This article is based on a talk I gave at ViewPoint Gallery of Contemporary Photography Second Friday Series on February 13, 2015.
As photographic prints continue to rise in value in the art market more people are willing to invest large sums of money. Why? Where does this value come from?
Photography has struggled to gain a foothold as a fine art for more than 100 years. Arguably it has made it, but it is still considered by some to be painting's poorer cousin. The highest selling photograph (Peter Lik's "Phantom") sold for $6.5 million while the top selling painting (Paul Gauguin's "When Will You Marry Me?") sold for $300 million. Photography is gaining ground but has a long way to go.
Needless to say, in our market economy, prices are established in part by what people are willing to pay and sometimes their decisions are whimsical, irrational and unpredictable. At times value appears to be a product of arbitrary tastes, passing fashion trends and/or having too much money and too much time on their hands. We could pass it all off and say "the art world is populated by rich fools buying the emperor's 'new' clothes" or "any fool with a camera could have taken that". That may explain some of the motives but not all in the serious and diverse global art market.
Modern art value is not just or mainly about aesthetics and craftsmanship. They are important attributes but are not the sole or even the primary contributors to the value of the artwork. To say that a photograph is not beautiful or not technically accomplished is not sufficient in assessing its value.
We need to understand what art is today and what makes it different from crafts. Art is a way of seeing the world that challenges perceptions, evokes emotions and stimulates thought. Art pushes the boundaries of the medium, constantly offering new ways of seeing and understanding the world and ourselves.
The highest priced art are usually those works which represent the best (not necessarily the first) examples of a new movement in art. They show us something new and change the world around us. The works may represent unique turning points in the way art represents the world. The art world acknowledges this unique significance and reflects it in the monetary value placed on the works.
Terry Barret in his book, Criticizing Photographs: An Introduction to Understanding Images (Mayfield Publishing, 1999), presents a useful way to think about and talk about photography and its value. Barret, a professor of art education at the University of North Texas, defines criticism as "informed discourse about photography in order to increase understanding and appreciation of photography". He provides a clear framework for studying photography through a process of a) describing (what is here?), b) interpreting (what is it about?), c) evaluating (is it good?) and c) theorizing (is it art?).
Like Minor White who asked the question "what else is it?", Barret encourages us to look beyond the two dimensional printed, inked and papered image to the issues and assumptions, how does it makes us feel, and what are the world views and values expressed or represented. How does the work make photography, photographs and the world more understandable?
A.D. Coleman, the American photography critic and the first photo critic for the New York Times, says that the art market for photographs has reached an all time high. Forty years of research and writing has raised an awareness of the history of photography in the west. Knowledgeable collectors can position works in the medium's evolution and can understand and appreciate its significance. He also notes that the emergence of wealthy Chinese collectors is making a significant impact on the global art market.
Let's have a look at the top ten, highest priced photographs in the world and try to discover why they might have such high value.
Keep in mind that seven of these prints are very large and the reproductions of all of them do not do justice to the richness of their tones and colour or to the power of their presence and detail.
Can you find any unique elements of value or any common elements of value?
As photographic prints continue to rise in value in the art market more people are willing to invest large sums of money. Why? Where does this value come from?
Photography has struggled to gain a foothold as a fine art for more than 100 years. Arguably it has made it, but it is still considered by some to be painting's poorer cousin. The highest selling photograph (Peter Lik's "Phantom") sold for $6.5 million while the top selling painting (Paul Gauguin's "When Will You Marry Me?") sold for $300 million. Photography is gaining ground but has a long way to go.
Needless to say, in our market economy, prices are established in part by what people are willing to pay and sometimes their decisions are whimsical, irrational and unpredictable. At times value appears to be a product of arbitrary tastes, passing fashion trends and/or having too much money and too much time on their hands. We could pass it all off and say "the art world is populated by rich fools buying the emperor's 'new' clothes" or "any fool with a camera could have taken that". That may explain some of the motives but not all in the serious and diverse global art market.
Modern art value is not just or mainly about aesthetics and craftsmanship. They are important attributes but are not the sole or even the primary contributors to the value of the artwork. To say that a photograph is not beautiful or not technically accomplished is not sufficient in assessing its value.
We need to understand what art is today and what makes it different from crafts. Art is a way of seeing the world that challenges perceptions, evokes emotions and stimulates thought. Art pushes the boundaries of the medium, constantly offering new ways of seeing and understanding the world and ourselves.
The highest priced art are usually those works which represent the best (not necessarily the first) examples of a new movement in art. They show us something new and change the world around us. The works may represent unique turning points in the way art represents the world. The art world acknowledges this unique significance and reflects it in the monetary value placed on the works.
Terry Barret in his book, Criticizing Photographs: An Introduction to Understanding Images (Mayfield Publishing, 1999), presents a useful way to think about and talk about photography and its value. Barret, a professor of art education at the University of North Texas, defines criticism as "informed discourse about photography in order to increase understanding and appreciation of photography". He provides a clear framework for studying photography through a process of a) describing (what is here?), b) interpreting (what is it about?), c) evaluating (is it good?) and c) theorizing (is it art?).
Like Minor White who asked the question "what else is it?", Barret encourages us to look beyond the two dimensional printed, inked and papered image to the issues and assumptions, how does it makes us feel, and what are the world views and values expressed or represented. How does the work make photography, photographs and the world more understandable?
A.D. Coleman, the American photography critic and the first photo critic for the New York Times, says that the art market for photographs has reached an all time high. Forty years of research and writing has raised an awareness of the history of photography in the west. Knowledgeable collectors can position works in the medium's evolution and can understand and appreciate its significance. He also notes that the emergence of wealthy Chinese collectors is making a significant impact on the global art market.
Let's have a look at the top ten, highest priced photographs in the world and try to discover why they might have such high value.
Keep in mind that seven of these prints are very large and the reproductions of all of them do not do justice to the richness of their tones and colour or to the power of their presence and detail.
Can you find any unique elements of value or any common elements of value?
1. Phantom was created in 2013 on digital metallic glossy media by Peter Lik, an award-winning, commercially successful, Australian-born landscape and panoramic photographer. The location is Antelope Canyon, Arizona where it appears a handful of dust was thrown down an opening in the top of the canyon where a beam of sunlight was falling. The elite edition 1 of 1 sold for $6.5 million in November 2014 in a private sale to an anonymous buyer who is represented by Los Angeles lawyer Joshua Roth. Speculation suggests a Chinese buyer. The dimensions are 59 1/4" X 39 1/2", the work is a black & white derivative of a colour image titled "Ghost" which sells as a 950 limited edition print with 45 artist proofs. There is much skepticism about the value since, to date, there is no independent verification of the sale or buyer. Lik's work has been mainly ignored by major public art galleries and dismissed by critics - what do you think?
2. Rhein II created as a set of 6 in 1999 by Andreas Gursky, a German visual artist and former student of Bernd Becher and the Dusseldorf Art Academy. The work sold for $4.3 million, in November 2011 at Christie's, New York. It is a C-print mounted to acrylic glass and sized at 73" X 143" . Gursky is known for his "condensation of reality" within monumental composites. The location is the Rhine River with details such as dog walkers, cyclists and a factory building edited out. Christie's described it as "a dramatic and profound reflection on human existence. It has also been described as "a vibrant, beautiful and memorable, perhaps unforgettable contemporary twist on the romantic landscape and man's relationship with nature". One critic called it "a sludgy image of the grey Rhine under grey skies".
3. Untitled #96 created by the American photographer, Cindy Sherman in 1981. The work sold to an anonymous buyer for $3.9 million in May 2011 at Christie's New York. It is a chromogenic colour print sized at 24"X48" and has a limited edition of 10. Sherman is considered to be the high priestess of conceptual self-portrait photography, challenging the role and representation of women in society, the media and in the nature of the creation of art. Her mainly self-portraits are in a range of costumes and roles reflecting Hollywood movies, TV shows, magazines, fairy tales and old master paintings. She puts herself through a public self-analysis, probing the psyche and poking at the root of evil and fear. All her images are untitled, it's up to the viewer to figure out the story.
4. Dead Troops Talk (A vision after an ambush of a Red Army patrol, near Moqor, Afghanistan, winter 1986) was created by the Canadian photographer Jeff Wall in 1992. The work sold for $3.7 million in May 2012 at Christie's New York. It is a limited edition of 2 plus an artist's proof. Wall, who is based in Vancouver, has a doctorate in art history, taught aesthetics and was an assistant professor at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax from 1970 to 1973. He is known for his large scale, back-lit cibachromes (photo transparencies) and large scale tableaux of natural beauty, urban decay, postmodern and industrial featureless backdrops. His work is the antipathy of the "decisive moment" since it is usually highly staged, with references to the history of art and philosophical problems of representation. He takes inspiration from literary, film and theatrical references. On the surface, his scenes are fairly banal but something is always not quite right. In the case of Dead Troops Talking, the obviously serious injured and dead Russian soldiers are chatting and horsing around. His images also deal in latent memory from the past. Wall has referred to himself as "a painter of life".
5. 99 Cent II Diptychon was created in 2001 by Andreas Gursky and sold for $3.3 million in February 2007 at Sotheby's New York. A limited edition of 6, the work is a diptych chromogenic or c-print of the interior of a supermarket digitally altered to reduce perspective. Gursky holds up a mirror to our globalized society, at the same time real and artificial. He is as a conceptual artist transforming reality to expose the cruel truth lying behind it. Gursky’s images are extraordinary technical accomplishments, which take months to set up in advance, and require a lot of digital doctoring to get just right.
6. The Pond - Moonlight by Edward Steichen in 1904. Sold for $2.9 million, Feb 2006, Sotheby's New York. Steichen was an American photographer, born in Luxembourg, he was also a painter and curator. He was former Director of the Department of Photography, New York Museum of Modern Art until 1962 when John Szarkowski took over. Steichen curated and assembled The Family of Man exhibit in 1955 which pioneered the concept of large-scale international travelling museum exhibition. Only three known versions still exist and each is unique because of the innovative, alternative process used. One print is held in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the other is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum. One of the prints was a gift from Steichen to Alfred Stieglitz who donated it to the Metropolitan Museum.
The Pond was created before colour photography was invented so it is not a colour photograph. The print was made by Steichen himself and the impression of colour is innovatively created by manually applying layers of light-sensitive gums to the paper. The image is a defining image in the history of photography of the Pictorialist movement which was spearheaded by Steichen and Stieglitz.
The Pond was created before colour photography was invented so it is not a colour photograph. The print was made by Steichen himself and the impression of colour is innovatively created by manually applying layers of light-sensitive gums to the paper. The image is a defining image in the history of photography of the Pictorialist movement which was spearheaded by Steichen and Stieglitz.
7. Untitled #153 by Cindy Sherman in 1985. Sold for $2.7 million in November 2010 at Phillips de Pury & Co., New York. Sized at 67"x49" in an edition of 6. The owner is anonymous. Sherman, who lives and works in New York, is also a film director and describes her art as "a way to confront disturbing things because they [the photographs] are fakes ... it's all set up and functioning like a fairy tale".
8. Illusion by Peter Lik, sold for $2.4 million in Nov 2014. A private sale to an anonymous buyer, the same buyer who bought Phantom. Sized at 73" x 48", it is an elite edition 1 of 1. Lik is a self-taught photographer. The purpose of his photos is "to capture the power of nature and convey it in a way that inspires someone to feel passionate and connected to the image". He claims to have sold $500 million dollars of artwork to collectors and celebrities. Lik has four images in the top 20 list of most expensive photographs in the world, the most of any other photographer. They include Phantom, Illusion, Eternal Moods ($1.1 million in 2014) and One ($1.0 million in 2014).
9. Billy the Kid taken sometime between 1879-1880, a tintype portrait by an unknown photographer. Sold for $2.3 million in June 2011 at Brian Lebel's Old West Show and Auction. It is the only authenticated photograph of Billy the Kid in existence. The owner is William Koch one of the Koch brothers of Oxbow Carbon who are majority shareholders in the Alberta Tar Sands. The image was likely taken in January 1880 in front of Beaver Smith's saloon/gambling hall in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Billy reportedly paid 25 cents to have his photo taken.
10. Tobolsk Kremlin taken in 2009 by Dmitry Medvedev and sold for $1.75 million, in January 2010 at the Christmas Yarmarka, a charity auction in St. Petersburg, Russia. This kremlin (Russian for fortress) is located in Siberia. Medvedev is an amateur photographer, a lawyer, tenth Prime Minister of Russia and a good friend of Vladimir Putin.
It's interesting to note that half of the top selling photographs are made by conceptual artists. The idea expressed in the work is more important than the traditional aesthetic and technical concerns. There is usually a great deal more thinking, planning and staging of the conceptual work than goes into the actual execution of the work.
Eight of the top ten images were created in the past 35 years. The remaining two are over 100 years old. Often provenance is the deciding factor in value - the chronology of ownership (especially the status, celebrity or notoriety of the owner or previous owners), custody, location and authenticity.
After reviewing the top ten selling photographs in the world, I tend to agree with Sotheby's description of the "perfect storm" of photographic print value - scarcity, quality and condition, provenance, notable and extensive body of work, international stature and influence of its maker.
What do you think? What do you value in a photographic print? I'd be interested to hear your views.
It's interesting to note that half of the top selling photographs are made by conceptual artists. The idea expressed in the work is more important than the traditional aesthetic and technical concerns. There is usually a great deal more thinking, planning and staging of the conceptual work than goes into the actual execution of the work.
Eight of the top ten images were created in the past 35 years. The remaining two are over 100 years old. Often provenance is the deciding factor in value - the chronology of ownership (especially the status, celebrity or notoriety of the owner or previous owners), custody, location and authenticity.
After reviewing the top ten selling photographs in the world, I tend to agree with Sotheby's description of the "perfect storm" of photographic print value - scarcity, quality and condition, provenance, notable and extensive body of work, international stature and influence of its maker.
What do you think? What do you value in a photographic print? I'd be interested to hear your views.
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