Whitney Biennial 2010

JTF (just the facts): A large group exhibition of 55 artists, installed on four floors of the museum. (Since no photography is allowed in the galleries at the Whitney, there are unfortunately no installation shots for this show.)

The following 10 artists/photographers have photo-based work in the exhibition. Details for each are below:

  • Nina Berman: 18 pigment prints, each 10×15, made between 2006 and 2008
  • Josh Brand: 5 chromogenic prints and 1 gelatin silver print, either 8×10 or 11×14 or reverse, made between 2007 and 2009
  • James Casebere: 2 digital chromogenic prints, each 72×96, in editions of 5, made in 2009
  • Babette Mangolte: 441 vintage photographs, 2 decks of vintage photo playing cards, and 1 video, as one installation, made in 2009
  • Curtis Mann: 1 bleached chromogenic print with synthetic varnish, 65×153, made in 2009
  • Lorraine O’Grady: 4 pigment print diptychs, each individual print 47×38, in editions of 8, made in 2010
  • Emily Roysdon: 2 sets of 3 digital chromogenic prints, one with silkscreening, made in 2010
  • Stephanie Sinclair: 9 digital prints, each 17×22, made in 2005
  • Ania Soliman: 1 digital montage, variable dimensions, made between 2007 and 2009
  • Tam Tran: 6 digital prints, each 24×16, made in 2008

Comments/Context: What more is there to say about this year’s Whitney Biennial that hasn’t already been said? Virtually every major art critic in America has already weighed in on the succinctly titled 2010, and as usual, there has been a healthy mix of both supportive praise and scathing derision, peppered with lists of favorites and highlights. Many have connected the show to the momentum for change and redefinition embodied by the election of Obama, others have centered on the majority of women artists included in the exhibit, and still others have latched on to its pared down, recession-friendly curatorial approach. But none of these esteemed writers has comprehensively looked at the photography in the show and tried to consider about what the inclusion of these specific photographers and their work might mean in the larger context of the medium. So that’s what we’re going to try and do here.

Even if we go along with the PR line that this exhibit is not a survey of contemporary American art, but simply an edited sampler or cross section of the diversity of work produced in the past few years, the show clearly has the ability to set out a straw man, pick out some trends, and frame the conversation about what’s been relevant and/or important in the past two years. As such, 2010 should have some compelling things to tell us about the state of contemporary photography, and indeed, this year’s exhibit contains quite a bit of photography in various forms. Since this is not an inclusive biennial of photography, but rather a biennial of contemporary art which includes photography only on its merits, we should be able to see some patterns in where photography is being placed in the larger narrative of new art, or at least analyze how the show’s curators seem to be judging and categorizing what they have found to be new in photography. This does not of course lead to any sort of ultimate truth, but simply a snapshot of how one set of curators has tackled the problem of making sense of it all; so while there are an infinite variety of other ways to approach this same problem, I think a close look at how they seem to have structured their choices can tell us something about how the larger art world is seeing contemporary photography.

While it seems unlikely that the curators deliberately built a taxonomy of photographic approaches and placed various contemporary photographers in specific locations (they are not photo-specialists after all), the artists who were included in the show can quite easily be placed into one of four “buckets” based on their use of the medium (with a little cross pollination in some cases). I’ve provided a diagram below to make my line of thinking a bit more clear; I’ll cover each group in more detail below.

The 2010 representatives of the documentary/straight approach to photography pack such an emotional wallop that they seem to be saying: make the content extreme or just go home. Stephanie Sinclair’s desperate images of Afghan women charred by self-inflicted burns are bloody and horrifying, so much so that the exhibition room was filled with gasps, “My God”s, and uncomfortable intakes of breath; the suffering and violence that is depicted is harsh and shocking, but entirely unforgettable. Nina Berman’s images of the hometown life of a disfigured soldier (including his thoroughly alienated wedding day) are similarly tragic. Both bodies of work depict the realities of war, and explore the downstream personal effects of our current day social/political choices. As the only two examples of “traditional” photography in the whole show, I was reminded of Paul Graham’s recent comments about the state of medium (here), and the ensuing discussion of the value of capturing unique moments with a camera. If these two photographers are any indication, the contemporary art world isn’t looking for subtlety in its straight photography, it’s looking for outright reaction-provoking challenge.

Four photographers included in the show fit loosely into the performance/staging category, although each is using photography in different ways to document or enable their ideas. James Casebere has made a career out of photographing tabletop constructions, and his two images here satirize a fabricated community of pastel colored houses; his timing couldn’t be better, in terms of being a biting look at the ridiculousness of the housing bubble. Tam Tran’s images depict the performances and imagination of childhood; dressed in Spiderman pajamas and a cape, her nephew uses a long stick to fight invisible evildoers, well aware of the presence of the camera. Emily Roysdon’s photographs are documents of public locations to be used in future performances. An array of chairs (alternately covered with dots and silkscreened dancers) and wood pilings of abandoned piers in the water are both spaces/stages that have been and will be transformed by theatrical action; the sense of being part of the audience is palpable. And Babette Mangolte’s installation of 1970s/1980s photographs and video is less about any specific picture and more about the process of perception and interaction with imagery; composites, variations and patterns of images are seen on a huge gridded wall, while a video overlays sounds from the flipping and shuffling of cards and the tearing of paper. The entire environment is a reflective performance about the how we experience photographs.

While neither Lorraine O’Grady nor Ania Soliman might usually be considered a “photographer”, both are using the recontextualization of appropriated photographic imagery as the basis for the art included in this show. O’Grady’s works juxtapose found images of Charles Baudelaire and Michael Jackson in varying color tones, wryly commenting on the ups and downs of celebrity. Soliman layers a wide range of found images of pineapples into a photomontage alphabet stuck directly to the wall, merging text and photographs into a hybrid historical survey reminiscent of Dada collages. With these examples, it is clear that we have moved beyond the irony of simple appropriation/mashup and on to more complicated and conceptual combinations of images with social/political overtones.

The last group of artists is thoroughly embedded in the technical processes of photography, reveling in the details of the darkroom, the chemical properties of prints, and the object quality of end product photographs. Curtis Mann’s grid of photographs begins with appropriated images from the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah (and so ties him to the appropriation group described above). But Mann is more interested in the photographs as objects than in composing pictures from behind the camera: he has subsequently used bleach and varnish to selectively manipulate/destroy the original images, leaving whitewashed expanses of nothingness populated by glimpses of small details, like a cloud of dust obscuring our vision. Josh Brand has opted for making camera-less images in the darkroom, creating abstract photograms of the details of his everyday life.

In terms of sheer “memorableness“, I found the work of Sinclair, Berman, Casebere, and Mann to be the most compelling and likely to lead somewhere exciting or new. Many of the others seem to be working in styles that we have seen before (in the inbred world of photography), but have yet to coalesce into wholly original lines of thinking. Taking a straight photograph, documenting a performance, appropriating an image, or mastering a process are not enough to make it in the 21st century art world; there are some forgettable photographs here I’m afraid. The photographic works I found most thought-provoking in this show were those that are built on layers of outward looking ideas and realities, that took on the larger forces in our society at this particular moment in time, rather than those that were overly self-conscious or inwardly reflective. The disruptions I saw were based in the context of the times, rather than the fabric of ourselves.

If I take the Whitney Biennial 2010 at face value, it is the straight photographers who are out on the bleeding edge of photographic art, pushing our collective consciousness, and the others who have heretofore considered themselves to be cleverly innovative and conceptually original that are being found to be lagging behind a bit. That’s a wholly unexpected and surprisingly refreshing photographic conclusion, and the single best reason to go and see this show.

Collector’s POV: Discovering which galleries represent the artists and photographers in this show isn’t terribly easy. I’ve listed below those that I have been able to find; I’m hoping diligent commenters can point us all toward the rest.

  • Nina Berman: Jen Bekman (here)
  • Josh Brand: Herald St. (here)
  • James Casebere: Sean Kelly Gallery (here)
  • Babette Mangolte: Broadway 1602 (here)
  • Curtis Mann: Kavi Gupta Gallery (here)
  • Lorraine O’Grady: Alexander Gray Associates (here)
  • Emily Roysdon, Stephanie Sinclair, Ania Soliman, Tam Tran: unknown

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

  • Reviews: New York Times (here), New York (here), Village Voice (here), Washington Post (here)
  • Feature/Curator Interview: Interview (here)
  • Nina Berman artist site (here)
  • Josh Brand artist site (unknown)
  • James Casebere artist site (here)
  • Babette Mangolte artist site (here)
  • Curtis Mann artist site (here)
  • Lorraine O’Grady artist site (here)
  • Emily Roysdon artist site (here)
  • Stephanie Sinclair artist site (here)
  • Ania Soliman artist site (unknown)
  • Tam Tran artist site (here)

Whitney Biennial 2010
Through May 30th

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10021

Berenice Abbott, Inside the Archive @Commerce Graphics

JTF (just the facts): A total of 97 black and white images, variously framed and matted, and densely hung throughout the main gallery area, the offices, and the entrance hallway, winding around and covering virtually every available wall space. The images themselves were made between 1925 and 1967 (most are from the 1930s), and the prints on display are a mixture of vintage and later prints, including some bigger enlargements. Sizes range from 4×3 to 40×30, with most being 10×8 or reverse. While many of the works are matted, a small group of exhibition prints mounted on masonite (with beveled edges) are also on display. Two glass cases house a variety of letters, technical notes and other ephemera, including rejection letters from the Vanderbilts and Astors for her Changing New York project. Her camera is also on display. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: When an exhibition is titled “Inside the Archive”, I think it sets the expectation that the images on view will be a collection of rarities and variants, lesser known images and forgotten gems that will help fill in the background to the more prominent and likely already agreed upon narrative. This exhibit of materials from the Berenice Abbott archive is a chaotic mix of old and new, and while there are some unexpected items to see, overall, I think the show misses the chance to really dive into the depths of the secondary and tertiary imagery and expand the scholarship on her artistic process and point of view.
The show bounces around all of her most notable projects, from early Paris portraits and iconic New York scenes, to mid 1950s America and her later scientific work. Unfortunately, the exhibit lacks a coherent organizational thread – works from various time periods and projects (as well as printing sizes/styles) are often jumbled together, so that it is difficult to draw conclusions about how these particular prints add to what it is already known about Abbott. Smaller, tighter niche exhibits of archival material from any one of her projects could fill the available space and tell us something new about that particular subject and body of work; perhaps this exhibit is just trying to do too much.
This is not to say that there aren’t amazing works to be seen and savored. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing some of the 1940s and 1950s exhibition prints of her famous New York images, which were displayed on intimate-sized masonite boards; they are significantly warmer than standard prints of these negatives, with a strong sepia tone. I also liked seeing the 1940s industrial prints of smoke stacks and oil refineries, as well as some excellent scientific views that I hadn’t seen before. Abbott’s 1950s work seems to be the most in need of a defining exhibit – a selection of images from her road trips across America are on display, but I lacked the context to try to draw deeper conclusions about their overall importance.
In general, I think this show will appeal most to die hard Abbott fans (like us) who are willing to sift through the dense walls to find some of the spectacular gems tucked in the corners. In some sense, this exhibit is a mini-retrospective (given its broad coverage of her work), but in the end, even though the prints themselves might have surprising stories to tell, the exhibit lacks the structure and editing required to successfully bring forth the new ideas that may be hiding near the surface.
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Collector’s POV: As is perhaps obvious, Abbott’s estate is represented by Commerce Graphics. Prices in this show range from $6000 to $38000. Her work is nearly ubiquitous at auction, with dozens of prints (a mix of vintage and later) coming up for sale in any given year. Prices have typically ranged from as low as $1000 to approximately $35000, with the majority still under $5000.
Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)
Transit Hub:
  • DLK COLLECTION review of 2 volume Berenice Abbott Steidl edition (here)
Berenice Abbott, Inside the Archive
Through May 28th
506 East 74th Street
New York, NY 10021

Auction Results: Photographs, April 16, 2010 @Phillips

The various owner Photographs auction at Phillips last Friday generally matched expectations, with a buy-in rate near 30% and total sale proceeds at the lower end of the range. I’d say it was a “good enough” outcome, with few in the way of meaningful surprises.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
Total Lots: 349
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $3155400
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $4488100
Total Lots Sold: 245
Total Lots Bought In: 104
Buy In %: 29.80%
Total Sale Proceeds: $3470675
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):
Low Total Lots: 242
Low Sold: 169
Low Bought In: 73
Buy In %: 30.17%
Total Low Estimate: $1447100
Total Low Sold: $1058500
Mid Total Lots: 93
Mid Sold: 65
Mid Bought In: 28
Buy In %: 30.11%
Total Mid Estimate: $1911000
Total Mid Sold: $1389375
High Total Lots: 14
High Sold: 11
High Bought In: 3
Buy In %: 21.43%
Total High Estimate: $1130000
Total High Sold: $1022800

The top lot by High estimate was lot 216, Edward Steichen, Wheelbarrow with Flower Pots, France, 1920, at $150000-200000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at $194500 (image at right, top, via Phillips).

90.20% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 7 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
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Lot 1, Lillian Bassman, Blowing Kiss, Barbara Mullen, New York, c1958/Later, at $10625 (image at right, via Phillips)
Lot 174, Vik Muniz, Hands from Pictures of Soil, 1997, at $25000
Lot 238, Walker Evans, Display Sign, Birmingham, Alabama, 1936/Later, at $6875
Lot 256, Peter Beard, Hunting Cheetahs on the Taru Desert, Kenya, 1960/1998, at $50000
Lot 291, O. Winston Link, NW1103, Hot Shot Eastbound at the Iager Drive-In, West Virginia, 1956/1983, at $27500
Lot 297, Weegee, Twin Bed Distortion, c1950, at $6875
Lot 329, Shikanosuke Yagaki, Blinds with Sunlight, 1930s, at $10000

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

450 West 15th Street
New York, NY 10011

2010 Guggenheim Fellows in Photography

As I was flipping through the newspaper this morning, I came across a full page ad listing all of the 2010 Guggenheim Fellows (here). Here are this year’s grant winners in Photography. Many are familiar, but there are a couple who were new to me:

Shelby Lee Adams (here)
Carolyn Drake (here)
Paul Graham (here)
Monica Haller (here)
Charles Lindsay (here)
Lawrence McFarland (here)
Nic Nicosia (here)
Michael Schultz (here)

Auction Results: Photographs, April 15, 2010 @Christie’s

After two successful sales that reached far beyond their total High estimates, it was somewhat inevitable that Christie’s would have to regress to the mean. The various owner Photographs auction yesterday afternoon performed solidly, with a buy-in rate near 25% and total sale proceeds smack in the middle of the range. While the cover lot Strand didn’t sell, enough of the rest of the top lots did find buyers to drive the results to a comfortable outcome.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 180
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $3183000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $4733500
Total Lots Sold: 133
Total Lots Bought In: 48
Buy In %: 26.67%
Total Sale Proceeds: $4112563

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 89
Low Sold: 67
Low Bought In: 22
Buy In %: 24.72%
Total Low Estimate: $552500
Total Low Sold: $490813

Mid Total Lots: 75
Mid Sold: 51
Mid Bought In: 25
Buy In %: 32.00%
Total Mid Estimate: $1601000
Total Mid Sold: $1110000

High Total Lots: 16
High Sold: 14
High Bought In: 2
Buy In %: 12.50%
Total High Estimate: $2580000
Total High Sold: $2511750
The top lot by High estimate was lot 325, Irving Penn, Woman in Moroccan Palace (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), Marrakech, 1951/1983, at $300000-500000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at $446500.
85.71% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 12 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
Lot 310, George Tice, Petit’s Mobil Station, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, 1974/1980, at $7500
Lot 311, O. Winston Link, Hotshot, Eastbound, Iager, West Virginia, 1946/1999, at $20000
Lot 334, W. Eugene Smith, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Lambarene, 1954, at $12000
Lot 340, Peter Beard, Orphaned Cheetah Cubs, from The End of the Game, 1968/1998, at $152500
Lot 369, Brassai, Matisse avec son Modele, 1939/1950s, at $16250
Lot 372, Man Ray, 1929 (photobook), at $27500
Lot 380, Charles Sheeler, Bucks County Barn, 1918, at $386500
Lot 390, Nan Goldin, Greer and Robert on the Bed, 1982, at $17500
Lot 425, Robert Mapplethorpe, Calla Lily, 1984, at $326500 (image at right, via Christie’s)
Lot 429, Daido Moriyama, Untitled (Lips), 2007, at $40000 (image at right, top, via Christie’s)
Lot 435, Harold Edgerton, Ten Dye-Transfer Photographs, 1985, at $40000
Lot 519, Bert Stern, Marilyn Monroe, from (Crucifix III), The Last Sitting, 1962, at $18750

Complete lot by lot results can be found here and here.

20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020

Auction Results: Selections from the Baio Collection of Photography, April 15, 2010 @Christie’s

Sometimes the fate of an auction turns on the fight for just one lot. Such was the case with the single owner Baio Collection sale earlier today, where a skyrocketing Atget image (to more than 4.5 times its high estimate) helped push a sale that was heading for a normal, middle of the range kind of outcome into the joyful zone well above the total High estimate.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 120
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $735500
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $1080500
Total Lots Sold: 86
Total Lots Bought In: 34
Buy In %: 28.33%
Total Sale Proceeds: $1425500

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):
Low Total Lots: 98
Low Sold: 71
Low Bought In: 27
Buy In %: 27.55%
Total Low Estimate: $536500
Total Low Sold: $391500
Mid Total Lots: 21
Mid Sold: 14
Mid Bought In: 7
Buy In %: 33.33%
Total Mid Estimate: $394000
Total Mid Sold: $347500
High Total Lots: 1
High Sold: 1
High Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 00.00%
Total High Estimate: $150000
Total High Sold: $686500

The top lot by High estimate was lot 171, Eugène Atget, Joueur d’Orgue, 1898-1899, at $100000-150000; it was also the top outcome of the sale (by far) at $686500. (Image at right, top, via Christie’s.)
100.00% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range (not a single lot sold below the range, which is pretty unusual). There were a total of 7 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):
Lot 112, Loretta Lux, Paulin, 2002, at $30000 (image at right, via Christie’s)
Lot 151, Weegee, Summer, the Lower East Side, c1937, at $20000
Lot 166, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled, 1994, at $4000
Lot 171, Eugene Atget, Joueur d’Orgue, 1898-1899, at $686500
Lot 175, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, The Water’s Edge (Hungarian Sea), c1929, at $52500
Lot 191, Will McBride, Mike with other students in the ‘shower’, Schlosschule Salem, 1963/1970s, at $6875
Lot 204, Philip-Lorca DiCorcia, Head #23, 2000, at $52500
Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
Christie’s
20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020

Auction Results: Three Decades with Irving Penn, April 14, 2010 @Christie’s

Defying any worries about the long term stability of the larger economy, the single artist/single owner Irving Penn sale at Christie’s yesterday exuberantly exploded like a firecracker. It was a “white glove” outcome, where every lot on offer found a buyer, nearly 75% of the lots sold above their high estimate, and the total sale proceeds came close to doubling the pre sale High estimate for the entire sale. It was an emphatic Wow! moment for a recovering photography market and a resounding affirmation of the strong and deep demand for Penn’s work after his recent death.

The effectively perfect summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):
Total Lots: 70
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $1405500
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $2020000
Total Lots Sold: 70
Total Lots Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 00.00%
Total Sale Proceeds: $3851250
Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):
Low Total Lots: 4
Low Sold: 4
Low Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 00.00%
Total Low Estimate: $18000
Total Low Sold: $224750
Mid Total Lots: 60
Mid Sold: 60
Mid Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 00.00%
Total Mid Estimate: $1512000
Total Mid Sold: $2441500
High Total Lots: 6
High Sold: 6
High Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 00.00%
Total High Estimate: $490000
Total High Sold: $1185000

The top lot by High estimate was lot 14, Irving Penn, Cuzco Children, 1948/1964, at $100000-150000; it sold for $206500. The top outcome of the sale was lot 56, Irving Penn, 2 Guedras, 1972/1977, at $314500. (Image at right, via Christie’s.)
An astonishing 74.29% of the lots that sold (and all the lots were sold remember) had proceeds above the estimate range. There were a total of 19 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate); listed below are those 9 lots that had proceeds of at least triple the high estimate. The Broken Egg, New York (image at right, top, via Christie’s) sold for a staggering 22.9 times its high estimate:
Lot 6, Irving Penn, Broken Egg, New York, 1959/1964, at $206500
Lot 9, Irving Penn, Playing Card (SM), Neg. XXXVI, 1975/1976, at $170500
Lot 40, Irving Penn, Kiesler and De Kooning, 1960/1972, at $60000
Lot 43, Irving Penn, Plumber, New York, 1951/1976, at $68500
Lot 50, Irving Penn, Brother and Sister (Morocco), 1971/1991, at $134500
Lot 56, Irving Penn, 2 Guedras, 1972/1977, at $314500
Lot 65, Irving Penn, Four Guedras (Morocco), 1971/1985, at $254500
Lot 66, Irving Penn, Christmas Card, 1992 and Eating Crow, July 1984, at $6250
Lot 67, Unidentified Photographer, Irving Penn, 1960s, at $10625

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.
20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020

Auction Results: Photographs, April 13, 2010 @Sotheby’s

Edward Weston’s Nautilus was the star of the show at Sotheby’s various owner photographs sale yesterday, where a print originally priced by the artist at a reasonable $10 (the amount is inscribed on the back) sold for over $1 million, the second photograph to cross that threshold at auction in 2010. With a buy-in rate of less than 20% and total sale proceeds near the total High estimate, the overall results should be considered a solid and confident success.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Total Lots: 244
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $3422000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $5127000
Total Lots Sold: 196
Total Lots Bought In: 48
Buy In %: 19.67%
Total Sale Proceeds: $5081265

Here is the breakdown (using the Low, Mid, and High definitions from the preview post, here):

Low Total Lots: 128
Low Sold: 109
Low Bought In: 19
Buy In %: 14.84%
Total Low Estimate: $1053000
Total Low Sold: $979690

Mid Total Lots: 101
Mid Sold: 75
Mid Bought In: 26
Buy In %: 25.74%
Total Mid Estimate: $2154000
Total Mid Sold: $1794475

High Total Lots: 15
High Sold: 12
High Bought In: 3
Buy In %: 20.00%
Total High Estimate: $1920000
Total High Sold: $2307100

The top lot by High estimate was lot 122, Edward Weston, Nautilus, 1927, at $300000-500000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at $1082500. (Image at right, top, via Sotheby’s.)

88.78% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were a total of 12 surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 4, Anonymous Australian Photographer, Dr. Godfrey Howitt’s garden, Melbourne, Australia, 1840s, at $18750
Lot 49, Laura Gilpin, Sunset, North Rim, Mesa Verde Series, mid 1920s, at $20000
Lot 83, Walker Evans, Alabama Farmer’s Kitchen, 1936/Later, at $27500
Lot 122, Edward Weston, Nautilus, 1927, at $1082500
Lot 126, Edward Weston, Civilian Defense, 1942, at $152500
Lot 128, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Tenaya Lake, Yosemite National Park, 1930s, at $6875
Lot 133, Edward Weston, Eggplant, 1929, at $72100
Lot 147, Harry Callahan, Eleanor, 1947, at $27500
Lot 160, Robert Frank, Butte, Montana, 1956, at $146500
Lot 163, Robert Frank, Freak Show Photos (Exile on Main Street), 1950s, at $30000 (image at right, via Sotheby’s)
Lot 182, Robert Mapplethorpe, Orchids, 1982, at $27500
Lot 242, Darren Almond, Full Moon @Merced Meadow, 2005, at $22500

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Sotheby’s
1334 York Avenue
New York, NY 10021

Ryuji Miyamoto, Kobe @Amador

JTF (just the facts): A total of 23 works (18 black and white images and 5 photograms), framed in black and white respectively and matted, and hung against cream and grey walls in the main gallery spaces. The gelatin silver prints are 24×20 or reverse, in editions of 15; all of the images were taken in 1995. The photograms are either 32×26 or 15×12, and each is unique; these prints were made in 2008 and 2009. A revised monograph of the Kobe images was published in 2006 by Bearlin (here); signed copies are available from the gallery for $75. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Ryuji Miyamoto’s photographs of the aftermath of the earthquake in Kobe in 1995 are so formally pure that they almost make you forget that about the death and destruction they document. Unlike other pictures of natural disasters (floods, hurricanes, tornadoes etc.) which often depict the awe-inspiring chaos left behind by the sheer force of nature, Miyamoto’s images of shaken and collapsed city buildings have a sense of orderly disorder, a composed sculptural quality that focuses our attention on abstract patterns in the tilted walls and rubble.

For the most part, these pictures are entirely absent of people, enveloping them in an uninhabited silence, a quiet unreality where the walls are falling in all around us. In some images, the damage seems to have been controlled, where buildings stand mostly intact, except for the strange dissonance of a collapsed floor or a string of broken windows and snapped girders. In others, the destruction is more widespread; entire structures lean perilously, or have been reduced to dense piles of broken concrete and tangled wires. Some even look like Postmodern architecture, albeit with an unsettling disaster undertone. In nearly every image, straight lines have become angles and diagonals: buildings are toppling into alleyways, telephone poles are bent, entire structures teeter on the verge of giving in. The geometries overlap in cacophonous layers, with architectural patterns and motifs repeated and reprised in unexpected ways. What is perhaps most shocking is how beautiful these pictures are, especially when the lines and forms tangle together in a big, chaotic mess.
Hung together with the earthquake images are a set of recent photograms, made almost 15 years later. In these works, Miyamoto went back to Kobe and collected a variety of insect and bird specimens (mosquitoes, cicadas, dragonflies etc.) and made simple photograms representing the relentless renewal of life after the catastrophe. In one, the artist’s hand reaches into the frame like the Michelangelo’s hand of God; together, they provide an eloquent coda to the rebuilding process.

Overall, this is an exquisitely crafted and mature photographic project, combining large format formality and up-close intimacy, telling the devastating story of the Kobe earthquake with remarkable grace.
Collector’s POV: The gelatin silver prints in this show are reasonably priced at $3000 or $4000, based on their place in the edition. The photograms are either $6000 or $3500, based on size. A few of Miyamoto’s works have recently come into the secondary markets, but not enough to have any real pricing pattern. Many of his photo books have also become quite collectable. Miyamoto is also represented by Taro Nasu Gallery in Tokyo/Osaka (here), Kicken Berlin (here), and Michael Hoppen Contemporary (here) in London.

Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:
  • Cardboard Houses (here)
  • UBS Art Collection (here)
Through May 8th
41 East 57th Street
New York, NY 10022

Robert Longo, Men in the Cities

JTF (just the facts): Published in 2009 by Schirmer/Mosel (here). The book is subtitled Photographs 1976-1982. 128 pages, with 93 color and black and white images. Includes a short essay by Cindy Sherman and an artist interview with Richard Price. In both English and German. (Cover shot at right, via Amazon.)

Comments/Context: Until I recently came across this excellent book, I had no idea that Robert Longo had used photographs as the source material for his famous drawings of lunging 1980s men in skinny ties; I had always assumed that the pictures were appropriated from somewhere or just imagined in his own mind. In fact, Longo set up his camera on the rooftop of his apartment and threw a variety of objects at his friends, capturing their violent reactions in these amazing photographs, that he then turned into his now iconic monochrome drawings.

What is altogether surprising about these pictures is that they rival the best dance photographs that have ever been made – Martha Graham never looked so good. The jerks and spasms of Longo’s subjects have an elegance and grace that is entirely unexpected; protective reactions and exaggerated gestures have been turned into effortless and authentic choreography, a ballet of falls and stumbles, leaps and trips. While the business suits and skirts have a retro film noir look, the movements are fresh and vital, full of energy and life, even when they mockingly portray the agonizing arrival of a bullet to the chest or a fist to the jaw. Thirty years in the drawer have failed to dampen the impact of these “death dance” pictures – they document an essence of human motion, boiled down to pure expression.

Collector’s POV: Robert Longo is represented in New York by Metro Pictures (here). Digital prints of these photographs were produced in 2009, but they have yet to reach the secondary markets; as such, gallery retail is really the only option for interested collectors at this point.

Transit Hub:

  • Artist site (here)
  • Video interview (here)

James Welling, Glass House @Zwirner

JTF (just the facts): A total of 22 color works, framed in white and matted, and hung in two gallery spaces and the entrance hallway. 16 of the works are color inkjet prints, each roughly 33×50 (or reverse); they are printed in editions of 5, and were made between 2006 and 2009. The other 6 works are also color inkjet prints, but they have been individually overpainted with acrylic paint, making each unique. These prints vary in size from roughly 7×10 to 12×13, and were also made between 2006 and 2009. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: James Welling’s photographs of Philip Johnson’s famous Glass House in New Canaan, CT, are complex experiments in the properties of colored light. The house itself sits like a jewel box in lush landscaped grounds, and Welling has alternately used its transparency and reflectivity, in conjunction with a rainbow of colored filters, to create a kaleidoscope of flares, shadows, distortions, glares, and blurs. He has transformed the colorless glass building into a prism, where layers of colors seem to explode in all directions.

Welling’s images highlight the combination of space in the architectural design, where interior and exterior merge, and views from the outside look right through the building, unbroken by the structure. But the real originality in these pictures lies in their wild overlapping colors, the psychedelic orange, the deep magenta, the neon green, the cool royal blue, and the acidic yellow. Sunsets, grassy lawns and snowfields take on unreal tints and hues, often made more chaotic by a multiple reflection of a nearby tree branch or the use of a negative reversal. Angles and geometries are carefully controlled to separate the colors, creating unexpected pairings and abstract mixtures. In a group of smaller images hung in the entry, Welling has gone further, adding a layer of painted washes to the photographs, the drips and swirls adding texture and further fogging to the already eye-popping compositions.

Stripped of their color, these images would likely be characterized as unspectacular shots of a masterpiece of Modernist architecture. The infusion of vivid, radical color has however taken this cool, detached structure and given it moods: melancholy, anger, anxiety, and hazy afternoon mellowness. The color is no longer embedded in the identity of the underlying subject, but sits as a layer or filter on top. In a certain way, it is as if Welling has “appropriated” this iconic building, and made it his own via mash-ups with intense, stratified veils of color. Straight representation and color field abstraction have been merged together, creating images that are both pleasingly decorative and intellectually challenging.

Collector’s POV: The large color prints in this show are each priced at $25000; the smaller overpainted prints are available for $10000 each. Welling’s photographs have been available in the secondary markets from time to time in recent years, generally pricing between $2000 to $10000. Welling is also represented by Regen Projects in Los Angeles (here).
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Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

  • Artforum 500 words (here)
  • Review: LA Times (here)
  • Interview: Artinfo (here)

James Welling, Glass House
Through April 24th

David Zwirner
525 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011

Kenneth Josephson @Gitterman

JTF (just the facts): A total of 45 black and white images, framed in black and matted, and hung throughout the gallery (including the main and front spaces on the ground floor, the hallways and staircase, and the main space on the second floor). Most of the prints on view are vintage gelatin silver prints from the period between 1959 and 1976, although there are a few recent prints mixed in as well. Only a handful have specific edition sizes (ranging from 12 to 50). (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Kenneth Josephson seems to be one of those photographers that for whatever reason never quite made it into broad mainstream of photography, and as a result, has been given a more subtle supporting role in this history of the medium. While his name is well known to photography insiders and he had a full retrospective at the Art Institute of Chicago as recently as a decade ago, even his most recognizable work remains surprisingly affordable, seemingly overlooked or caught in an eddy pool off to the side of the market. This exhibit gathers together many of his most iconic vintage images from the 1960s and 1970s (along with some lesser known pictures that provide further background and depth to his work of that period) and makes a case for his continued relevance to the medium’s contemporary incarnations.
Starting with a few early prints from his master’s thesis on multiple imagery at the ID in Chicago and continuing through a variety of projects and series (all with strong conceptual foundations), the show traces Josephson’s consistent intellectual interest in the nature of photographic perception. His experiments with the contrasts of light and shadow on Chicago city streets are often richly dark, with spots of bright light dappled across the composition or used as highlights to catch moments of motion. His images within images use layers of pictures to construct witty trompe l’oeil optical illusions and puns – an outstretched arm holds an image of a boat just above an expanse of sea, merging the straight and the staged. His images of marks and evidence look for meaning in what has been inadvertently left behind – skid marks on an open road, depressions in the grass, scratches left on a wall by the movements of a shrub, or the outline of snow on the protected side of a car. His history of photography pictures bring clever humor to acknowledged masterpieces – an arm holds a ruler up to the Tetons, with a puzzling conceptual nod to O’Sullivan. And his archaeology pictures introduce an unexpected black and white measuring stick into his compositions, adding a layer of implied authenticity. Regardless of his subject, Josephson’s works have a mind-stretching braininess, challenging the viewer to actively consider the process of seeing.
While the arguments over truth in photography seem particularly active in our current digitally altered world, this body of work is a strong reminder that these questions are not new, and that conceptually minded photographers were playing with the puzzling realities of camera-driven perception long before it became so obvious and commonplace. These images remain fresh and original even decades later, a testament to the creativity and ingenuity Josephson has applied to pushing the edges of our visual vocabulary.
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Collector’s POV: The prints in this show are priced between $3000 and $12000, with most of the works set either at $5000 or $6000. Josephson’s work has been only intermittently available in the secondary markets in recent years, with prices ranging from $1000 to $12000, with most between $3000 and $5000. The artist is also represented by Stephen Daiter Gallery in Chicago (here).

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:
  • Review: New Yorker (here)
  • Essay by AD Coleman (here)
Through April 17th
170 East 75th Street
New York, NY 10021

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