NY Photography Auctions: Results

Via La Journal de la Photographie


Christie’s sales of Photographs and Richard Avedon on 4-5 October achieved a combined total of $7,793,000/ £4,831,660/ €6,000,610, selling 73% by lot and 80% by value.

Sotheby’s October 3rd Photographs auction in New York featured a range of material from the 19th to 21st centuries.

Phillips de Pury & Company’s Photographs auction totaled $4,704,450, selling 81% by value and 76% by lot

Swann sold a complete set of Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian for $1,440,000--the highest priced item ever sold at New York's premiere auction house for works on paper.


CHRISTIE'S PHOTOJOURNALISM AUCTION TO BENEFIT CHILDREN OF ANTON HAMMERL, KILLED IN LIBYA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

First-ever auction of contemporary photojournalism prints at Christie’s to be held May 15 in New York to support family of freelance photographer Anton Hammerl killed in Libya

Acclaimed photographers donate prints to honor the memory of Anton Hammerl and support his family. Christiane Amanpour of ABC News/CNN will host the evening.

New York, NY – May 7, 2012 – Non-profit Friends of Anton is organizing the first auction of contemporary photojournalism prints ever held at Christie’s, on May 15th 2012 in New York to raise funds for the three young children of freelance photojournalist Anton Hammerl who was killed by the Libyan regime last year.

On April 5, 2011 South African freelance photographer Anton Hammerl went missing after coming under fire from Gaddafi loyalists. For 44 days his family was told repeatedly by the Libyan regime that he was alive and well. The truth is he was left to die in the desert. A campaign is currently underway to locate and recover his remains.

Anton Hammerl working in Brega, 1 April 2011.
Photo: Unai Aranzadi.

2011 was one of the worst years for photojournalism with 3 deaths in addition to Anton’s, followed by yet another in 2012. Besides raising funds for 11-year-old Aurora, 7-year-old Neo and 1-year-old baby Hiro, the evening aims to highlight the sacrifices made by photographers – particularly freelancers – who assume great risks to bring back images to agencies, magazines, publishers and readers worldwide, often with little backup.

Christiane Amanpour of ABC News and CNN will host the event during which signed prints by some of the world’s leading photographers – including Sebastiao Salgado, Alec Soth, Tim Hetherington, Platon, Gilles Peress, Christopher Anderson, Ed Kashi, Yuri Kozyrev, Larry Fink, Kenneth Jarecke, Lynsey Addario, Susan Meiselas, Ron Haviv, David Burnett, Joao Silva, Bruce Davidson, Samuel Aranda, Roger Ballen and Vincent Laforet – will be auctioned off Christie’s Senior Vice President Lydia Fenet.

“The upcoming ‘Friends of Anton’ auction at Christie’s is a milestone in contemporary photojournalism”, says New York-based collector Alan L. Paris, “As a collector of photojournalism, I am particularly excited because this is the first ever auction dedicated to contemporary photojournalism. The contributors are top notch, the photos are of the highest quality, the material is fresh to the marketplace, and it is all for a very good cause.”

- Christie’s is located at 20 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020.
- Auction: 6:30pm, May 15th, 2012.
- 501c(3) Reporters Without Borders is the fiscal sponsor of this all-volunteer evening, which is made possible by the generous assistance of Christie’s, Innovative Philanthropy and Edelman.

PHOTOGRAPHY MARKET APRIL, 2012

ArtMarketInsight [Apr 2012
 Via ArtPrice
 

Photographs [Apr 12]

Sotheby's photography sale on 6 April last year (2011) was particularly successful, generating a sales revenue of $4.5 million (excluding fees) and 82% of the works sold. Two days later (8 April), its rival Christie’s generated nearly as much ($4.2m) from a photography sale, and then on 9 April 2011, Phillips de Pury & Company ended the week with a massive photography sale (259 lots, 90% sold) that generated $4.6m. Together the three leading auction houses generated $13.3m from their New York Photography sales in April 2011. A year later, this figure has been revised downward by $1m primarily due to a sharp decline at Sotheby's, whose unsold ratio rose from 18% to 31%. The other two auctioneers maintained their sales figures with $4.2m at Phillips de Pury & Company on 4 April 2012 (19% unsold) and no less than $5.38m at Christie's on 5 April 2012 (19% unsold).

The Sotheby's total would not have been so low had it not failed to sell its star lot: a box containing 10 photographs of Diane ARBUS, each numbered as one of a limited series of 50. These photographs, taken by Neil SELKIRK in the early 1970s (Diane Arbus died in 1971) were estimated at between $400,000 and $600,000. And yet the most famous pictures of this limited edition can fetch $80,000 at auctions, as we saw with Identical twins acquired in April 2010 at Phillips de Pury & Company. The same subject, printed during the artist’s lifetime and signed by the artist, fetches between $200,000 to $400,000 on average! If the classic favourites such as Ansel Easton ADAMS, William Henry Fox TALBOT, Robert FRANK, Irving PENN and Robert MAPPLETHORPE sold without much trouble, more contemporary signatures have not yet caught up with their 2007 prices. For example, Andres SERRANO’s Black Mary (100.3 x 68.6 cm, limited edition of 10) did not reach its low estimate of $30,000, although it fetched $34,000 in 2001 and $36,000 in 2007.

Christie's did better thanks notably to 25 photographs by Irving PENN. His famous Black and white Vogue Cover reached $360,000, the second best hammer price for this very graphic 1950 photo (the best was $400,000 in April 2008 at Christie's). In fact, the old Vogue cover generated the best result of the three days of sales dedicated to photography.

Earlier this year, on 12 March 2012, Christie's New York dispersed no less than 36 photographs by William EGGLESTON of which 16 found buyers between $100,000 and $480,000. The work of this pioneer of colour in art photography rose in value by 23% between 2004 and 2008. The subsequent contraction in his prices over the 2009-2010 period provided an excellent buy opportunity. Nowadays his small formats are reaching unprecedented prices, such as his Untitled (1973) (21.1 x 47.7 cm) which seems to crystallise the America of the 1970s and which fetched $200,000 on 5 April against an initial estimate of $70,000 – $90,000. Indeed, Christie's mammoth photography sale in New York on 5 April offered another 15 works by William EGGLESTON, most of which were priced between $5,000 and $15,000. Other notable results at the Christie's 5 April Photographs sale included $180,000 for Schadographie Nr. 17 by Christian SCHAD, champion of the New Objectivity, well known for his paintings, setting a new record for a photo by the artist.

The collectors of legendary photographs hotly contested Helmut NEWTON’s famous Self Portrait with Wife and Models ($75,000, whereas his less famous shots generally fetch between $9,500 and $12,000) and Robert FRANK’s Trolley - New Orleans which sold for $360,000 against a high estimate of $150,000. There was also a lot of 29 photogravures by Edward STEICHEN which fetched $100,000. Meanwhile, the Contemporary signatures maintained their prices next to the great classics and works signed by Massimo VITALI, Adam FUSS, Vik MUNIZ, Candida HÖFER or Hiroshi SUGIMOTO found buyers for between $45,000 and $55,000.

The prices of pictures from the 1960s to 1980s have also climbed steeply: Phillips de Pury & Company recorded an impressive record for Candy Cigarette (1989, ed. 25) by Sally MANN which sold for $220,000 against a high estimate of $60,000, as well as a new record for Francesca WOODMAN whose Untitled, Rome,1977, was acquired for $140,000 against an estimate of $15,000 to $20,000. Above all, there was a result of $520,000 for Cindy SHERMAN’s Untitled Film Still # 49(1979) against an estimate of $400,000!

As usual, these mammoth sales also offered plenty of affordable works such as chromogenic prints by the famous Cindy Sherman or albumen prints by Eugène ATGET from $2,000.

The next major photographs auctions will be held in London in May: Christie's will be offering a hundred lots estimated between £30,000 and £120,000 on 16 May with a Diptych by Andreas GURSKY (Art Market Confidence Index, est. £80,000 - £120,000), the Guggenheim Museum, New York seen by Hiroshi SUGIMOTO (est. £70,000- £90,000) or a large format print of Helmut NEWTON’s Self-Portrait with Wife and Models ‘Vogue’ Studios, Paris 1980 (est. £70,000 - £90,000).

A week before these sales, the world of Contemporary photography will be looking forward to Christie's Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York on 8 May which includes an Untitled # 96 by Cindy SHERMAN from her Centerfold series (1981). Recall that another copy of the same work fetched no less than $3.4m in May 2011, becoming for a while, the world’s most expensive Contemporary art photograph. The copy submitted for auction on May 8th will be a good test of the high end of the art photography market.

Copyright © Artprice.com- Breakdowns / figures cover all catalogued sales of fine art works recorded by Artprice (paintings, sculpture, print, poster, drawing, photography, etc.) excluding antiques and furniture.

Artprice accepts no responsibility for any use made of the information it provides. Any reproduction or representation of all or part of the information or graphics by any means whatsoever that does not include a mention stating source © Artprice.com or copyright © Artprice.com is illegal and represent a breach of copyright.

 Related: Drutt Report - Photography Reconsidered

New York Photography Auction Sales Total $17.9m

Via Art Market News
April 6, 2012 By Marion Maneker


Sotheby's NY

Christies NY

Phillips de Pury
$6.1m ; 193 out of 267 lots sold for 72% sell-through

SWANN Galleries
PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF SALE 2274, April 4 2012:
Sale total: $1,202,122 with Buyer’s Premium
Hammer total: $1,001,230
Estimates for sale as a whole: $1,245,350 – $1,834,950
We offered 435 lots; 304 sold (30% buy-in rate by lot)
Top lots, Prices with buyer’s premium:

6 William Eggleston, Untitled (from the series Los Alamos), dye-transfer print, 1970. $60,000 C
347* Ansel Adams, Portfolio #4: What Majestic Word, In Memory of Russell Varian, with15 silver prints, 1963. $54,000 C
183* Camera Work Number 36, illustrated with 16 photogravures, signed & inscribed by Stieglitz, New York, 1911. $26,400 C
168** Portfolio with 90 photographs of a German dignitary’s travels to Asia and the Americas, silver prints, 1930s. $24,000 C
18 Weegee, Love Story & Ice Cream…Aspirin…Soda Pop…Vitamin Pills…Etc, maquette including two silver prints, with Weegee’s notations, circa 1940s. $20,400 D
292* Margaret Bourke-White, DC-4 Flying over New York City, silver print, 1939, printed circa 2000. $20,400 D
470* Sebastiäo Salgado, Kuwait (oil fields), oversize silver print, 1991, printed 2000s. $19,200 C
187 Edward S. Curtis, Chief of the Desert, Navajo, orotone, 1904. $15,600 D
210 Ralph Steiner, Ten Photographs from the Twenties and Thirties & One From the Seventies portfolio, silver prints, 1920s-30s, 1970s, printed 1977. $15,600 C
419 Adams, Holy Cross Church, Santa Cruz, mural-sized silver print, 1960s. $14,400 C
417 Adams, triptych with three color studies: Rusted Metal, Leaves & Red Rock, offered with four color studies, all unique Polaroid SX-70 prints, 1972. $12,000 C
240 Imogen Cunningham, The Bath & Agave, two silver prints, 1925 & 1920, printed 1952-60s. $10,800 C
14 Helen Levitt, New York (boys playing over doorway), silver print, 1942, printed circa 1980. $10,800 C
385 Brett Weston, Guatemala Hills, silver print, 1968, printed 1970s. $10,200 C
4 Bruce Davidson, East 100th Street Facade, oversize silver print, 1966-68, printed 1980s-90s. $10,200 D
467 Salgado, Dinka Cattle Camp, Southern Sudan, oversize silver print, 2006, printed 2011. $10,200 C
39 Ellsworth Kelly, Grape Leaves II, lithograph, 1973-74. $10,200 C
174 Alfred Stieglitz, Picturesque Bits of New York and Other Studies, containing 9 of 12 photogravures, 1894-97, printed 1897. $9,600 D
345 Adams, Lichens and Rock, silver print from a Polaroid Type 55 negative, 1962, printed 1962-63. $9,600 C
3 Henri Cartier-Bresson, Swan Lake, Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, silver print, 1954, printed 1980s. $9,000 D

67 Years after Liberation, Bourke-White Print of Buchenwald Sells for Over $115,000

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"Sotheby's Photographs sale brought $3.8 million and achieved strong prices
for the masters of 20th-century photography, including Ansel Adams,
Margaret Bourke-White, Edward Steichen and Robert Mapplethorpe."

Sotheby's Photographs Sale
April 3, 2012
LOT 74: MARGARET BOURKE-WHITE, 1904-1971


THE LIVING DEAD AT BUCHENWALD
large-format, ferrotyped, mounted, annotations in ink on the reverse, framed, 1945 (Portrait
of  Myself, pp. 268-9; Callahan, pp. 152-153; Goldberg, pl. 45; Retrospective, p. 93; Best of
Life, p. 20)
15 5/8 by 19 3/8 in. (39.7 by 49.3 cm.)

ESTIMATE 30,000-50,000 USD
Sold: 116,500 USD

Related: April in History: The Liberation of Buchenwald
             
              Modern print information available here

Why This Photograph is Worth $578,500

The art world acknowledges this unique significance and reflects it in the monetary value placed on the works. So is a $4.3 million too much to pay for the world’s most expensive photograph? Considering that it less than two percent of what was paid for the most expensive painting, I’d say it’s a bargain.

Why This Photograph is Worth $578,500

The Most Expensive Photo in the World

Christie’s, Andreas Gursky/Associated Press) - This 1999 photograph provided by Chrisitie’s shows the Rhine river by German artist Andreas Gursky. Titled “Rhein II,” the chromogenic color print face-mounted to acrylic glass was sold for $4.3 million Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011, at Christie’s in New York City, setting a record for any photograph sold at auction.

Via BBC:


Glass-mounted panoramic colour print Rhein II, created in 1999, is one of an edition of six works.

Others hang at New York's Museum of Modern Art and London's Tate Modern.

It beat the previous record of $3.9m (£2.5m) achieved by an untitled 1981 colour print by Cindy Sherman, who is the subject of all her own works.


"The viewer is not invited to consider a specific place along the river but rather an almost 'platonic' ideal of the body of water as it navigates the landscape” -- Christies

Gursky's print had a pre-sale estimate of $2.5m-$3.5m (£1.6m-£2.2m).

Rhein II is the largest of the six photographs, which are produced in various sizes.

As well as in New York and London, other photographs in the edition are housed in Munich's Pinakothek der Moderne and Glenstone art museum in the US.

Gursky has spoken of "a particular place with a view over the Rhine which has somehow always fascinated me, but it didn't suffice for a picture as it basically constituted only part of a picture".

He said he "carried this idea for a picture around with me for a year-and-a-half".

"In the end I decided to digitalise the pictures and leave out the elements that bothered me," he added.

Christie's said the viewer was "not invited to consider a specific place along the river, but rather an almost 'platonic' ideal of the body of water as it navigates the landscape."

After last year's Fall aucton season, we posted "The just-completed Contemporary sales totaled over $1 BILLION dollars in sales (with Andy Warhol accounting for over $200 million alone); the Impressionist/Modern sales about another half - BILLION; and almost as an afterthought a Qianlong-dynasty vase sold for $85.9 MILLION dollars. The Fall photo auctions in New York brought in $16 million."

No matter how you look at it, the prices for the "masters" of photography are a fraction of the prices for the masters of art.  The reaction to the Gursky sale seems to be "Really? $4.3 Million for That Photo?"

Here are just a few reactions:

@jmcolberg many shocked tweets at Gursky's photo price tag. Would people be so shocked if it were a painting that sold for $4M? Difference?

Raw File is asking " Really? $4.3 Million for That Photo? Let us know what you think in the comments or tweet us @rawfileblog." So far, there are more than 80 comments.

Seattle Post Intelligencer:   Here’s the world’s most expensive (and boring?) photo
via The Atlantic Wire:  "Gursky's photo is also the reason you should have become an art broker, like yesterday", with comments.

Related: Wall Street Journal: "New Art Drives $1 Billion Fall Auctions"

Snapshot of a Vibrant Market

Pierre Dubreuil's The First Round, ca. 1932, sold for $314,500 at Sotheby's

COURTESY OF SOTHEBY'S



Via ARTnews

NEW YORK—Fall photography sales fell roughly in line with totals seen last year as collectors continue to emphasize top-quality works by blue chip artists from across the spectrum of 19th to 20th century, vintage works to modern and contemporary prints. The total at Phillips de Pury & Company, Sotheby’s and Christie’s sales from Oct. 4-6 was $17.5 million, compared with $17.4 million realized last year.

Phillips accounted for $6.9 million of that total, an improvement on last year’s total of just under $4 million, while Sotheby’s realized $4.7 million, as compared with $4.97 million last year. Christie’s total was $5.8 million, compared with $8.5 million achieved last year. In addition to its various owner sale on Oct. 6, Christie’s held a separate single-owner auction, titled “The American Landscape,” featuring black and white photographs from the collection of Bruce and Nancy Berman on Oct. 7. The sale realized $1 million, compared with an estimate of $900,000/1.3 million.

Phillips opened the series on Oct. 4, with a regular various-owner sale as well as a special offering of works from an unidentified private collection, titled “The Arc of Photography,” that collectively took in $6.9 million compared with an estimate of $4.5 million/6.5 million.

Both sales were heavy with established names such as Richard Avedon, Man Ray, Irving Penn, Alfred Stieglitz and Robert Mapplethorpe. Of 272 lots on offer, 224 lots, or 82 percent, were sold. By value, the sale realized 91 percent.

The top lot was Avedon’s portfolio of The Beatles, 1967, which sold for $722,500 compared with an estimate of $350,000/450,000.The second-highest price was paid for a work from the private collection by Nadar (Gaspard-Félix) and Adrien Tournachon, Pierrot with Fruit, 1854-55. It brought a record $542,500 compared with an estimate of $150,000/200,000.

Man Ray’s Untitled (Self-portrait of Man Ray), 1933, sold for $398,500 compared with an estimate of $80,000/120,000 while Penn’s Black and White Vogue Cover (Jean Patchett), New York, 1950, sold for $374,500.

Stieglitz’s portrait of Georgia O’Keeffe, 1935, also featured in the top prices, selling for $146,500, and falling within the $120,000/180,000 estimate. Among more contemporary works, Candida Höfer’s Handelingenkamer Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal Den Haag III, 2004, sold for $104,500 compared with an estimate of $50,000/70,000, while Mapplethorpe’s Calla Lily, 1987, sold for $86,500, clearing the $50,000/70,000 estimate.

Vanessa Kramer, worldwide director of photographs at Phillips, said the results “mirror the strength of the photographs market across the spectrum as well as the increase in demand for the highest caliber of works,” adding that the sales “speak of the steadfast growth of the field.”

Sotheby’s sale on Oct. 5 saw solid results with the house posting a total of $4.7 million, falling within the $3.6 million/5.5 million estimate. Of 193 lots offered, 138 (or 72 percent) were sold.
The top lot was a complete set of Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly, a journal that was published by Stieglitz from 1903-17. Estimated at $200,000/250,000, the set sold for $398,500 to Christian Keesee, according to Christie’s.

The sale posted two artist records: for Pierre Dubreuil, when his oil print, The First Round, ca. 1932, sold for $314,500 compared with an estimate of $150,000/250,000; and for Alexander Gardner et alii when the sketchbook, Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the War, sold for $158,500 on an estimate of $70,000/100,000. In the top lots, Gardner’s Portrait of Abraham Lincoln, 1863, sold for $98,500 on an estimate of $30,000/50,000.

Christopher Mahoney, senior vice president of Sotheby’s photographs department said that the wide range of material in the top lots “demonstrates the richness and depth of the market.”
Chelsea dealer Bruce Silverstein was listed as the buyer of Alvin Langdon Coburn’s gum-platinum print, The Cloud, 1906, which was estimated at $20,000/30,000 but sold for three times that, at $92,500.

At Christie’s sale on Oct. 6, 294 lots were offered and 214, or 73 percent, were sold. By value, the auction realized 83 percent.

Deborah Bell, Christie’s specialist head of the photo department, said the sale “offered a wide range of photographs that stimulated active bidding across all categories. The top-two prices achieved for works by Ansel Adams and Vik Muniz demonstrate the strength and sweeping diversity of the market for photographs.”

The top price was $242,500 for a group of works by Adams titled Clearing Storm, Sonoma County Hills, 1951, made up of five gelatin silver print enlargements, flush-mounted on plywood. It was estimated at $200,000/300,000.

It was followed by Muniz’s The Best of Life, 1989-1995, ten gelatin silver prints of iconic historical images from Life magazine, which sold for $170,500 clearing the $80,000/120,000 estimate.
Two other lots by Adams figured in the top ten, with both selling to U.S. dealers. These included: Surf Sequence, A-E, 1940, five gelatin silver prints printed in the 1960s, that sold for $170,500 against an estimate of $100,000/150,000; and Aspens, Northern New Mexico, 1958, a gelatin silver mural print, printed in 1965-1968.

A mixed-media gelatin print by Peter Beard, Bull Eland Passing Elephants Digging Water, near Kathamula Tsavo, North, for The End of the Game, February 1965, sold for $158,500 (estimate: $80,000/120,000).

Work by Robert Frank also figured prominently in the auction’s top lots. The highest of these was London, 1951, a gelatin silver print, printed late 1970s, which sold for $116,500 on an estimate of $90,000/120,000. Two other works by Frank took $98,500 each, against estimates of $100,000/150,000, including Charleston, S.C., 1956, a gelatin silver print, printed ca. 1970, and Fourth of July-Jay, New York, 1956, a gelatin silver print also printed ca. 1970.

William Eggleston’s Sumner, Mississippi, ca. 1970, a dye-transfer print, printed 2001, sold for $104,500 on an estimate of $30,000/50,000, and Frantisek Drtikol’s Svítání, 1928-1929, a flush-mounted pigment print, also sold for $104,500 on an estimate of $40,000/60,000.

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Fall Photography Auctions

Via photograph Magazine
photograph is the bi-monthly USA guide to photo-based art with listings of exhibitions, private dealers and resources. There are also columns, a calendar of events, and illustrated advertising from galleries, museums, dealers, auctions houses and photographers.

Richard Avedon, The Beatles Portfolio

Phillips de Pury and Company kicked off the fall auction season on October 4 with two sales: a general owners photographs sale and a sale it described as “a private East Coast collection” called the Arc of Photography. The private-owners sale fetched $2,345,375, and the general photographs sale made a total of $4,583,875. Together, the sales presented works ranging from the historical -- Pierrot with Fruit, a salt print by Nadar and Adrien Tournachon, 1854-55, which brought $542,500, well above the $200,000 high estimate – to the contemporary -- Candida Hofer’s Handelingenkamer Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal Den Haag III, 2004, from her “Libraries” series, which brought $104,500. The top lot in the general sale (and that sale’s cover lot) was The Beatles Portfolio, psychedelic dye-transfer prints of John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and Paul McCartney, by Richard Avedon, from 1967, which sold for $722,500.

Pierre Dubeuil, The First Round

Sotheby’s photography sale in New York on October 5 totaled $4,754,376 and was 71.5 percent sold by lot. The top lot was a complete set of Camera Work, which sold for $398,500, an auction record for a set of Camera Work journals. Pierre Dubreuil’s The First Round, a close up of a very young, fresh-faced boxer holding up his gloves, brought $314,500, a record for that artist at auction. And Ansel Adams’s Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, perhaps his most famous image, brought $362,500. Alexander Gardner’s Photographic Sketchbook of the War sold for $158,500 to a private collector.

Robert Frank, London

The first Christie’s photography sale at which Debra Bell was at the helm was 73 percent sold by lot and brought $4,811,625. Works by two of the medium’s masters, Ansel Adams and Robert Frank, peppered the top ten list, but ten prints from Vik Muniz’s series The Best of Life, 1989-1995, brought the second highest price, $170,500. The photographs are of drawings Muniz made from memory based on famous Life magazine covers. Adams’s Clearing Storm, Sonoma County Hills, five gelatin silver prints from 1961, was the top lot, bringing $242,500. Robert Frank’s London, of a child running down the street, away from the open door of a hearse, 1951 (printed in the 1970s), sold for $116,500. On October 7, Christie’s held the fifth sale of the Bruce and Nancy Berman Collection, this one focused on American landscapes. The sale totaled $1,001,938, with 80 percent sold by lot. The top lot was Dorthea Lange’s The Human Face, 1933, of a young boy, his hair falling into his face, sold for $40,000, well above the $7,000 high estimate.

See more:

• Christie's
• Phillips de Pury and Company
• photography auctions
• pierre dubreuil
• richard avedon
• Robert Frank
• Sotheby's

The photographic collection of veteran Picture Editor John G. Morris

 Toni Frissell
Jackie and the Kennedys, Wedding day in Newport
John G Morris: "Toni Frissell, whose work appeared mostly in Vogue, was the family photographer at the wedding of Jack Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier – "Jackie." She gave me prints for the Magnum story, which I sold to the Ladies’ Home Journal for $100,000. This is perhaps the most rare, as it shows the three Kennedy daughters, Patricia, Eunice and Jean, with the three then surviving sons, Bobby, Ted and Jack. The eldest son, Joseph P Jr, had died as a pilot in World War II"


The Photo Diary of John G. Morris auction takes place on Saturday 30 April 2011 at 3:15pm.



The 230 photographic prints for the sale will be exhibited for three days in Paris at Drouot Montaigne, 15 avenue Montaigne on Thursday and Friday 28-29 April from 11:00 to 18:00 and Saturday 30 April from 10:00 to 13:00. The exhibition is open to the public and a fully illustrated paper catalogue will be available for 30 euros.

In our visual age, photo editors have silently written history behind the scenes. John G. Morris has participated in the greatest photographic chapters of the 20th century. Perhaps best known as Robert Capa’s picture editor for Life magazine on D-Day, Morris’s impact on the visual lexicon spans nearly seventy-five years. While at the Ladies’ Home Journal, he conceived of the series, People are People the World Over, changing the way America viewed the world and inspiring Edward Steichen’s influential Family of Man 1955 exhibition. As the first Executive Editor of Magnum Photos, Morris played a key role in establishing many standards of practice in photojournalism, from story boarding to distribution. At The Washington Post, he balanced images inside the White House with coverage of the conflict in Vietnam. As picture editor for The New York Times he chose the first images of the moon landing published in color.

Morris moved to Paris in 1983 where he worked for nearly a decade as correspondent and editor for National Geographic. In May 2010, John G. Morris was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by The ICP, International Center of Photography.

Highlights of the sale include vintage works by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, David Seymour, Elliott
Erwitt, Robert Frank, Toni Frissell, Frank Horvat, Dorothea Lange and award-winning press photographs.

The photographs in this memorable auction are both personal gifts from the artists to John and creative working prints completing the visual diary of John G. Morris. The verso of each print in this collection is inscribed by hand to share the stories behind the images and celebrate John’s enduring friendships with the photographers themselves.

Auction details here.

Download the catalogue here.

Speaking from his home in Paris, where he has lived since the early 1980s, Morris said: "My hope is that this auction will change the outlook on photojournalism in the money markets. I know that's a strange thing to say, but photography auctions in the past have consisted primarily of aesthetically beautiful prints which did not necessarily have much to do with telling the truth about life through the daily newspapers and in magazines. As far as I know, this is the first photojournalism collection to come on to the art market," said Morris. "So in setting minimum prices for the pictures, and estimates, it's been a sort of ballpark thing. We don't know what will sell and what won't." Read more from the Guardian newspaper.


The Guardian newspaper also has an excellent slide show of selected images with commentary from Morris.

"Veteran Life magazine picture editor John G Morris talks us through some of the photographs from his extraordinary personal collection that are to be auctioned in April 2011".

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Military appraisal at Moscow trolley stop, 1954 (Life cover)
John G Morris: "This is the photo I recommended to managing editor Ed Thompson of Life when he asked me, 'What do you see for a cover?' In December I came back from Paris with hundreds of prints of the USSR, I remember the customs officer asking me how much they were worth (in 1954) I replied: 'That’s what I am here to find out'."

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.

SOTHEBY'S PHOTO AUCTION UPDATE

Via I Like To Watch

Auction Hero: Calhoun Daguerreotype Sells for $338,500

John C. Calhoun by Mathew Brady, 1849

 

I don't get to do much breaking news here, but this morning I attended the morning session of Sotheby's spring photography auction in New York, where a 1849 daguerreotype of the great American politician John C. Calhoun sold for $338,000.


If you believe--as I sort of do--that art sales results reflect the overall state of the economy, then the morning session today indicates that we are well underway with recovery from the financial perils of 2008. Buyers seem to be sticking with the classics, though, just in case the rug gets pulled out again: A circa-1960s print of Ansel Adams's "Mount Williamson, Sierra Nevada, From Manzanar, California," sold for $182,500, and Edward Weston's "Dunes, Oceano," shot in 1936 and printed in the 1940s, went for $158,500.

"Mount Williamson, Sierra Nevada, From Manzanar, California," by Ansel Adams

"Dunes, Oceano," by Edward Weston

As is typical these days, the auction gallery at Sotheby's was sparsely populated--perhaps 50 to 75 bidders on hand. (My friend Stephen Perloff, who edits The Photograph Collector newsletter, likens auctions these days to a Mets game in September.) But there was plenty--plenty--of auction action phone bidders. Denise Bethel, head of Sotheby's photography department, handled it all with aplomb from her podium, her voice sometimes sounding like one of those police dispatchers in old movies (Lot 41...Timothy O'Sullivan...Canyon de Chelle...thank you...over and out...").

The big dag of the day was made by Mathew Brady in 1849. The image became one of his most famous portraits, noted for the way it captured Calhoun's penetrating gaze (or as my son Henry would say, his "crazy-ass eyes.") It was widely printed and was used as the basis of a painting by Henry Darby that is now owned by the U.S. Senate. The actual object for sale here--the daguerreotype--was only recently rediscovered, according to Sotheby's.

High prices at auction often simply reflect the competition between two motivated bidders, and that seemed to be the case with this lot. But objects like this, in their rarity, have intrinsic historical value. Calhoun was a giant of American politics, a cngressman, senator, secretary of war under James Madison and vice president under both John Quincy Adams and Adams's archrival Andrew Jackson. He was a great orator in an era of oratorical greatness, parrying with Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. He was a champion for his state, South Carolina, which at the time was pushing the idea of nullification--whereby states could ignore federal laws they didn't like. Jackson killed that effort, saving the union for another 30 or so years.

All in all, an interesting morning.

WSJ: A Star-Filled Spring of Photo Auctions

The Wall Street Journal

Auctions at three major New York houses next week are headlining some of photography's stellar names—as well as a collection that once decorated the walls of a giant trucking company.


The wealth of offerings follows the recent rebound of other parts of the art market from the 2008 recession, with potential sellers now sensing that they can get top dollar, says Sarah Hasted, co-owner of photography specialist Hasted Kraeutler Gallery.

The auctions, at Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips de Pury & Co., feature landmark works from Robert Frank, Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Man Ray, Ansel Adams and Robert Mapplethorpe. These auctions generally occur every spring and fall.

On the front and back of its 173-work catalog for its April 6 auction, Sotheby's has put two Man Ray photos from the 1930s noted for their abstract, contemporary feel. "Photomontage with Nude and Studio Light," using two negatives sandwiched together, is a classical study of a female torso combined with a distorted image of Man Ray's studio. One can see his camera, a naked light bulb dangling from the ceiling, and even the slippered feet of the artist, an American who spent most of his career in Paris. Sotheby's expects the photo to sell for at least $100,000.

Man Ray's "Solarized Male Torso" uses a method known as solarization, introducing light as part of the developing process, and is projected to bring at least $70,000.

Overall, Sotheby's expects to take in between $2.8 million and $4.3 million. These photos are open for public viewing starting Saturday.

At Christie's, a highlight is the 130-image Consolidated Freightways collection, put together in the 1980s by the trucking company now known as Con-way Inc.


The theme is America's love affair with the highway, photos that could have been taken from the cab of a truck, and it includes such classics as Ansel Adams's 1953 "Coastal Road," showing a lonely stretch of highway with hills in the distance, and Robert Frank's "U.S. 285, New Mexico," a 1956 photo focusing on the center strip of a highway at what appears to be dusk.

"This was the corporate collection, hanging on the walls of the company's offices," says Laura Paterson, a Christie's photography specialist. Christie's is selling the collection as individual photos and expects it to bring at least $975,000.

The Phillips sale includes some classic photos, such as the 1987 "Flag" by controversial artist Robert Mapplethorpe, known for his frank nudes, flower still lifes and celebrity portraits.

Another Phillips photo is "A Jewish Giant at Home With His Parents in the Bronx," a 1970 photo by Diane Arbus, who specialized in the abnormal. This one shows a mother and father looking up at their giant son, whose head almost reaches the ceiling of the room.




What is expected to be one of the highest-priced photos of the week, selling for at least $200,000, is Cindy Sherman's 1993 "Untitled #278," showing a dissolute-looking woman sitting in a leopard-skin chair, interpreted as a critique of the fashion industry. Ms. Sherman, as usual, posed for it herself.

Cindy Sherman's 1993 'Untitled #278' is expected to sell for at least $200,000.

Photos are proving increasingly attractive to collectors, Christie's Ms. Paterson says. "As the price of paintings have become incredibly expensive," she added, "a lot of people have moved into photography as something that's affordable and still decorative."


Click here for the article with video link:  John Arena, senior vice president at U.S. Trust, explains how ultra-high-net-worth investors can leverage their existing art collection to raise cash. Dow Jones Wealth Adviser's Veronica Dagher reports.

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