The reason this particular sale caught my attention is that I think it represents some topics worth talking about further. For those unfamiliar with what is going on here, this sale is an offering of extra large, recently made pigment prints (44x60 or reverse, in editions of 2), never before available in the market. Overall, there are a total of 36 lots available, with a total High estimate of $3350000. So not only do we have a process that Eggleston has never used before, we have an unprecedented use of scale, applied to a selection of images, both greatest hits and lesser known works. In addition, Eggleston is using the Damien Hirst model of direct to the collector via an auction house, bypassing the normal gallery route for new work.
Aside from a couple of prints which suffer from over enlargement graininess and fuzziness in certain spots, I was surprised to find that the prints are pretty terrific, in some cases downright spectacular. The colors are saturated and vibrant, with a thick, richness that I wasn't expecting. While the tricycle, the red ceiling, the green shower, and the peaches sign are, of course, all here, the really smart and unexpected aspect of these particular prints is that Eggleston seems to have thought carefully about which lesser known images would benefit most from increased scale. I'd say roughly half of the works for sale use this scale change for maximum effect. The low angle, worm's eye views are especially strong, as are the top down views of car hoods and trunks. The shiny brass doorknob is something altogether different in this larger size. And a huge front tire, with Eggleston himself reflected in the silvery chrome of the bumper, was my favorite of the non-obvious choices.
Here's the simple statistical breakdown:
Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 0
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): NA
Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 7
Total Mid Estimate: $350000
Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 29
Total High Estimate: $3000000
The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here. The eCatalogue is here.
Photographic Masterworks by William Eggleston Sold to Benefit the Eggleston Artistic Trust
March 12th
Christie's
20 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020
4 comments:
I believe the sale is to benefit the Eggleston Artistic Trust, and given what I've heard it's more specifically to raise money for an Eggleston Museum in Memphis.
The Eggleston Artsitic Turst is owned and operated by the William Eggleston family, primarily his two sons, who control the works of their father and how they get repressnted, reproduced, distributed, sold, in the art marketplace and to the public. I bleive that the proposed Egggelston Museum in Memphis is not the same organization or entity, and iniated by a small group of admireres, perhaps collectors, from NYC, of Eggelston's artistic merits. But the journalists in the arts world can clarify these finer facts for us all.
Sorry about the typos above. Here's the corrected copy. The Eggleston Artistic Trust is owned and operated by the William Eggleston family, primarily by his two sons, who control the works of their father and how they get represented, reproduced, distributed, sold, in the art marketplace and to the public. I believe that the proposed Eggleston Museum in Memphis is not the same organization or entity, and initiated by a small group of admirers, perhaps collectors, from NYC, of Eggleston's artistic merits. But the journalists in the arts world can clarify these finer facts for us all.
I know there were some collectors unhappy about the exhibition; they felt the jumbo size of the prints were a commercial grab by the artist, and one collector even began a lawsuit saying the production of these prints drove down the value of images he had already purchased. In reality these images offered an unprecedented opportunity to purchase works that are completely unique; the jumbo scale, and extraordinary saturation of color, yet different than the jewel-like quality of the smaller prints make these fundamentally different from the 'originals'. What is so interesting is that the results of the sale--record breaking--belied the traditional belief that the closer prints are made in relation to the exposure are more authentic and hence more valuable--was totally turned on its head. Obviously the work attracted a buyer who was not necessarily wedded to this premise uniquely attached to the beliefs of the specialized photography collector. The artist's "Los Alamos" pictures, for example, made in his "trademarked" dye-transfer process were in reality printed many years after their exposures and sold extremly well suggesting the "vintage" print as being more valuable is not necessarily so. Eggleston's work has always appealed to a larger market than the photography market (which has been referred to many times in the past as a "ghetto") and, although Christie's did not publish the names of the collectors/dealers who bought these images I'm willing to speculate they were bought by "contemporary art" collectors who see the artist's work as impacting the larger art world. Any photography that does so (think Sherman, Prince, Gursky, etc.) is healthy for both the photography market and the larger art market. I say BRAVO to Eggleston for providing these "new" images and in the process raising the bar for photography as a whole!
Brian Appel/http://www.facebook.com/Trends.Photography.Art
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