November 4, 1976 Photography Moves Into The Art Market By Joel Sater Students enrolled in Capitol’s new photography course and American Studies people in trigued by nostalgia, or anyone interested in fine photography, should find a November 9th happening a Sotheby Parke Bemet Auction Galleries, in New York City, of immediate interest At 10:15 a.m., November 9th SPB will hold an auction of 19th and 20th century photography. This photography auction answers a question recently raised in Mr. Thomas’ class, “Does a market exist for art photography as it does for other forms of art?” SPB has held a number of photography auc tions since 1973. This major auction house discovered that a substantial market existed for photography as an independent art media. They have, only this past July, recognized this art form by establishing a seperate department for photography. Until now, SPB’s photo graphy auctions have been taking place at their London Galleries, but “what we quickly spotted is that, although, there is worldwide interest in photographs most of the buyers and collectors are Americans,” says Anne Horton, head of the new SPB photography depart ment Ms. Horton's department locates, appraises, catalogs and plans auctions for available photographic material. “Photography is a very direct art and Americans are a very direct people,” Ms. Horton explans with an understanding of the American character as seen over the auction block. “Americans understand photo graphy perhaps more than any other recent artistic media.” For the present the empha sis at the auctions are on old photographs, collectors and museums seek very special things in the photographs they are buying, the gallery reports. While the element of nostalgia is currently of major appeal to collectors, antiquity alone is not the sole criteria. “To make it a collector’s piece a photograph should have at least one of the following: artistic value, a known photographer, a subject of cultural or historic interest, rarity or quality of image.” “When these elements are merged in one work, as in the works of Julia Margaret Cameron, prices tend to take off,” says Anne Horton. Mrs. Cameron, Virginia Woolfs great aunt, took up photography, in 1863, at the age of 40, when she received a camera as a gift Her portrait photographs include a roster of the most eminent literary and artistic Victorians. She used a “soft focus” technique combined with un usual poses, which gave her subjects a dreamy quality. The second volume of her illustra SGA Attendance PRESENT: Cliff Eshbach Ray Martin Beth Kopas Carol Uhiig JR. SENATORS Charles Cales Nellie Jiwani Diane Lewis tions for Tennyson’s “Idylls” will be sold at the November 9th auction. Though for the present, age and prestige are a major consideration for photography to make it at an art auction, the heartbeat and salvation of PSU-Capitol’s photographic ar tists should both increase by taking note that prices of photographs at auctions today are bringing record if not astronomical prices, hi May, 1976, Edward Curtis’s The North American fadian brought $60,000; Thomas E&kins 1891 photographic portrait of Walt Whitman, $4,000; and a portfolio of German street scenes, by a little known photographer, G. Koppmann, taken in 1883 brought $1,560. At the November 9 SPB auction a photograph by Lee Miller called Winter Abstract is estimated to sell for over $250. Another photograph shown here entitled “Two American Base ball Teams Posed on the Sphinx,” taken by an unknown 19th century photographer is expected to bring as much as $3OO. Though PSU photo graphy students can hardly expect to have their current work be accepted by the prestigious Sotheby Parke Bemet gallery, the sale is still very signifigant for two reasons, says Ms. Horton. “The auction contains much fresh photo graphic material from private collectors, never offered at auction before, and it also offers an opportunity to gain knowledge of the largest number of important 19th century European photographs ever to appear at auction.” A follow-up of the auction should be enlightening to the photography students as an opportunity to observe what today’s collectors are willing to pay, and how much they are willing to pay for what By examining this comparitively new phenomenon, the art photography auction market one can add the dimension of time to his or her critical capacity. Anyone with time or money available can view the photo graphs at SPB Gallery, attend the auction on November 9, or send $6.00 for a catalog. The address is Sotheby Park Bemet Atfc Sale 3919, 19th & 20th Century Photography, 980 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y., 10021. Perhaps, having taken note of SPB initiative, PSU- Capitol should hold its own auction or tag sale at the end of this term. One this page the Reader features two examples of PSU- Capitol photographs represen tative of those which might be offered at our own auction or tag sale. Needless to say, these will not be among those to be sold at Sotheby’s on November 9th. Bill Long Joseph Mahar Elliot Relff Marla Robinson Christine VanZandt SR. SENATORS: Kitty Nestor Terry Galladher LuAnn Mihalick Lenny Klonitsko John Sternick Absent: ElizahaUittaiinar The International Affairs Association will sponsor a trip to the Lehigh University student conference on World Affairs to be held Tuesday November 16, 1976. Special attention will be focused on the intimate relationships between national resources and foreign policy as witnessed in the recent energy crisis centering on petroleum. It is hoped that this conference will stimulate a forum to discuss several key problems and solutions. Population and food, energy and environment, resources and arms, are problems to which the conference will address itself. The one day conference will last from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Interested persons should contact Prof. Clem Gilpin in W-154 by Wednesday Nov. 10. Katie Fee George Rovnak Vem Martin PROXIES: Chuck Alesksy C.C. Reader "Woodshole Fantasy,” by Troy Thomas instructor of the photography course here at Capitol. An experimental print, combining paint and a negative taken August 1976 at New Alclr Conference By Hm Adams Page 3
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