PHOTOGRAPHY MARKET 2011



We received a New Year's email from Penelope Dixon and Associates announcing the relocation of their headquarters to New York City. The newsletter also offered a review of the state of the photography market as we enter 2011.

"We also thought we would take the opportunity to share a brief synopsis of our market analysis for 2010 as follows:


Although the broader art market saw a decline in value throughout 2009, photography remained relatively stable in 2010 with auction values throughout the year that were close to 2008 levels. In addition to sales at auction, photographs offered at shows such as AIPAD (Association of International Photography Art Dealers) and Art Basel Miami Beach have been realistically priced which has helped to spur sales for galleries and dealers.

In the first half of 2010, the photography market continued to show signs of stability and growth with a notable sale of Irving Penn works at Christie’s, New York in April where every photograph sold, many for considerably more than the estimates. In addition, were the sale of the Polaroid Collection at Sotheby’s in June and the Avedon sale at Christie’s in November, both of which saw new auction records for several artists. An analysis of auction sales over the past year indicates that that global photography sales have returned to levels seen just prior to the peak of the market. This trend will hopefully continue throughout 2011, providing further new growth in the photography market."

PHOTO LA BY JEFF DUNAS

Again we feature an article from one of our daily must-read photography sources:

LA LETTRE DE LA PHOTOGRAPHY
L'Oeil de La Lettre

January 18, 2011

Last Friday was the opening of the 20th PhotoLA. Initiated twenty years ago by Los Angeles Gallery owner Stephen Cohen, this venerable photo fair has become the largest photo – centric art fair of its kind west of New York. The fair, which originally gathered a small group of American galleries at the Butterfield and Butterfield auction headquarters on Sunset Boulevard, has since grown into a large and influential fair comprised of the world’s most influential photography galleries. Cohen seemed ebullient and relaxed as he surveyed the 20th edition of his dream art fair. Collectors, actors, models and the fashionable, chic art crowd of Los Angeles all came to enjoy the party. The usual suspects were present – prominent galleries presented works ranging from rare black and whites to contemporary color works. It is unlikely that people were able to see the works on display with so much more to see than just the photographs. The fair ran from Friday through Monday evening. PhotoLA has proved to be an important indicator of our local economy’s resurgence. In four days we’ll know if the hip Los Angeles crowd is still devoted to photography.

As PhotoLA entered its second day a sizable crowd came to see the pictures. There was no dominant thread – no new “flavor of the month”, no new currents to speak of that I could discern. There was a bit of everything from the truly vintage (a 1921 signed Edward Weston Pictorialist print – price: $600,000 -) to the truly contemporary massive color prints, including works by Stephen Wilkes

.

As I walked through the fair – two – three times, I decided that rather than try to understand the deeper meaning of the works presented and what the total said for the future of print sales, I would photograph my « coups de Cœur » – images demanding my attention. In the end, all but one were vintage – somehow the smaller, black and white prints meant more to me than the contemporary work and I’m not sure if that bodes well. The fair was a success – attendance was good. The truth is a great photograph is still as rare as ever – an image with depth and meaning is something to covet and cherish as always. Photography is a glorious medium and will remain glorious when it’s great. There are few great practitioners, a fact that has never changed – that can truly say something that touches the eyes and the heart.

Can there be too much of a good thing? Parallel to PhotoLA, is Classic Photography Los Angeles, a fringe group of 13 galleries that have created their own competing event. Classic Photographs Los Angeles ran for two days, Saturday and Sunday, with an opening reception on Friday evening. Some of the evening’s visitors included Virginia Heckert of the Getty Museum, Dr. Katherine Martinez, the new Director of the Center for Creative Photography in Arizona, members of the Los Angeles County Art Museum Photographic Arts Council, former gallery owner and dealer G. Ray Hawkins, Lauren Wendle, Publisher of Photo District News, Carol McCusker, former curator of the Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego and others.

Jeff Dunas Los Angeles

Jeff Dunas has been a professional photographer for forty years. He devotes his time to his personal work and the Palm Springs Photo Festival of which he is Founder and Director. He has attended all 20 PhotoLA fairs.

Links
http://www.palmspringsphotofestival.com/

http://www.palmspringsphotofestival.com/community

http://www.photola.com/


Full article with slide show here.



PHOTO LA 2011 CLOSES

Thank you, Photo LA for another great year!

Next up: The AIPAD Photography Show

BORN TODAY: MUHAMMAD ALI

Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.; January 17, 1942)

Steve Schapiro:  Cassius Clay, Lexington, Kentucky, 1963

Bob Gomel: Black Muslim leader Malcolm X photographing Cassius Clay, Miami, 1964

 

Neil Leifer: Muhammad Ali Knocks Out Sonny Liston, Lewiston, Maine, May 25, 1965

The official site of Muhammad Ali

PHOTO LA SUNDAY RECAP; FINAL DAY MONDAY

Sunday, traditionally the final day of the Photo LA fairs of the past, was another busy day. This year, the 20th anniversary edition of Photo LA has been extended to include Monday, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday celebrating his birthday.

We have been tremendously proud to introduce, for the very first time ever in the world, the premiere of several renowned photographer's original prints. 

Including Eric Draper:

Eric Draper served as Special Assistant to the President and White House Photographer for President George W. Bush. Draper documented the entire eight years of the Bush administration and directed the conversion of the White House Photo Office from film to digital.

Prior to joining the White House, Draper was West Regional Enterprise Photographer for the Associated Press. His many assignments included the 1996 and 2000 presidential campaigns, the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, the Kosovo conflict in 1999, and the 1998 World Cup in France.

Draper has also worked as a staff photographer for The Seattle Times, the Pasadena Star-News and the Albuquerque Tribune.

He won the Associated Press Managing Editors' Award for three consecutive years, the 1999 National Headliner Award and was named 1992 Photographer of the Year by Scripps Howard Newspapers. He is a graduate of California State University, Long Beach. Monroe Gallery is extremely honored to represent Eric Draper's historic photographs. not surprisingly, his photographs have attracted a lot of attention at Photo LA. much more to come on future posts about Eric Draper.

Stay tuned for our Photo LA wrap up!

'PHOTO LA GOLD'

Via PhotoInduced

At first blush, we like to just get an overall vibe of a event.

Opening night, we let you know that there were fewer dealers and no breakout stars.
But then we knew we had to go digging for gold.

And we found some.


By the way, the Monroe Gallery from Santa Fe, had some supreme examples of the best in journalistic photography. Seriously the classics all seemed to be there, from Malcolm X taking a photo of Muhammad Ali in a diner after he beat Sonny Liston, to Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday  to John Kennedy, and even George Bush synchronizing his watch with Dick Cheney.

Not cheap, but high quality.

See the full article here.

PHOTO LA: DAY TWO

It was a beautuful day in Santa Monica, we heard it topped 84 degrees! But, inside the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium it was a very, very busy day at Photo LA.

The Monroe Gallery booth (#A-102) has garnered several reviews, and seems especially relevent this Martin Luther King holiday weekend..

Please join us at Photo LA, which continues Sunday and Monday.


Related: Monroe Gallery at Photo LA

REVIEW: Photo LA- A Few Truffles in the Miasma

 
Photo LA- A Few Truffles in the Miasma.


by Herr Müller on January 14, 2011

Art Fairs can be grind. I’ve worked them from the vantage point of the dealer, showing and selling prints for 8 hours straight. I’ve worked them from the vantage point of an exhibiting artist. And then I’ve “worked” them as a passionate and undauntable visual consumer. To be able to determine the wheat from the chaff is made only a tad easier by the concentration of a single venue. But then the walk in Chelsea or the drive in LA actually provides a moment of visual peace between art encounters.

Photo LA, in its 20th Anniversary rendition, is currently at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and runs through Monday. The Fair looks good, well laid out, well lighted and user-friendly. The art on display runs the gambit from sublime to ridiculous, but this can be said of any fair, of any caliber. But we’re in the business of TruffleHunting, so here then a few notable standouts:

A new discovery for me was Annie Seaton, shown at DNJ Gallery, recently moved to Bergamont station. Cutout surfers from one photograph reappear on a facsimile painted ground of another. The paradigm is elegant and well executed. Modestly scaled and intelligent, Ms. Seaton has managed to deface in order to recreate.

Harry Callahan is and has been one of my favorite for many moons. Tom Gitterman is showing a handsome image of Elenor, the artist’s wife, muse and subject throughout his career. Aside for my personal love for the silhouette, the composition is divine and bold. It veers into abstraction and then gently manages to reassert itself into a portrait. The image is both intimate and veiled and thus divinely mysterious.

Photography as journalistic tool and witness has always been important. No greater picture at the fair than this marvelous campaign shot of Bobby Kennedy riding in a convertible in Indianapolis in 1968. Bobby is riding with the Fearsome Foursome and Prizefighter Tony Zale. The image is by Bill Eppridge and can be seen at Monroe Gallery of Photography.

Another personal favorite in the history of Photography is Robert Heineken. A conceptual artist wielding the medium of photography in the 70′s and 80′s, Heineken was deeply ahead of his time. The dime a dozen MFA grads that are pumped out of Academic institutions at a dizzying rate only wish they could have his wit and charm and intelligence. At Barry Singer there are two excellent examples of his work. Polaroid photograms of art school lunches. Items from a salad bar and a neatly dissected submarine sandwich act as subject matter. Original, funny with a soupcon of fuck you make the result a perfect blend of commentary and art. Further examples of Heineken can be seen at Stephen Daiter‘s booth from Chicago.

At Light Work, one of the most successful and enduring Non for profit organizations in the nation it must be said, there’s a great print by David Graham that ominously and wittily sums up the state of the financial landscape. Billboards are a deeply American phenomenon but it may not get any perfectly American as this. The Booth is filled with remarkable examples of great artists, all at reasonable prices, each one donated in support of the ambitious programming.



Lastly I will leave you a triptych by the irascible Wegee at . Yes, I say, a three-ring circus should be a triptych. Of course! The middle image may just be the world’s most perfect double exposure with the observed and the observers fusing into a single image.

I will be giving tours to the VIP guests of the fair on Saturday and Sunday at 12, 2 and 4pm. Come out and sign up and join the dialogue.

Did you see the fair? Leave your thoughts in the comments and let me know the Truffles you found!

-Mario M. Muller, Los Angeles










PHOTO LA, DAY 2: THE ANNIVERSARY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING'S BIRTHDAY

Today is the anniversary of Martin Luther King's birthday.

Monroe Gallery, Booth A-102 at Photo LA.

Third row from left, top is a rare vintage print of the Funeral Procession for Martin Luther King by Lynn Pelham; below is Charles Moore's iconic photograph of  Martin Luther King, Jr. being "Arrested on a Loitering Charge, Montgomery, September 3, 1958"; below is Steve Schapiro's photograph of the Freedom Bus Riders from the summer of 1964.

And, Bill Eppridge's gripping photographs from the Neshoba Civil Rights Murders. To the right, Steve Schapiro's photograph of Martin Luther King during the Selma March, Bob Gomel's classic photograph of Malcolm X and Cassius Clay the night before Clay would declare his conversion to Islam and changing his name to "Muhammad Ali", and Rosa Parks.

Next right row: Grey Villet's photographs of the Little Rock Nine, Martin Luther King, and Steve Schapiro's shocking photograph of Segregationists in 1964.

More updates from Photo LA soon.

MONROE GALLERY AT PHOTO LA

The 20th Anniversary edition of Photo LA opened last night with a benefit preview for LACMA, hosted by Stephen Shore. The fair continues through Monday.

Here are a few highlights from our booth A-102

A rare over-size print of Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole at the Villa Capri, 1955 by Bernie Abramson, who passed away this past August.

Stephen Wilkes: Day Into Night and America In Detail

More to come!