Quick Preview Roundup

I was able to do a quick round of visits to the auction previews yesterday afternoon, in advance of next week’s sales at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Phillips and Bloomsbury. In talking with a variety of specialists, the common theme is one of palpable nervousness about just how much the chaos in the financial markets will affect the sales. I was advised more than once that it might be a good idea to “be in the room” for these sales, as no one knows what might happen and some interesting lots may be available at unexpected prices. (Since we never go to any auctions in person, this isn’t really applicable to us, but I understand the underlying point.) Here are some unscientific remarks about each preview:

Sotheby’s: Sotheby’s had the most action of the previews I went to. All four specialists were around, answering questions and circulating. During the time I was there, there were only a couple of other collectors (who shall remain nameless) beyond myself who were actually looking at work out of the frames, but there were a handful of others milling about, including one tour group (?). In addition to the various owner sale preview, there are a selection of images from the upcoming Jammes sale on view in an adjacent room.

Christie’s: At Christie’s, the various owner and Eggleston sales are jammed into rooms on the main floor, with the larger contemporary work upstairs. I was the only one looking at work out of the frames while I was there, although there were at least two other real collectors milling around. There was one specialist working each floor while I was there, although there didn’t seem to be much for them to do. There is a sale of musical instruments going on concurrently, so the rooms are filled with snippets of classical music (buyers testing out the instruments).

Bloomsbury: I had not been to Bloomsbury prior to my visit; it is located on the second floor of a random building on 48th street, not far from Rockefeller Center and Christie’s. This preview had some excitement, as all the specialists and staff were milling around, trying to be helpful, friendly and welcoming. It’s a relatively small viewing space (about the size of a medium sized gallery), so it doesn’t take long to single out the works you are there to see. Overall, I was impressed with the fresh sense of paying attention to the clients.

Phillips: I think I must have visited Phillips at an off time, as the preview was a ghost town: no specialists, virtually no staff save the guards, and very few visitors. These are cavernous spaces, so they feel very empty if you are the only one wandering around (every footfall reverberates). They have several rooms of gallery like exhibitions up at the same time as the preview (in adjacent rooms), which is a bit confusing, as it is not immediately clear what is in the sale and what is not. If this preview is representative of the mood of the marketplace given the overall financial distress, it’s going to be a bloodbath next week.

It seems clear to me from these visits that there are going to be some bargains available at these sales, and those with some liquidity will be able to take advantage of the situation. That said, whether collectors (ourselves included) will feel confident enough to open their wallets at all (even with these opportunities available) is, I think, still very uncertain.

Making It Real, Photomontage Before Photoshop @De Lellis

JTF (just the facts): A total of 41 images, of varying sizes and from various, mostly lesser known photographers, running from the mid 1860s up through the 1950s, displayed throughout the gallery. (See installation shot at right.) The show is a mixture of albumen and gelatin silver prints, some with hand coloring. Prices range from $1200 to $9500.

Comments/Context: Just when digital photographers have convinced themselves that their post capture manipulation is something new and startling, this smart show comes along to remind them that this kind of work has been going on since the early days of the medium. While truth has been a dominant mode for photography from the beginning, there seems to always have been an undercurrent of artists and designers who were interested in depicting the allegorical, the fantastic, or the staged.
In the mid 1800s, artists were plagued by the slow speed of the available materials; the exposure times were just too long for a staged scene of 20 people to come out without blurring. So they took to the darkroom and used multiple negatives to construct their scenes, and so doing, began the thread of montage and manipulation. There is an amazing image in the exhibit by Spencer y Cia (Untitled, c1870, see at right) which constructs an edge to edge image out of hundreds of individual shots of women’s heads.
Staring in the 1920s, the combined influences of advertising and surrealism come together for a flowering of montaged images that will seem more familiar to most viewers. Most are constructed our of two or three negatives melded together to tell a story, evoke an emotion or sell a product. The historical backdrop for later artists (like Jerry Uelsmann, who took montage in new directions) is clear.
Collector’s POV: We actually like multiple exposure images, and think they work particularly well in depicting the movement and energy of cities. We have a few in our collection by Harry Callahan (here and here) and Peter Keetman (here), all from the late 1940s/early 1950s. From our view point and in this context, the best picture in the show was Edward Quigley’s multiple of the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 1942 (see at right). While there were not many other images that were a direct fit for us, this show is well worth seeing, if only to remind you that the careful and thoughtful manipulation of photography has been around a very long time.
Rating: * (1 star) GOOD (rating system defined here)
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Making It Real, Photomontage Before Photoshop
Through November 1st
1045 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10075

Florian Böhm, Wait for Walk @Cohen Amador

JTF (just the facts): A total of 13 pigment prints, 3 in the panorama 22×65 format (in an edition of 5), the rest in standard rectangular formats of either 20×25 or 47×58 (all the images come in both sizes I believe, editions of 7 and 5 respectively), displayed throughout the gallery. (See installation shot at right.) All the negatives are dated 2005. There is also a book of the same name, published by Hatje Cantz.

Comments/Context: Florian Böhm’s Wait for Walk series starts with a simple premise: stand on the other side of the street and take a picture of the people as they gather, waiting for the light to change. Given the melting pot that is New York city, it isn’t surprising that he has captured some interesting juxtapositions of people, dress, and movement. To my eye, Böhm’s work has the feel of an anthropological study. They are pictures taken by someone who is outside the culture he is documenting, and as a result, the images seem a little specimen-like. That said, if you walk out onto the streets of the city right after you see these pictures, you will find the world is very much as he has depicted it (it hasn’t changed much in 3 years). Perhaps these pictures will benefit from a few decades passing, so we can look back nostalgically at the fashions and styles of these times and laugh at how stupid we looked (when we thought we were cool). Or maybe they should be shown in Paris, or Shanghai, or Bangalore, where the streets of New York will look more other worldly than they do here.
It’s hard not to think of the work of Philip-Lorca diCorcia when you see Böhm’s images. diCorcia did a similar type of hidden camera street photography throughout the 1990s, although without the conceptual framework of the consistent image framing and set-up that Böhm has employed. As a result, since diCorcia did images from all over the world, I think his images stand alone more strongly (can you bring to mind the businessman with the umbrella in NY or the woman with the bag in Mexico City?) and encourage a bit more narrative imagination on the part of the viewer. Böhm’s work is more clinical, and while there are moments of humor (the yawn), these works lead you to dissect the people and their gestures rather than guess at their stories and lives.
The artist’s website can be found here.
Collector’s POV: The images range in price from $2500 to $6500, based on size, with one image at $11000. While these images don’t fit our collecting vision, Böhm has collected some interesting moments in these works, which will likely become even more wry and telling as they age, so swing by the gallery to see the show before it closes.
Rating: * (1 star) GOOD (rating system defined here)
Through October 18th
41 East 57th Street
6th Floor
New York, NY 10022

Phillips De Pury & Company Sold to Russian Luxury Retailer

According to news reports, Phillips has sold a majority stake to the Moscow-based Mercury Group, a luxury retailer and owner of the TSUM department store. Simon De Pury will retain his stake and position. How this capital infusion and change in governance might impact the photography department is unclear, but I think we can safely assume offices will open in Moscow and Russian collectors will be a renewed focus.

Perhaps now will be the point when the firm finally sharpens its strategy once and for all. Imagine what might happen in the photography department if it were to actually devote its energies solely to the contemporary market (with a hard and fast rule of no photography before say 1970). Then things might just get interesting.

The report in the Financial Times is here.

Auction Preview: Important 19th & 20th Century Photographs, October 21, 2008 @Swann

Over the years, Swann Galleries has carved out its own special niche in the photography auction market. In contrast to Sotheby’s and Christie’s, Swann is the home of the lesser known, the quirky, and the eclectic (not to mention the lower priced). It is not afraid of unusual 19th century material, second tier images/later prints by major photographers, or first rate work by artists out of favor or under appreciated. As a result, we have always found it a terrific place to find surprising images with a limited audience and often the one venue where a true bargain (always in the eye of the beholder) can be found in the overheated auction market.

At 390 lots of photography, this is the largest single sale at Swann (not including photo books) that we can remember, and it has the signature Swann randomness throughout. With a total estimate of $2659900, this sale is full of lower priced material.

Here’s the breakdown:

Total Low lots (high estimate $10000 and below): 346
Total Low estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $1732900

Total Mid lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 43
Total Mid estimate: $867000

Total High lots (high estimate above $50000): 1
Total High estimate: $60000

We didn’t see too many stand outs in this sale, but as always, there are some unusual pictures that catch our eye. Here are a selection of images we find of interest:

  • Lot 33 Charles Jones, Posoqueria Longiflora, c1900
  • Lot 65 Edward Weston, Nude, 1925
  • Lot 93 Edward Weston, Nude, Fay Fuqua, 1933
  • Lot 156 Aaron Siskind, Gloucester 28, 1944/1960s
  • Lot 208 Weegee, Empire State Building Distortion, 1955
  • Lot 246 Irving Penn, Nude #8, 1949/1980

In these turbulent financial times, it will be interesting to see how well the lower half of the market holds up. If collectors vanish, you will likely see opportunistic dealers buying for inventory. This sale will be a good benchmark to watch.

Important 19th & 20th Century Photographs
October 21, 2008

Swann Galleries
104 East 25th Street
New York, NY 10010

Chen Jiagang, The Great Third Front @Houk

JTF (just the facts): 11 large scale Lambda prints, shown in two sizes, in the main gallery and the small adjoining room. 3 of the prints are in the 63×80 size (editions of 6) and the other 8 are in the slightly smaller 40×70 (editions of 12). All of the negatives are from 2008. (See installation shot at right.)

Comments/Context: The rapid ascendancy of Chinese contemporary art in the past few years has been astounding. A decade ago, the vast majority of these artists (in all mediums) were virtually unknown in the West; now many are fetching multi-million dollar prices and are cornerstones of the secondary market. Chinese contemporary photography is a subset of this wave. Since there have few if any major museum or gallery shows of this work in New York, I think many collectors are still getting educated about where this work fits and how to think about it, trying to get a little deeper than just “it’s the new hot thing”.
Chen Jiagang is a Beijing-based former architect, turned photographer. The show’s title, The Great Third Front, refers to a period in China’s history when it relocated many of its strategic resources (read heavy industry and military) away from the populated coast and further inland to make them safer from attack. Huge factories and mills were built in small villages, bringing in large numbers of workers to fill them. When China moved to a more market driven economy in the 1980s, these industrial areas were all but abandoned, and all the activity moved back to the traditional economic centers.
Like many artists of his generation, Chen is interested in the changes that have come with the rapid growth and modernization of the country and what it means to be Chinese in this new age. Most of the images in this carefully composed series contrast these huge, hulking industrial structures with one or two solitary female models. The scale of these buildings is immense, so the fragile blank faced models are dwarfed by comparison. The mills and furnaces are filled with smoke and fog and mist and evoke a deep melancholy. Surprisingly, there is almost a feeling of nostalgia in these staggering environmental wastelands. Perhaps like many Chinese, Chen is struggling with how to measure the past and the present in his country. Regardless, he has developed a clear artistic point of view; these are not like pictures you have seen anywhere else.
Collector’s POV: These huge pictures are bigger than any wall in our home and their subject matter doesn’t fit our genres, so there isn’t any fit for us here. The images range from $18000 for the smallest to $36000 for the largest size, which seems a bit high, given the artist and work are pretty new to the photography world. But if this work skyrockets like all the rest of the Chinese contemporary art, these prices may someday seem like bargains, so who knows. Overall, the show is well worth seeing, both for the quality of the work itself and for the opportunity to sharpen your understanding of what’s going on in Chinese contemporary photography.
Rating: * (1 star) GOOD (rating system defined here)

Chen Jiagang, The Great Third Front
Through October 18th

745 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10151

Auction Preview: Inaugural Photographs Sale, October 17, 2008 @Bloomsbury New York

As collectors, we see the the entry of Bloomsbury into the New York auction market as nothing but good news. The Gang of Four (Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Phillips and Swann) have had it pretty good in recent years with the expansion of the photography market, and their buyer’s premiums have risen in equal measure (except at Swann). The emergence of a fifth credible player will be good for collectors: more material will be available in the market as a whole, hopefully more top quality work will be uncovered and brought to market in the name of competition, and prices might even out a bit, given Bloomsbury’s 20% buyer’s premium for images under $300000.

Getting going from a cold start is a pretty daunting task. Client lists need to be built, internal infrastructure has to be put in place, and material has to be pried loose from consignors without any track record of prior success. So the fact that this sale has come together at all is a testament to the work of John Cowley and Hannah Hayden, with the help of Rick Wester.

There are a total of 145 lots in this sale, with a total estimate of $2588800. This number is a little misleading in that one lot, the five volume The Countries of the Amur, Eastern Siberia, Western Siberia and the Urals, 1860-1866, carries a high estimate of $1200000, thereby making the rest of the sale worth $1388800.

Here is the breakdown:

Total Low lots (high estimate of $10000 or lower): 118
Total Low estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $733800

Total Mid lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 24
Total Mid estimate: $515000

Total High lots (high estimate above $50000): 3
Total High estimate: $1340000

Except for the Siberian volumes mentioned above (which will swamp the numbers one way or the other), this is a low end sale of mostly mainstream work. There aren’t a lot of surprises or hidden gems here. But in the context of a new entrant, this is a perfectly respectable sale of a broad range of photography.

For our particular collection, there are only a couple of lots that fit well:

  • Lot 9 Lewis Baltz, West Wall, the Ted Pella Company, Space W 109, the Esplanade V, 3001 Redhill, Costa Mesa, 1975
  • Lot 61 Harry Callahan, Chicago, 1949/Later

It is our hope that Bloomsbury will have at least a modest success with this sale and use that momentum to redouble their efforts to dig up great material, so that by next spring, it is a real and meaningful competitor in this market. Along the way, it will need to decide in which niche it wants to play and who it wants to take on directly. It should be fun to watch.

Inaugural Photographs Sale
October 17, 2008

Bloomsbury Auctions
6 West 48th Street
New York, NY 10036

Auction Preview: Photographs, October 16, 2008 @Phillips

Given the changes in the line up of specialists at Phillips over the years, it’s not surprising that the character of its Photographs sales has meandered back and forth, in some periods focusing on vintage work, in others focusing on contemporary work. As a result, you never really know what kind of material is going to be in a Phillips sale. One unfortunate byproduct of changing strategies is that it is hard to develop a consistent flow of the very best, top quality material. As such, while Phillips has clearly established itself as the number three player in this market, to challenge the entrenched duopoly, it will need to win a higher percentage of consignments of the stand out lots. Unfortunately, to our eye, this sale is low on stars, and is thereby relegated to being a grab bag of run of the mill material.

There are a total of 227 lots in this sale, for a total estimate of $4059500. Here are the stats:

Total Low lots (high estimate of $10000 and lower): 108
Total Low estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $788500

Total Mid lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 111
Total Mid estimate: $2521000

Total High lots (high estimate above $50000): 8
Total High estimate: $750000

Compared with the Christie’s and Sotheby’s various owner sales, there are nearly twice as many low end lots, a third less mid range lots, and 75-80% less high end lots. They may be some bargains to be had, but I fear that we may see a meaningfully higher buy-in rate here, due mostly to the lesser quality of the material.

There aren’t as many great fits for our collection in this sale, but here are a few we like:

  • Lot 15 Edward Weston, Nude on Sand, Oceano, 1936
  • Lot 26 Harry Callahan, Chicago, 1949/Later
  • Lot 27 Harry Callahan, Chicago, 1949/Later
  • Lot 131 Robert Mapplethorpe, Lisa Lyon, 1981

And although outside our collection themes, Lot 194 Izima Kaoru, Koike Eiko Wears Gianni Versace #423, 2004 is terrific.

Photographs
October 16, 2008

Phillips De Pury & Company
450 West 15th Street
New York, NY 10011

Auction Preview: Photographs, October 14 and 15, 2008 @Sotheby’s

In the past few years, Sotheby’s has solidified its place at the top of the Photographs heap by consistently unearthing a higher percentage of truly high quality material, both for single and various owner sales. The auction house has made a conscious decision to focus its attention on these top lots (quality), letting the low end (quantity) go by the wayside for the most part.

When you dig into the details of this sale, this strategy really comes through strongly (i.e. their execution is good). There are a total of 249 lots in this sale, for a total estimate of a whopping (for Photography) $10115000. Here’s the breakdown:

Total Low lots (high estimate $10000 or lower): 57
Total Low estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $490000

Total Mid lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 153
Total Mid estimate: $3545000

Total High lots (high estimate over $50000): 39
Total High estimate: $6080000

What is interesting is that in the High range, Sotheby’s and Christie’s have approximately the same number of lots (39 and 37 respectively), but the value of those lots at Sotheby’s is nearly double that of Christie’s ($6080000 versus $3540000). It is this difference in value (and quality) that separates the sales; in the Low and Mid ranges, they are comparable (at least by number of lots, estimated value, and quality of material). And as we all know, it is the top end that drives the revenue of the auction house.

Interestingly, there are only 12 21st century lots in this sale (negative date of 2000 or later); Sotheby’s seems to be losing the battle of contemporary photography to its rivals, or else has temporarily ceded this ground, only to come back and fight for it when the dollars really materialize. Additionally, there are only 6 19th century lots in this sale, which is surprising, as I think of Sotheby’s having strength in this area. Perhaps this is just the variation in arrival rate of great (or even adequate) material.

Finally, I have to add that I think some of the low end estimates here are on the high side (verging on the ridiculous). A later print of Judy Dater’s Imogen and Twinka for $5000-7000? Later prints of Brandt nudes for $8000-12000? A single Siskind Pleasures and Terrors later print for $7000-10000? Come on.

There are many images to tempt us in this sale:

  • Lot 5 Tina Modotti, Cala Lillies, 1924 (print by Manuel Alvarez Bravo 1976)
  • Lot 7 Edward Weston, Tina on the Azotea, 1924
  • Lot 16 Karl Blossfeldt, Blumenbachia Hieronymi, Loasaceae, 1920s
  • Lot 17 Imogen Cunningham, False Hellebore (Glacial Lily), 1927
  • Lot 18 Imogen Cunningham, Figures (Two Sisters), 1928/1950s
  • Lot 19 Alma Lavenson, Tank, 1931
  • Lot 20 Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, Marseille, 1929
  • Lot 39 Robert Frank, Paris, 1951
  • Lot 80 Dr. Dain Tasker, X-Ray of a Lily, 1930
  • Lot 195 Robert Mapplethorpe, Orchids, 1985
  • Lot 196 Robert Mapplethorpe, Lily, 1984

Since we are such active Cunningham collectors, the Two Sisters image, even as an unsigned later print is the most enticing for us. We have been looking for an image from this series for a long time, and none has surfaced. Whether it is worth $40000-60000 (which seems meaningfully high to us), we’ll soon see.

Photographs
October 14 and 15, 2008

Sotheby’s
1334 York Avenue
New York, NY 10021

Books on Private Collections (Part 2)

A few weeks ago, we began a two part series covering great books on private photography collections (the first post can be found here.) Today, we’ll finish up that thought by discussing the second group of 6 books.

To summarize the idea driving these posts again for context, as collectors, we are particularly interested in the collecting process, and in particular, for those who have been at it for longer and who have built world class collections, how they went about it, how they made decisions, and how their collections evolved over time. These books give us some comparables as we head down a parallel road.

As a reminder, we have organized these alphabetically by collector’s last name, and the first post got us up through Gary Sokol. So let’s continue:

7.) Double Vision: Photographs from the Strauss Collection, University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, 2000

Regardless of how a collection might be titled, most collections are built by the driving passion of a single person. What is therefore most interesting about this collection is that it truly is a collection built by two people in partnership. My wife and I work together on our collection, and I can attest that having two sets of eyes clearly and dramatically changes which pictures are eventually included. The shared process is spectacularly fun.

We have been fortunate to have had some small communication with Joyce and Ted Strauss over the years, and they have been wonderfully encouraging, especially in our tentative steps to expand our collection beyond the established masters and take some “risks”. We clearly have some areas of overlap, where we have both collected similar images (Siskind, Kertesz, Mapplethorpe, Caponigro etc.) And while not every picture in this book fits our aesthetic (and the book is a subset of their much larger holdings), I like the fact that they have been out on the edge, exploring the best of the new ideas that have come along. They have not tried to build a complete history of the medium, but a selection that reflects their common point of view.

As is the case with many great collections, this collection has begun a process of being narrowing, with some images donated to museums, and others appearing from time to time at auction. Here are a handful that we would enjoy adding to our effort:

  • Lewis Baltz, South Wall, Semicoa, 333 McCormick, Costa Mesa, 1974
  • Robert Mapplethorpe, Tulip, 1988
  • Robert Adams, Denver, 1973-1974
  • Bernd & Hilla Becher, Trier-Ehrang, D, 1982

8.) An Eclectic Focus: Photographs from the Vernon Collection, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1999.

The Vernon collection is another husband and wife collaboration. In this case, the outcome is a truly massive collection of some 5500 images, with a consistent strength and depth across the medium unlike any I have seen in a private collection. The collection begins with the earliest experiments in the medium and ends with contemporary photography. This collection is now held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, with a show entitled A Story of Photography: The Marjorie and Leonard Vernon Collection scheduled to open this Friday (link here).

Some of the amazing images include:

  • William Henry Fox Talbot, Lace, 1840s
  • Frantisek Drtikol, Reclining Nude, 1930s
  • Chales Sheeler, Stairwell, Williamsburg, 1935
  • Edward Steichen, Double Sunflower, 1920
  • Edward Weston, Plaster Works, 1925
  • Margaret Bourke-White, Fort Peck Dam, Montana, 1936
  • Edward Weston, Nude, 1926
  • Alma Lavenson, Union Oil Tanks, Alameda, 1931
  • Edward Weston, Nude on Sand, Oceano, 1936
  • Max Yavno, Powell Street, 1947
  • Bill Brandt, Nude, 1956

9.) An American in Europe: The Photography Collection of Baroness Jeane von Oppenheim from the Norton Museum of Art, Norton Museum of Art, 2000.

This collection focuses on 20th century work from Europe, particularly Germany, covering a wide swath of subject matter. (The book itself is divided into Theatre, Figure Studies, Spaces, Constructions, Structures, Cityscapes, Portraits, Landscapes, Nature, and Still Life.) As American collectors, it’s easy to get blinded into spending all our time on American artists; the work is widely available. A collection of this kind reminds us to look outside our comfort zone and explore other work that we would like equally well or better if we were more educated about it. As flower collectors, we are very interested in Blossfeldt, Renger–Patzsch, Fuhrmann and others from Germany, and this collection has some tremendous examples of this kind of work. There is also a strain of strong industrial work coming out of 1920s/1930s Germany represented here.

Here are some terrific examples:

  • Dr. Paul Wolff, New Bridge Over the Rhine River at Duisburg, 1939
  • Albert Renger–Patzsch, Crane, 1927
  • Bernd & Hilla Becher, Cooling Towers, 1963-1973
  • Piet Zwart, Factory Chimney, 1931
  • Alexander Rodchenko, Ladder, 1925
  • Karl Blossfeldt, Dipsacus Iaciniatus, Fuller’s Tease, 1900-1928
  • Karl Blossfledt, Papaver Orientale, Oriental Poppy, 1900-1928
  • Karl Blossfledt, Cucurbita Pepo, Pumpkin Tendrils, 1900-1928
  • Ernst Fuhrmann, Prunus Cerasus, Sour Cherries, n.d.
  • Ernst Fuhrmann, Untitled, n.d.
  • Ernst Fuhrmann, Datura Artosea, c1924
  • Ernst Fuhrmann, Aralia Sieboldi, Exotic Ivy, c1929
  • Ernst Fuhrmann, Kentia Forsteriana, c1929

10.) A Book of Photographs: From the Collection of Sam Wagstaff, Gray Press, 1978.

Sam Wagstaff clearly had an eye for unusual photographs. This collection spans the history of photography and runs the gamut from established masters to vernacular and anonymous pictures; it just didn’t seem to matter where the pictures came from as long as they were interesting. What I like about this collection is that it has a clear point of view. It isn’t a grab bag of greatest hits (or even famous pictures); it’s personal, and that’s what makes it exciting to look at.

While not necessarily a great fit for our collection, here are a few I like:

  • Walker Evans, Liberte: Promenade Deck, Post Forward, 1958
  • Gray Brothers, Diamond Fields, South Africa, Ore Carrying Ropes, Kimberley Diamond Mine, 1875
  • Adolphe Braun, Still Life, c1855
  • Thomas Annan, Close No. 18, Saltmarket, 1868
  • Anonymous, Barnum and Bailey Circus Tent in Paris, 1901
  • Anonymous, Nude, c1855

11.) A Personal View: Photography in the Collection of Paul F. Walter, Museum of Modern Art, 1985.

This collection is strongest in 19th century material, although there are a selection of terrific 20th century pieces as well. There is an excellent essay on Collectors of Photography, written by John Pultz, in this volume.

Some favorites:

  • David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, Colinton Wood, 1843-1847
  • Robert Howlett, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the Launching Chains of the Great Eastern, 1857
  • Julia Margaret Cameron, Mrs. Duckworth, 1867
  • William Rittasae, Light Rays on Trains, Las Salle Street Station, Chicago, 1931
  • Imogen Cunningham, Cala Leaves, 1932

12.) Passion and Precision; Photographs from the Collection of Margaret W. Weston, Monterey Museum of Art, 2003.

When we lived on the West coast, we were able to visit the Weston Gallery in Carmel from time to time and we purchased a few images from Maggi over those years. In talking with her then, I remember vividly her mentioning other works that weren’t in the gallery, but were “in the vault” and that I could come back another time to see some of them. Unfortunately, I never took her up on it. Having a copy of this exhibition catalog will have to do.

As you look through this small book, you will be amazed at the consistency of vision in it, across all types, styles, and periods of photography. She had a tremendous eye for good composition and for spectacular prints. Many of these images made their way back into the market in the recent Sotheby’s sale.

Here are some that we like:

  • Anna Atkins, Pteris Rotundifolia (Jamaica), c1851
  • Edward Weston, Hands Against Kimono, 1923
  • Edward Weston, The White Iris, 1921
  • Imogen Cunningham, Amphitheater #2, 1920
  • Alma Lavenson, Water Lily, 1931

We’ve come to the end of this rather exhaustive list. If you think we’ve missed some collection books of worth, please post them in the Comments, as we never seem to have enough.

New Photography 2008: Josephine Meckseper and Mikhael Subotzky @MoMA

JTF (just the facts): On one side of the gallery, 21 chromogenic prints, each approximately 40×50, negatives from 2006-2008. On the other side, 5 larger than life size color portraits (each approximately 80×60), negatives from 2006. One wall, behind several of the portraits, is covered with printed color wallpaper with a silvery reflective backing. 3 mixed media installations (glass cases/shelves) and 2 additional color works (negatives from 2008) complete the group.

Comments/Context: Back in 1985, the MoMA began the process of putting on a show of new photography once a year. Each year, it has been a chance to step away from the established masters and recognized stars to explore what is happening out on the bleeding edge, and to ask some questions about how the medium is evolving and where it might be going. It’s an opportunity for the curators to step out a bit and let us know what they think is important, and given the preeminence of this particular museum, we tend to pay attention.
In contrast to shows past where a handful of photographers have been presented, this year there are only two: Josephine Meckseper and Mikhael Subotzky. This structure inevitably leads to a comparison of the two (who doesn’t walk out of the gallery and ask their friends which one they thought was “better”?). This is particularly hard and potentially misleading, since these two bodies of work could hardly be more different.
Subotzky’s work is rooted in the traditions of photojournalism and documentary photography. His images chronicle the life in and around the Beaufort West Prison, located in a desert area of the Western Cape in South Africa. The pictures are consistently strong in their storytelling, their use of color, and their contrasts. (See installation photo at right.) I was particularly moved by the images of a surreal man in a Spider-Man mask striding through a staggering trash heap (Samuel, Vaalkoppies, 2006) and the one of a prisoner taking a nap on a bench near a wall painted to look like the desert outside (Jaco, Beaufort West Prison, 2006), but the work is well made across the board.
The intersection of the ideas of art and photojournalism has always been a puzzle for me. We now call the work of Walker Evans, Margaret Bourke-White, Weegee and many others “art”, and yet virtually all of this work was done at the time in the context of commercial photojournalism. Where do these areas overlap? Is it merely a function of time and quality, such that if the images are strong and enough time goes by, the work that was once commercial is now art? Are the thousands of digital images on a documentary photographer’s hard drive in Iraq today (only a handful of which were used by any major news outlet) the great art of our times?
I like Subotzky’s work and I imagine he will have a long and fruitful career as a photojournalist. That said, we have seen pictures of prisons, and racism, and poverty, and helplessness before. My take away from his work is less therefore about him and more about what his work tells me about the state of the medium. My conclusion is that even in today’s 24-hour news cycle, always on, YouTube world, there are still stories to tell about our world that are going unnoticed and unreported and that are worth hearing. And that even in a digitally manipulated, airbrushed and increasingly cynical environment, the truth still matters.
As you cross the gallery into Josephine Meckseper’s side, a visual assault takes place. The photos are huge, the wallpaper is shiny and colorful, and the whole scene seems carefully managed. (See installation photo at left.) It would be pretty hard not to grasp the conceptual commentary on advertising and consumerism that is throughout this work (it is delivered with a sledge hammer). And yet, I didn’t come away with much that I found new here. We’ve seen plenty of appropriation art over the years (Warhol, Prince etc.) and plenty of reworking of advertising into fine art, and while this installation did have a subtle Eastern bloc feel to it that was a little different, it just didn’t seem particularly novel I’m afraid. There are plenty of references to “political” themes in the press release and wall text, but these were lost (to me at least) in the other messages being sent.
What this tells us about the state of photography is not clear. Perhaps it is an acknowledgment that contemporary artists are more and more using the camera as one of a whole toolbox of implements to make their art, thereby blurring the lines of what “photography” is. Perhaps it is a commentary on the saturation of images that we have come to see as normal, and the undercurrents of what those images represent.
Collector’s POV: Neither of these photographers fits into our personal collection in any way. But it is absolutely worth going to see this show, both to see the specific works and to understand the themes these selections represent and how the MoMA is viewing the important trends in contemporary photography.
One last aside: if you get down to the small type of this exhibit, you’ll notice that this show was made possible by JGS Inc. I recently had a chance to sit down with the folks behind JGS and hear about all the projects they are up to. One way to think about JGS is that it is a “post collecting” endeavor. While they started as photography collectors, they have moved beyond the hunt for particular images to an all encompassing support of contemporary photography. They are no longer looking back to the past, they are focused on the future, and that future includes sponsoring exhibitions, supporting the creation of artists books and DVDs, and the building of their amazing virtual destination, the Forward Thinking Museum. Bricks and mortar curators out there should take heed; these folks are out in the unexplored territory, figuring out how technology impacts what a museum might be in the 21st century (and guess what, it isn’t a touch screen kiosk in the corner of the gallery). And when they go from 35 or so “floors” of photography exhibits in their museum to 500, they will be reinventing how the Internet generation thinks of photography.
Rating: * (1 star) GOOD (rating system defined here)
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Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street
New York, NY 10019

Auction Preview: Photographs, October 14, 2008 @Christie’s

The last of the photography sales at Christie’s New York this season is the various owner sale on October 14th. This is the catch all sale, with photography from all periods and styles. At least that’s what it used to be. There are a grand total of two (2) 19th century lots in an entire sale of 258 lots, so clearly, the 19th century isn’t much of a priority at Christie’s at this point. (I will admit however that these two lots are among the top valued lots in the sale; perhaps it is a “skim the cream” approach.) There are also a handful of recent lots that should have gone in the Contemporary Photography sale, but somehow ended up here. Save these exceptions, this is a standard 20th century sale (without a lot of truly great material), from top to bottom. The total estimate for the sale is $7587000. Here’s the breakdown:

Total Low lots (high estimate $10000 or below): 63
Total Low estimate (sum of high estimates): $528000

Total Mid lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 158
Total Mid estimate: $3519000

Total High lots (high estimate above $50000): 37
Total High estimate: $3540000

So, as usual, the top end will drive the ultimate success of the sale. There are only 6 lots with a low estimate below $5000, further proof that like Sotheby’s, Christie’s is willing to give up the bottom of the low end to Swann, Phillips and others (save for the grab bag low end sales they do from time to time off season). The photographers with the most lots in the sale are the usual suspects:

  • Ansel Adams (31)
  • Irving Penn (17)
  • Henri Cartier-Bresson (13)
  • Harry Callahan (12)
  • Diane Arbus (11)
  • Brassai (11)

For our particular collection, the following lots are of interest to us:

  • Lot 204 Ansel Adams, Nasturtiums, Oceano, California, 1951
  • Lot 267 Harry Callahan, Chicago, 1949
  • Lot 268 Harry Callahan, Dearborn Street, 1948
  • Lot 288 Edward Weston, Tina, 1923
  • Lot 294 Margaret Bourke-White, The George Washington Bridge, for Fortune, 1933
  • Lot 398 Walker Evans, Chicago, 1946
  • Lot 404 Berenice Abbott, Murray Hill Hotel Spiral, from Park Avenue and 40th Street, 1935
  • Lot 407 Harry Callahan, Detroit, 1943
  • Lot 416 Southworth & Hawes, Flowers, c1852
  • Lot 422 Edward Weston, Elbow, 1935

The Weston Elbow is the single best image in the sale, from my point of view. This is the first nude of Weston’s that seems to me to clearly be a precursor to Brandt. The Southworth & Hawes floral is clearly a rare piece, given that so few floral daguerreotpes were made.

Photographs
October 14, 2008

Christie’s
20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020

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