY CALENDAR:
Hans P. Kraus, Jr., Inc.

ON THE ROAD...TO AIPAD

Bob Gomel: Planes stacked up at JFK airport, New York, 1968


We are heading out to the AIPAD Photography Show. We will post regular updates here and on our Twitter feed. We sincerely hope to see you next week at Booth #417.

THE AIPAD PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW PREVIEW: EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS

 

Sheila Rock, Horse No.1, 2001. Silver gelatin print, 20 x 24 inches. Courtesy June Bateman Fine Art

AIPAD Photography Show in New York

Via Photography-Collection.com
March 6, 2011

79 fine art photography galleries will present a wide range of artworks including contemporary, modern, and 19th century photographs, as well as photo-based art, video, and new media, at the Photography Show New York of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD). The 31st edition of The AIPAD Photography Show New York will open with a Gala Preview on March 16 to benefit the John Szarkowski Fund, an endowment for photography acquisitions at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Exhibitors

A wide range of the world’s leading fine art photography galleries will exhibit at The AIPAD Photography Show New York. In addition to galleries from New York City and across the country, a number of international galleries will be featured from Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Argentina, Israel, Japan, and China.Among the 79 galleries in the Show will be six galleries showing for the first time at AIPAD. The new AIPAD members showing are: Galerie f5,6, Munich; VERVE Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe; and Vision Neil Folberg Gallery, Jerusalem. The new guest exhibitors are June Bateman Fine Art, New York; Paul Cava Fine Art Photographs, Bala Cynwyd, PA; and James Hyman Photography, London. A complete exhibitor list is available here.

Exhibition Highlights

A solo exhibition of Alec Soth’s most recent body of work, Broken Manual, will be on view at Weinstein Gallery, Minneapolis. The series explores the lives and habitats of people who live off the grid and outside society. A portion of this work was featured in Soth’s recent survey show, From Here to There: Alec Soth’s America at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. An accompanying catalog by Steidl was published last year. A number of portraits will be on view at The AIPAD Photography Show New York. Gary Edwards Gallery, Washington, DC, will show a portrait of Chairman Mao from 1963 by an unknown Xinhua Agency photographer. The portrait is said to have been printed in over 100 million copies. It is the basis of the gigantic portrait hanging on Tiananmen Gate, facing Tiananmen Square in Beijing; and Andy Warhol’s Mao screenprints of 1972 are based on this photograph, as well. Mariana Cook photographed the artist William Kentridge last July in South Africa and the portrait will be exhibited at Lee Marks Fine Art, Shelbyville, IN. Cook is known for her portrait of Barack and Michelle Obama. Andrea Meislin Gallery, New York, will show work from Naomi Leshem’s Sleepers series taken over a period of four years in Israel, Germany, Switzerland, France, and the United States. Leshem photographs teenagers in their homes as they sleep. After waiting about an hour and half, the sleepers enter a period of tossing and turning that Leshem calls the “dance in the night.” During this time, she captures their portraits as her subjects drift between conscious and subconscious. A portrait of a doll, Anna, 2010, by Canadian artist Fausta Facciponte will be on view at Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto. Facciponte examines the way objects are preserved, decayed, or forgotten as they are passed along from one owner to the next. The spare beauty of seascapes and landscapes from Sze Tsung Leong’s ongoing series entitled Horizons will be seen at Yossi Milo Gallery, New York. Leong was born in Mexico City and now lives and works in New York. The Berlin-based Jessica Backhaus explores the play of light and color on the rippling water in Venice and Burano, Italy, at Laurence Miller Gallery, New York.

New landscapes by Victoria Sambunuris from her recent Border series will be exhibited at Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York. New work by Alex Prager will also be on view. Richard Renaldi’s Smashed Water Tower, Electra, Texas, 2005, from his acclaimed series and publication Figure and Ground (Aperture, 2006), takes an element of the quintessential American landscape one step further, documenting its sculptural quality and inherently making a statement about American society today. The work will be on view at Robert Morat Galerie, Hamburg. Focusing on the urban landscape, Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao’s Nathan’s, 2010, from his Coney Island series, will be shown at Julie Saul Gallery, New York. Recently, Liao’s work was seen in a three person show at the J. Paul Getty Museum, at the Bronx Museum of the Arts with a commissioned project on the 100th anniversary of the Grand Concourse, and at the Queens Museum in an exhibition of his Habitat 7 series. New work by Abelardo Morell will be on view at Bonni Benrubi Gallery, New York, including images of a landscape in Florence and a rooftop view of the Brooklyn Bridge made with a camera obscura. Galería Vasari, Buenos Aires, will show the work of photographers, such as Annemarie Heinrich and Juan Di Sandro, who immigrated to Argentina between the 1930s and ‘50s. Originally from Europe, they belonged to a generation that had been trained at the most refined avant-garde schools and there is no doubt of their fundamental role in the development of modern photography in Argentina. Michael Hoppen Gallery, London, will exhibit work from the Diorama Map series by the Japanese artist Sohei Nishino (born 1982). This will be the first time his work has been shown in the United States. The series is an ongoing project to map the world’s great cities – to date Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Paris, New York, London – using a unique process of photography and collage. An intense month of shooting thousands of photographs on black-and-white film from hundreds of locations across the city is followed by several months of developing, printing, cutting, pasting, and arranging of the re-imagined city into a huge photographic collage. The final piece is re-shot using a large format camera to create a single grand photographic print. Niko Luoma is one of the leading professors at the University of Art and Design, Helsinki, and is an integral part of the Helsinki School. His series of abstract chromogenic prints are inspired by nature in flux, every day events, chaos, chance, and time. Luoma uses a simple mathematical system in exposing negative space and composing each work based on ideas of symmetry. The photographs will be on view at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New York. Fiona Pardington’s large-scale photographs in her series Ahua: A Beautiful Hesitation document the sculptures of indigenous peoples encountered during French explorer Dumont d’Urville’s 1837 voyage to the South Pacific and will be on view at Lisa Sette Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ.

John Cleary Gallery, Houston, TX, will show work by Andre Kertesz, and Ansel Adams, as well as Maggie Taylor’s most famous image, Girl with a Bee Dress, 2004. Peter Fetterman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, will present a one person show of new work by Sebastiao Salgado. HackelBury Fine Art Ltd., London, will show recent work by Doug and Mark Starn. Grey Villet was considered a master of the classic “fly on the wall” style of photojournalism. His gelatin silver print The Little Rock Nine enter classroom to register after escort from Army’s 101st Airborne Division, September 25, 1957 will be on view at Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, NM. Charles Schwartz Ltd., New York, will show a collection of more than 100 photographs and ephemera relating to the capture of Jefferson Davis. Soon after he was apprehended at the end of the Civil War, it was reported fictitiously that Jefferson Davis had attempted to escape by disguising himself as a woman in his wife’s dress and bonnet. Once this rumor was released and taken up by the media, it spread like wild fire, as the country found an easy target for its anger and loathing of Davis. In addition, the Republicans in the North wanted to degrade the former President of the Confederacy in any way they could, so they encouraged this false report with such vigor that it soon became generally accepted as the truth. James Hyman Photography, London, will present a curated exhibition surveying the history of British social photography over the past 150 years. From Talbot to Fox expands upon the genre to highlight a unique form of photography which has concentrated on themes of class, society, consumer culture, and the British political landscape. Deborah Bell Photographs, New York, will exhibit black-and-white photographs by Andy Warhol (c. 1981-86) taken from street life, providing insight into “Andy’s eye.” Barry Singer Gallery, Petaluma, CA, will show John Baldessari’s Blue Boy (with yellow boy: one with Hawaiian tie, one in dark), 1989, a three-color lithograph that is similar to one shown last year in the Baldessari retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. A new work by Chris Jordan, Plastic Bags, 2010, from his series Running The Numbers: An American Self-Portrait will be the highlight at Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles. The photograph depicts Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus using 230,000 plastic bags, the estimated number of plastic bags used around the world every ten seconds.

Grete Stern, Glass with paper, 1931. Gelatin silver print, 8.3 x 5.9 inches. Courtesy Galeri Vasari.

Panel Discussions

The Photography Show New York will present a schedule of panel discussions on Saturday, March 19, 2011 at the Veteran’s Room at the Park Avenue Armory. The panels include PHOTOGRAPHY NOW: HOW ARTISTS ARE THINKING TODAY, which will discuss the issues contemporary photographers and artists are dealing with now. Among the panelists are Julie Saul, Julie Saul Gallery, and artists Shirin Neshat and Alec Soth.

PICTURES INTO PAGES: PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK PUBLISHING NOW will explore how now more than ever, beautiful photography books are in demand, coveted by many, and considered an important part of a collector’s repertoire. Speakers will include Steven Kasher, Steven Kasher Gallery; Eric Himmel, Vice President, Editor-in-Chief, Abrams; Lesley Martin, Publisher, Aperture Foundation; Nion McEvoy, Chairman & CEO, Chronicle Books; Anthony Petrillose, Managing Editor, Rizzoli; and Gerhard Steidl, Publisher, Steidl.

NEW CURATORS/NEW DIRECTIONS will focus on the work of a photography curator at a top museum. Curators will discuss their goals and reflect on how photography has become more integrated into both exhibitions and collections over the last 10 years. The speakers will include Rick Wester, Rick Wester Fine Art, Inc.; Simon Baker, Curator of Photography and International Art, Tate; Roxana Marcoci, Curator, Department of Photography, The Museum Of Modern Art; Britt Salvesen, Department Head and Curator, Photography Department, Prints and Drawings Department, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Brian Wallis, Chief Curator, International Center of Photography; and Matthew S. Witkovsky, Curator and Chair, Department of Photography, The Art Institute of Chicago.

THE VOICE OF EXPERIENCE: BEHIND THE SCENES AT AIPAD GALLERIES will review how leading AIPAD dealers organize exhibitions and work with collectors. Speakers will include Jill Arnold, Director of Business Development, AXA Art Insurance Corporation; Howard Greenberg, Howard Greenberg Gallery; Peter MacGill, Pace/MacGill Gallery; Yancey Richardson, Yancey Richardson Gallery; and Martin Weinstein, Weinstein Gallery.

AIPAD AND THE IPAD: NEW TECHNOLOGY AND PHOTOGRAPHY will look at how all forms of new media technology are affecting the field of photography – from bloggers and Facebook to Flickr and YouTube. Speakers will include: Barbara Pollack, artist and arts journalist; Jen Bekman, Founder + CEO, 20×200 , Jen Bekman Projects; Bill Charles, Bill Charles Represents, New York, and Scott Dadich, Executive Director, Digital Magazine Development, Conde Nast.

Tickets are $10 for the panel discussions and are available on a first-come first-served basis.

Show Information

The AIPAD Photography Show New York will run from Thursday, March 17 though Sunday, March 20, 2010 at the Park Avenue Armory at 67th Street in New York City. Show hours are as follows:

Thursday March 17 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Friday March 18 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday March 19 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sunday March 20 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The admission is $25 daily. A show catalogue is available for $10. A run-of-show ticket is $40 and includes a show catalogue. Student admission is $10 with a valid student ID. No advance purchase is required. Tickets will be available at the door. For more information, the public can call AIPAD at 202-367-1158 or visit http://www.aipad.com/.

Gala Benefit Preview

The AIPAD Photography Show New York will present a Gala Benefit Preview on Wednesday, March 16 from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. The evening will benefit the John Szarkowski Fund, an endowment for photography acquisitions at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The fund was established to honor John Szarkowski, one of the most influential curators in photography and a photographer in his own right. Ticket information is as follows:

Benefactor 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ($5,000 4 tickets)
Patron 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ($750, 1 ticket)
Sponsor 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ($250, 1 ticket)
Friend 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ($100, 1 ticket)

For more information or to purchase tickets, please contact The Museum of Modern Art, 212/708-9680 or email specialevents@moma.orgs

Related: Monroe Gallery of Photography at the 2011 AIPAD Photography Show

COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY: Beauty Before Age?

A later print of Edward Weston’s Shell (Nautilus), 1927, may appeal to "buyers who can’t spend hundreds of thousands of dollars," says Denise Bethel of Sotheby’s. © Edward Weston Estate, Sotheby’s

As prices for vintage photographs rise, some collectors are forgoing the aura of an original in favor of a sharper image.
Via Art + Auction Magazine



At Christie’s New York last April, a rare signed print from 1925 of Imogen Cunningham’s exotic close-up "Magnolia Blossom" (est. $250-350,000) sold for $242,500. A month later at Swann Galleries, in New York, another print of the same image brought just $31,200. Why the disparity? The Swann version was "late," executed in the 1960s or ’70s, while the Christie’s one was vin- tage. In the photography market, where rarity and provenance are revered, those designations mean the difference between six figures and seven. For young collectors, they also mean the difference between an unattainable treasure and a prize within their financial grasp.

A vintage print must have been made from the original negative within a variable but typically short span of years from the date the image was taken and with the artist’s direct involvement. Later, or modern, prints are also made from original negatives but beyond the time limit for vintage designation, and they may be executed by the photographer himself, by technicians or collaborators working under his supervision, or posthumously, with the authorization of the artists’s estate. Vintage material is increasingly rare. As a result, says Denise Bethel, the longtime head of photography at Sotheby’s New York, "we are seeing an even bigger increment in price between the early print and the later print."

"Shell (Nautilus)," a vintage print from 1927 by the American photographer Edward Weston, was the first photo to exceed $100,000 at auction, going for $115,500 at Sotheby’s in 1989 to the noted Houston collector Alexandra R. Marshall. She consigned it back to the house in October 2007, when it brought an artist record $1.1 million (est. $600-900,000). This past April yet another early print of the image from a private collection turned up at Sotheby’s and, in the middle of a market downturn, still made $1.08 million, far exceeding its cautious estimate of $300,000 to $500,000.

Six-figure sums may be out of reach for some aficionados but they have alternatives. Consider another "Shell," this one executed in the 1970s by Weston’s son Cole. Put up in March 2009, again at Sotheby’s, and estimated at a quite modest $5,000 to $7,000, the picture was snapped up for $8,125. "There’s a whole group of new buyers who can’t spend hundreds of thousands of dollars but would be very happy to have the Cole Weston print, which, by the way, is beautiful," says Bethel, "because Cole was an absolutely amazing printer and worked with his dad, so he knew what he was aiming for."

Swann Galleries photography specialist Daile Kaplan concurs. "We’re seeing more and more clients, younger clients in particular, who know the image and want a [later] copy of it," she says. "I don’t see any reason to be reluctant [to buy a modern print] as long as the photograph has been authorized by the photographer. To me, the modern print is simply another interpretation of that original negative."

Later interpretations are often larger than the originals. Size, which enhances their wall power, adds to these prints’ value. Last October at Swann, a 20-by-16-inch print, made no later than 1967, of André Kertész’s gorgeous 1954 shot of a snow-covered Washington Square (est. $6,000-9,000), which was taken from his Greenwich Village studio, brought $22,800. In December 2009 a 10-by-8-inch print dating to the early to mid 1970s of the same image and carrying the same estimate sold for $10,200, also at Swann.

© Estate of Andre Kertesz, Swann Auction Galleries, New York

In addition to greater size, the presence of a photographer’s signature also increases the value of a modern print. Those executed closer to the date of the original shot generally command higher prices, as well. This may not be the case with every image by photographers who keep close control on their later prints. For instance, although some of Kertész’s modern prints were made 30 to 50 years later than the vintage versions, the artist authorized them. "Kertész did not print them," Kaplan explains. "A technician did, and [Kertész] signed off on the ones he felt were representative."
The clarity and beauty of the image, of course, are also major determinants of value. And here later prints may rival their vintage counterparts, at least in the eyes of connoisseurs more interested in aesthetics than in the technology’s history. "We are becoming much less focused on the technical processes and much more interested in the quality of the final result," says Josh Holdeman, the head of photography at Christie’s New York, noting that "most photographers don’t even make their own prints, so who cares?"


True, a newer print doesn’t have the golden aura of a vintage one, but many collectors actually prefer the former’s pristine clarity to the latter’s patina of authenticity. "If you have two prints of the same image and one is a vintage print and the other is newer but a far superior object, I think you’re going to have a much easier time [selling] the object that is a better picture," says Holdeman. He points to the example of William Eggleston’s striking dye-transfer print "Untitled (Near Minter City and Glendora, Mississippi)," 1970, which shows an African-American woman in a lime-green dress walking alongside a road. The picture was shot around 1970 and printed in three editions of 15, done in the 1970s, 1986, and 1999. "The one from 1999 is superior," says Holdeman. "The colors are [more] saturated. The dress really pops. That’s the one that will carry a premium over the old concepts of what equals value." Indeed, an example from this edition sold at Christie’s New York last October for $98,500 (est. $40-60,000). By comparison, a print from the 1986 edition brought $66,000 (est. $70-90,000) at Phillips de Pury & Company in New York in April 2007 — the height of the market.

Another instance in which later may trump vintage is Cindy Sherman’s "Untitled Film Stills." Most of the 30-by-40-inch photos in the series were shot and printed on cheap poster paper in the late 1970s, when they were selling for well under $1,000, before the artist’s market ignited, and, says Holdeman, "a lot of them have turned brown." Metro Pictures, Sherman’s longtime dealer in New York, confirms that some of the prints have not held up well. "The problems that a few owners encountered were paper yellowing or some of the chemicals from the print changing color, producing a pink discoloration in some parts of the image," says Metro’s Andrew Russeth. "In [a few cases], a new photo would be printed and the poster print was destroyed, so this did not create a new edition of works."

The Sherman reprints are more desirable than the originals, according to Holdeman, although he has had some trouble convincing longtime photography collectors of this. "I have to explain that their vintage "Film Still" is not one that the market wants right now. And they say, ‘No way, it’s the vintage print, and it’s the real object.’ I tell them that in the context of the current market, their vintage print would be rejected for a brand-new one that’s sparkling white."

One artist who has been particularly well served by late prints is Diane Arbus. After her death, Neil Selkirk, a photographer friend of Arbus’s, was hired by her estate to make prints of her photos from the original negatives, working closely with another of the artist’s friends, Marvin Israel. "I’m generally not interested in posthumous prints," says the San Francisco photography dealer Jeffrey Fraenkel, "but Diane Arbus’s case is sui generis. A number of pictures that have entered the canon as great Arbuses she did not live to make finished prints of."

The printing done by Selkirk, who consulted with Arbus before she died and who describes his efforts as "a committed attempt to precisely duplicate the existing prints of hers," is well received both critically and in the market. Some, such as "A Puerto Rican Housewife, New York City, 1963," debuted in the Museum of Modern Art’s Arbus retrospective in 1972.

"Not only are Selkirk’s prints respected by museums," says Fraenkel, "but it’s virtually impossible to do a true survey of Arbus’s achievements without them." Fraenkel has Arbus/Selkirk prints in his inventory priced between $11,000 and $14,000. Among these are copies of "A Naked Man Being a Woman, N.Y.C.," 1968, and "Girl with a Cigar in Washington Square Park, N.Y.C.," 1965. He has also sold a rare vintage print from 1967 of "Identical Twins (Cathleen and Colleen), Roselle, N.J." for $900,000. A vintage print of the same image came up at Sotheby’s in April 2004 and fetched $478,400. Another appeared last October at Christie’s New York, but a previous owner had trimmed the edges, so it bought in against an estimate of $250,000 to $350,000. The auction record for a vintage print by Arbus is $553,000, set at Sotheby’s in April 2008 by "A Family on the Lawn One Sunday in Westchester, N.Y.," 1968 (est. $200-300,000). Selkirk prints dating from the 1970s through the ’90s have hit the six-figure mark at auction. The circa 1972-73 print of "Child with a Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C.," 1962 (est. $100-150,000), for example, made $229,000 at Christie’s in October 2007.

As much as later printed works are gaining acceptance, there remains a strong preference for vintage material. "Serious collectors, those specifically interested in photography as a medium, are always looking for a print closest to the source," says the New York photography dealer Deborah Bell, who shows such New York Street photographers as Sid Kaplan and Marcia Resnick, "[both] the ones who have been around for a long time [and] people just starting out." As more price-conscious collectors enter the classic-photography market and encounter the relative abundance and clarity of later printed works, however, the long allegiance to vintage will be increasingly tested.


"Beauty Before Age" originally appeared in the February 2011 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's February 2011 Table of Contents.


Related:  COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY - If you don't think photography is worth collecting, you're missing the big picture

THE TOP 10 PHOTO COLLECTORS



The Top 10 Photo Collectors
ARTnews, March, 2011
by Milton Esterow


"It depends on who you talk to," a prominent curator of photography told me when I asked him to name the world's top ten photography collectors.


He was right. I asked 20 prominent dealers, auctioneers, collectors, museum directors, and curators. No one had the same list. A further survey produced a consensus, as well as comments on other major topics in the photography world.

"I have not seen anything like it," Sandra Phillips, curator of photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, told a reporter recently. She was talking about Pier 24, a 28,000-square-foot gallery that was created last year by Andrew Pilara, a San Francisco investment banker, in an old warehouse in San Francisco that displays the collection of the Pilara Foundation, which he established. Pilara is on the list of Top Ten.

Pier 24 houses about 2,000 photographs, including works by Diane Arbus, Garry Winogrand, Edward Burtynsky, Lee Friedlander, Robert Adams, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Dorothea Lange, Richard Misrach, and many others. Admission is free, and the space is open to the public Monday through Thursday by appointment only.

Pier 24 recently presented an exhibition of the collection of Randi and Bob Fisher, who are also on the Top Ten. Bob Fisher's parents founded Gap Inc. Among the artists in the show were Edward Weston, Robert Frank, Walker Evans, Paul Strand, Alfred Stieglitz, and Andreas Gursky. Other exhibitions are being planned for Pier 24.

Another topic being discussed is the increasingly global nature of the market, with great depth in France, England, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, the Middle East, and elsewhere.

Unlike the contemporary art market, there is less speculation and less buying for investment with photography, according to several observers. Collectors are mainly buying because they experience the works and want to live with them.

Other observers point out that more and more collectors of contemporary art are collecting photography, including Eli Broad, who is on the ARTnews list of Top Ten art collectors and has bought many works by Cindy Sherman and Jeff Wall, among others. "Is Eli a photo collector? No," said one curator. "Does he have a lot of photos? Yes."

A photography auctioneer said, "We see more and more clients of other departments—Impressionist, modern, contemporary, and American painting —becoming interested in buying photography, whereas 15 years ago they would not."

The Top Ten for photography also includes Thomas Walther, who has been collecting photography for more than 30 years. In 2001 the Museum of Modern Art acquired—it was a partial gift, partial purchase—328 works by most of the leading European and American photographers of the 1920s and '30s. The list included Man Ray, Edward Steichen, Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Manuel Bravo, Paul Outerbridge, Berenice Abbott, and many others.

In 2000 the Metropolitan Museum presented the exhibition "Other Pictures: Vernacular Photographs from the Thomas Walther Collection." Dating from the 1910s through the '60s, the photos were by anonymous amateurs and were discovered in flea markets, in shoeboxes, or in family albums.

"In the last ten years," Walther told me, "I have increasingly gone into the 19th century, with works by Gustave Le Gray, Linus Tripe, Henri Le Secq, Roger Fenton, Charles Marville, Francis Frith, William Fox Talbot, and many others."

Walther has acquired about 2,000 photographs.

"I pursue my collecting with the utmost passion," he said.

The Top Ten are listed in alphabetical order, and were selected based on how active they are rather than on the size or value of their collections.

Milton Esterow is editor and publisher of ARTnews



David Dechman
New York
WEALTH MANAGEMENT
20th century

Randi and Bob Fisher
San Francisco
APPAREL (GAP, INC.)
20th century; contemporary

Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla
New York
INHERITANCE; REAL-ESTATE DEVELOPMENT
20th century; contemporary

Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser
Los Angeles
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
20th century

Michael Jesselson
New York
WEALTH MANAGEMENT
20th century

Elton John
London; Atlanta
ENTERTAINMENT
20th century; contemporary

Andrew Pilara
San Francisco
INVESTMENT BANKING
20th century; contemporary

Lisa and John Pritzker
San Francisco
HOTELS AND INVESTMENTS
20th century; contemporary

Thomas Walther
Zurich
INHERITANCE (MACHINE-TOOL MANUFACTURING)
19th century; 20th century

Michael Wilson
London
FILM
19th century; 20th century


Related: LOEWS MAGAZINE: COLLECTING PHOTOGRAPHY - If you don't think photography is worth collecting, you're missing the big picture

THE AIPAD PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW MARCH 17 - 20

The AIPAD Photography Show New York

March 17 - 20, 2010 Park Avenue Armory at 67th Street
643 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10065-6122

Monroe Gallery of Photography is exhibiting at the 2011 AIPAD Photography Show. We are located in Booth #417, along the left side of the exhibition hall. We will be exhibiting specially selected work from the gallery's collection of 20th and 21st Century master photojournalists; and premiere the newest photograph from Stephen Wilkes' acclaimed "Day Into Night" series as well as exhibiting for the first-time photographs by White House Photographer for President George W. Bush Eric Draper. Draper documented the entire eight years of the Bush administration and was often the only photographer present to record historic moments.

Throughout the show we are honored that several of our photographers or their family members will be present in our booth, including Alyssa Adams, widow of the late Eddie Adams, Bill Eppridge, John Filo, Guy Gillette, members of  Irving Haberman's family, Brian Hamill, Barbara Villet, widow of Grey Villet, and Stephen Wilkes.

More than 70 of the world's leading fine art photography galleries will present a wide range of museum-quality work including contemporary, modern and 19th century photographs, as well as photo-based art, video and new media.

Gala Benefit Preview

For the John Szarkowski Fund, an endowment for photography acquisitions at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, is scheduled for Wednesday, March 16, 2011. Please purchase Gala Benefit tickets online at www.moma.org/aipad2011.


Show Hours
Thursday, March 17 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Friday, March 18 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 19 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 20 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Tickets are only available for purchase during Show hours.
Each ticket admits one person.
$40 for run-of-show

Includes exhibition access for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, plus one show catalogue (as available). Does not include panel discussions.
$25 daily
Only includes exhibition access for Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday

Special Events

$10 per session for Saturday panel discussions
Seating for panel discussions is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Download the panel discussion program.

A FOND FAREWELL TO THE CAMERA OBSCURA GALLERY AND BEST WISHES TO HAL GOULD

Hal Gould, Dir., Camera Obscura Gallery, 1988 © 2010 Kurt Edward Fishback

The Camera Obscura Gallery will be closing its doors at the end of April, 2011. The following is a schedule of the concluding events:

March 4-March 19:
We will hold a silent auction of selected works from the gallery collection in the upstairs galleries; in conjunction, paintings by Mollie Uhl Eaton will be on display in the downstairs galleries. Bids for the auction will close at 4:30 PM on March 19th. After March 4, you can go to the "auction" link on our website home page for a list of pieces included, registration details and updates.

Please join us for a special First Friday launch of the Auction on March 4 from 5 to 9PM

March 25-April 30:
Two retrospective exhibitions:
Hal D. Gould in Gallery 1 and the upstairs galleries, and Loretta Young-Gautier in Gallery 2. A reception for the artists will be held on Friday, March 25th from 5:30 to 8:30 PM.

Saturday, April 30
We will host an open house and final farewell to our friends, patrons and volunteers, from 2:30 to 5:30 PM.

The Camera Obscura Gallery has been a cornerstone of the photographic arts in Colorado. Read more history here.

"Owning The Camera Obscura Gallery has been a tremendous experience for 48 years. I'd like to close with a special thank you to all our valued patrons and friends for helping to make a dream come true. Good bye and happy trails."

Hal Gould

"Atget is the father of a huge branch of photographers"

The record-setting gelatin silver chloride print "Joueur d'orgue," 1898-99, for which a European collector paid $686,500 at Christie's New York last April

Art & Auction Magazine
By Kris Wilton

Via ARTINFO

The small sign on the door of Eugène Atget’s modest Montparnasse studio read Documents pour Artistes. In the 1890s photography was not considered an artistic medium, nor did Atget think of himself as an artist. Rather, he established himself as a documenter of a Paris that he saw threatened by modernity, and he sold his images — of the city’s streets, buildings, parks, and characters — to "actual" artists to use as aides-mémoires for their own works, as well as to architects and historians. Today, thanks to the championing of the American photographer Berenice Abbott, Atget has risen in status to forebear of modern photography, with influence and auction results to match.


"Atget is the father of a huge branch of photographers," says Matthieu Humery, specialist and head of sale for photographs at Christie’s New York, where last April the photographer’s proto-Surreal "Joueur d’orgue," 1898-99, earned an artist record $686,500. "When you look at his work and then the work of Walker Evans, Lee Friedlander, Brassaï, William Eggleston — you can see the link."

By the time he turned to photography, Atget had lived many lives, although we have scant information about them. Born in 1857 and orphaned at an early age, he was brought up by an uncle in the port city of Bordeaux, where he became a sailor. Atget made his way to Paris, surviving for a while as an actor by taking bit parts with second-tier repertory and touring companies. "As he had rather hard features, he was given unflattering roles," his theater friend André Calmettes wrote in a letter to Abbott in 1927. Eventually even these dwindled, and Atget was forced to seek a new way to support himself and his companion, the actress Valentine Delafosse.

After a brief foray into painting, Atget turned to photography, hoping to create a font of images, Calmettes writes, "of all that both in Paris and its surroundings was artistic and picturesque." He invested in the necessary equipment and plates and diligently hit the streets each day at dawn with his 18-by-24-centimeter view camera, gradually building a client base. But it wasn’t until 1925 that Abbott discovered Atget’s photographs through Man Ray, who had published several (uncredited) in the journal "La révolution surréaliste," and recognized the work as art for the first time. "The subjects were not sensational but nevertheless shocking in their very familiarity," she wrote in her 1964 book "The World of Atget." "The real world, seen with wonderment and surprise, was mirrored in each print." Abbott began visiting Atget regularly, buying as many prints as she could afford.


In 1927, Abbott asked Atget, then a widower, whom she described as "tired, sad, remote, appealing," to sit for a portrait. When she went to show him the prints, she learned that he had died, at the age of 70. Fearing that his work would be lost, she tracked down Calmettes, his de facto executor, and arranged to purchase about half of the thousands of prints and plates that remained. Later she brought on the New York dealer Julien Levy as a partner, and together they promoted Atget in the United States — Abbott, through articles and by showing the prints to friends, including Walker Evans; Levy, through exhibitions. In 1968, Abbott sold her trove of more than 5,000 prints to the Museum of Modern Art in New York for $50,000. To this day, most of the photographer’s works in U.S. collections can be traced to Abbott.


+ Atget originally sold his prints for pennies, gradually increasing his prices over the years. Berenice Abbott wrote that they ranged during his career from 0.25 to 13 francs.



+ In the 1920s, Man Ray offered to print Atget's images on modern paper to achieve clearler tones, but Atget refused, preferring his more antiquated methods.


+ In the last decades of his life, Atget subsisted on an unusual diet, composed primarily of bread and milk, that is thought to have contributed to his death. "He had very personal ideas on everything, which he imposed with extraordinary violence," wrote his friend André Calmettes.


+Abbott modeled her careerlong photographic project to document a rapidly changing New York City on Atget's work.


It is estimated that Atget produced as many as 8,500 images during his 35-year career. Given their vast numbers, it’s not surprising that they vary considerably in quality and desirability. "He took lots of photographs of door knockers and ornamental ironwork, and not all of that rewards a second viewing," says Christopher Philips, who curated "Atget, Archivist of Paris" at the International Center for Photography, in New York, last year. "But maybe 15 percent of this enormous output does seem to have remarkable lyrical and poetic quality, and that’s really what explains the long-term interest in Atget."

After a brief foray into painting, Atget turned to photography, hoping to create a font of images, Calmettes writes, "of all that both in Paris and its surroundings was artistic and picturesque." He invested in the necessary equipment and plates and diligently hit the streets each day at dawn with his 18-by-24-centimeter view camera, gradually building a client base. But it wasn’t until 1925 that Abbott discovered Atget’s photographs through Man Ray, who had published several (uncredited) in the journal "La révolution surréaliste," and recognized the work as art for the first time. "The subjects were not sensational but nevertheless shocking in their very familiarity," she wrote in her 1964 book "The World of Atget." "The real world, seen with wonderment and surprise, was mirrored in each print." Abbott began visiting Atget regularly, buying as many prints as she could afford.


In 1927, Abbott asked Atget, then a widower, whom she described as "tired, sad, remote, appealing," to sit for a portrait. When she went to show him the prints, she learned that he had died, at the age of 70. Fearing that his work would be lost, she tracked down Calmettes, his de facto executor, and arranged to purchase about half of the thousands of prints and plates that remained. Later she brought on the New York dealer Julien Levy as a partner, and together they promoted Atget in the United States — Abbott, through articles and by showing the prints to friends, including Walker Evans; Levy, through exhibitions. In 1968, Abbott sold her trove of more than 5,000 prints to the Museum of Modern Art in New York for $50,000. To this day, most of the photographer’s works in U.S. collections can be traced to Abbott.

It is estimated that Atget produced as many as 8,500 images during his 35-year career. Given their vast numbers, it’s not surprising that they vary considerably in quality and desirability. "He took lots of photographs of door knockers and ornamental ironwork, and not all of that rewards a second viewing," says Christopher Philips, who curated "Atget, Archivist of Paris" at the International Center for Photography, in New York, last year. "But maybe 15 percent of this enormous output does seem to have remarkable lyrical and poetic quality, and that’s really what explains the long-term interest in Atget."

According to the New York dealer Edwynn Houk, who mounted his first Atget show in 1981, the typical collector is "someone who’s pretty sophisticated and certainly has an informed eye." Connoisseurship is key because Atget used three print techniques with mixed results. Generally, says Boston dealer Robert Klein, "the arrowroot prints are more valuable than the silver-chloride prints, and the silver-chloride prints are maybe more valuable than the albumen prints, depending on the condition."


Although Atgets regularly appear on the auction block, prices like those fetched by "Joueur d’orgue" last April and by the previous record holder — "Femme," a 1925 arrowroot print that earned €444,750 ($663,000), more than 10 times its high estimate at Sotheby’s Paris in November 2009 — are not the norm, resulting from the convergence of top print quality and desirable subject matter. "Femme," points out Simone Klein, head of photographs for Sotheby’s Europe, is from one of the artist’s smallest and most sought-after series, of prostitutes; is one of only two known prints; and had spent the past 80 years safely tucked in a book. "Joueur d’orgue’s" depiction of a dour blind organ grinder alongside a radiant singer captures a fleeting incongruity that appealed to Surrealists like Tristan Tzara, who commissioned the well-preserved print.

Those auction high-water marks also owe much to MoMA, whose former photography department head, John Szarkowski, brought Atget to the public’s attention in four exhibitions, accompanied by catalogues, mounted between 1981 and 1985. The museum also played a role in the last major spike in his market, in the early 2000s, when, to benefit its acquisitions fund, it deaccessioned duplicates in its Atget collection, beginning with 225 prints at Sotheby’s New York in 2001, which made a total of $4 million, and then by offering 1,000 more through an impartial middleman, the Upper East Side dealer David Tunick, well known for his trade in Old Master prints. Tunick examined the works and, with the museum’s approval, assigned each to a price category ranging from $3,000 to $150,000, based on subject, condition, and rarity.

"It was a feeding frenzy," says Tunick. "Scores, if not hundreds [of buyers] wanted a piece of the history of photography, wanted something by this great photography artist and documentarian." And, notes the New York dealer Charles Isaacs, "once MoMA opened its vault and people realized how few of the really great things there were, the top of the market was reinforced."

Indeed, the years since have seen six auction records for the artist. Only three of these, however, topped $200,000, and the bulk of sales have been for less than $100,000. Moreover, cautions Houk, "it’s strictly in the auction market that Atgets have gone that high. The gallery prices have remained the same." Here the spread is even wider, from $1,500 to $250,000. Within Atget’s much-published Saint-Cloud series, for example, Hans P. Kraus, of New York, says he has "some very nice studies" priced between $25,000 and $60,000, while Isaacs is offering the 1924 arrowroot print "Saint-Cloud, fin août," 6 1/2h. for $175,000.

The heftier prices, says dealer Klein, tend to go to "pictures that approach Surrealism or nudity or the forbidden," such as the uncanny images of shop windows or statues in Versailles and Saint-Cloud, the frank nudes of prostitutes, and the sweeping views of Paris. On the lower end are the architectural studies. "You can find very beautiful Atget images for $10,000," says Simone Klein, of Sotheby’s, who believes that abstract details of trees and blossoms are particularly undervalued, at between $10,000 and $25,000. The German gallery Kicken Berlin is seeing interest in these images from collectors of modernist and New Vision photography.

Klein, who expects to have some Atgets in the May sale at Sotheby’s London, sees room for growth in his market, particularly as owners of his works see how his images perform at auction. "There are some very high prices, and then there’s nothing, and then there are very low prices," she says. "I think this middle range will be filled in the next couple of years. I think there are a few surprises left."