Sally Mann, Proud Flesh @Gagosian

JTF (just the facts): A total of 33 black and white images, framed in silver and matted, and hung in three connected gallery rooms on the 4th floor. All of the prints are gelatin silver prints, made from wet collodion negatives; the works are approximately 15x14, and are printed in editions of 5. The negatives were taken between 2003 and 2009. A catalogue of the show is available from the gallery for $75. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: In contrast to the usual photographer/model interaction, something altogether different occurs when a husband or wife photographs his or her spouse, especially when those images are nudes; emotions run higher, deeper vulnerabilities get exposed, and more willing risks get taken. In the history of photography, it has traditionally been the men taking pictures of the women, and there are plenty of superlative examples to recall: Stieglitz and O'Keefe, Strand and Rebecca, Weston and Charis, Callahan and Eleanor, just to name a few; on the flip side, there are few if any examples where the role was reversed - the only one I can come up with is Cunningham's nudes of Roi from the early 1900s, and these pictures were deemed too risque for wider viewing until decades later. Sally Mann is in many ways the perfect photographer to step into this void and take the male nude somewhere new; her unflinching portraits of her young children are profound evidence of her willingness to take some chances to explore the boundaries of how we see one another.

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Over the period of about five years, Mann took pictures of her husband Larry, whose strong body was showing the signs of aging and the results of a battle with muscular dystrophy. The shadowy images are mostly indirect fragments: arms and backs, hips and buttocks, legs and elbows, feet and folds of skin, photographed in angled natural light, leaving plenty of darkness and melancholy. The settings are sparse: lying on a metal table, sitting on a stool, resting on a striped mattress with the stuffing coming out, or walking on a patterned Oriental rug. And if the compositions weren't striking enough in and of themselves, Mann's 19th century process adds yet another layer of timeless complexity to the works: many of the images are covered with chemical drips and splotches, stains and rips, and all manner of chance imperfections that often decorate each picture with swirls and streaks; others have been bleached out to a wince inducing whiteness.

These pictures are a far cry from beefcake portraits of men with ripped abs and massive shoulders; they tackle head on the questions of aging, waning strength, and male vulnerability. But unlike the unflinching self portraits of John Coplans, which address similar subject matter, these images are undeniably the gaze of a wife at her husband, which changes the emotional setting completely. What I think is most remarkable about these pictures is their amazing sense of honor; there are no longer any secrets between these two people, anything that was once hidden has long ago been revealed. The intimate pictures expose Larry's frailties with respect and trust; they are images seen through the eyes of someone who loves this wiry and withered aging man.

Overall, these revealing and often unexpectedly beautiful works have the feeling of a contract: Mann was taking something from her husband, who gave it willingly, but not without giving up something of himself in the bargain; the emotional pitch is so consistently high that the show is a little exhausting. As a male viewer, I think there is one additional level of meaning here: a sense of wisdom shared, a look into the future and what it might mean to get older, and an example of how to bear those years with dignity and grace.
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Collector's POV: No printed price list was available for this show, but I was told the images were "about $20000" each. While part of our collection is currently made up of female nudes, these images are really the first male nudes from any period in the history of photography that seem like they could fit within our existing group. I particularly enjoyed Ponder Heart, 2007 (a back and hand in the bright sunlight), The Nature of Loneliness, 2008 (a back), Amor Revealed, 2007 (the curve of a hip, reminiscent of a nude by Ruth Bernhard), and Hephaestus, 2008 (a frontal pose like a Greek god). And overall, with no pun intended, I expect these works will age extremely well.

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

Transit Hub:

• Review @FT (here)
• Artist statement @Conscientious (here)
• Book review @5B4 (here)

Sally Mann, Proud Flesh

Through October 31st

Gagosian Gallery
980 Madison Avenue

New York, NY 10075

Michael Collins, London Cityscapes @Borden

JTF (just the facts): A total of 9 color images hung in the main gallery space. The light jet prints come in two sizes: 48x60 (framed in brown with no mat, in editions of 7) and 20x24 (framed in black and matted, in editions of 15); there are 6 images in the large size and 3 in the small size. The prints are straight large format images made from 8x10 color negatives, which are then digitized and printed onto photographic paper. All of the works were made between 2007 and 2009. A small exhibition booklet has been published in conjunction with the show. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Michael Collins' bird's eye views of London remind me of all the failed photographs I have personally made from the rooftop observatories of tall buildings around the world. It doesn't matter whether I am visiting the Empire State Building, the Sears Tower, or the Eiffel Tower, I'm always astounded by the breadth of the view and the staggering detail below and delusionally think that I could somehow capture this grandeur with my snapshot camera. Of course, this is never the case; the pictures never even come close to matching the experience of seeing the view first hand and are therefore relegated to the dustbin - they're not even good enough to be put in the album.

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Michael Collins has however taken the pictures that I have always envisioned. His massive objective views of London are incredibly sharp at nearly all distances, highlighting the intricate details of the dense built environment. Taken on cloudy days in uniform neutral light, the images of the city become a patchwork of muted greys, browns, and tans, old stone and new glass mixed together in chaotic layers; the view looking down flattens the scale, making the city look like a model railway or an urban planning exercise.

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Not only do these pictures represent the precise topographical reality on the ground, they also provide a time capsule image of the city at one exact moment (just like the 19th century panoramas made of major cities of the time); taken a year later, the same view of London will be different - an unfinished building will now carve out its final silhouette, or an old building will be gone, demolished in the ongoing process of renewal.

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Given their subtle palette and direct approach, these images don't brazenly announce themselves as worthy of prolonged attention. But get up close and look for more than a moment; there are hundreds of tiny stories hiding in plain view.
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Collector's POV: The prints in the show are prices at $8000 for the large images and $3000 for the small ones. Collins' work has not yet shown up in the secondary markets, so gallery retail is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point. Contrary to my usual prejudice against overly large photography, the big prints in this show are the most successful; the size allows the viewer to get enveloped in exploring the minutiae.
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Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Reviews: Londonist (here), Evening Standard (here)

Michael Collins, London Cityscapes
Through October 17th

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Janet Borden, Inc.

560 Broadway

New York, NY 10012

Nature as Artifice: New Dutch Landscape in Photography and Video Art @Aperture

JTF (just the facts): A total of 112 black and white and color photographs and 4 video/computer installations, variously framed and matted, and hung throughout the main gallery space, which has been divided by several interior walls. (Marginal installation shots at right.) Most of the works in the exhibition are from the last decade, although a few reach back as far as the early 1980s. The following photographers and video artists have been included in the show, with the number of works on view in parentheses:

Hans Aarsman (20)

Theo Baart & Cary Markerink (26)

Wout Berger (17)

Henze Boekhout (16)

Driessens & Verstappen (1 video)

Marnix Goossens (3)

Arnoud Holleman (1 website)

Gert Jan Kocken (3)
James Linders (12)

Hans van der Meer (3)

Gabor Ösz (1)

Bas Princen (2)

Xavier Ribas (1 video)

Gerco de Ruijter (4)

Frank van der Salm (2)

Hans Werlemann (1 video)

Edwin Zwakman (3)

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Comments/Context: The 400 year anniversary of the arrival of Henry Hudson in New York harbor has been a non-stop festival of Dutch history and culture, with parties, receptions and exhibitions starting in the Summer and continuing on through the Fall; our Dutch friends seem to have been shuttling from one event to another for months. Our personal Dutch photography tour has had two major stops during this time: the Dutch Seen exhibit at MCNY (review here) and this contemporary landscape show at Aperture, along with several other smaller solo shows and books we visited and reviewed.

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Much is made in the trappings of this exhibit of the idea that the Netherlands is "the most artificial country in the world", that the traditional Dutch farming lifestyle has been transformed by suburbanization and industrialization into something altogether different, a designed and homogenized flatland that runs to the sea. And it's true, there are no rugged mountains or breathtaking vistas among these pictures. But what is surprising about this show is just how many photographers and artists have found less grandiose moments of beauty amidst this landscape, spare patterns and views that tell an understated story.

A big group show like this one is uneven by design, bringing together disparate and even conflicting perspectives to provide a more complex picture of the subject; as such, nearly every visitor will find some images that catch his/her eye and others that seem to miss the mark. One of the highlights of the exhibit is the big, pulsating installation of images by Theo Baart and Cary Markerink. (Installation shot at right, second from the top.) An entire long wall is filled with cars, trucks, gas stations and traffic, in a chaotic, jumbled mix of formats, processes, and sizes; the whole thing works together well as a stream of consciousness view of life on the roadways.

We've written before about Gerco de Ruijter's geometric aerial landscapes (here), but this was the first time we had seen them in person. (Installation shot at right, second from the bottom.) A grid of four glossy images hangs on the back wall, the cool lines and patterns coming in at different angles, highlighting the organic abstraction taking place; the larger size and shiny surface give the works an object quality that is much different than I had experienced in book form. I also enjoyed James Linders' black and white images of wastelands and roadside non-spaces from the late 1980s. (Installation shot at right, bottom) These images have a New Topographics feel to them, with pavement, bike racks, light poles, and curved roads coming together in careful compositions, surprisingly beautiful and subtly critical at the same time. And while video art is not really in our charter, Hans Werlemann's view of life moving by through a car window, interspersed with still frames every few seconds was an unexpectedly thought provoking commentary on vision and everyday life; spend a few minutes letting it wash over you - it certainly got me thinking about what I am actually absorbing as I blast around on fast forward.

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Overall, the show has a few high points and many others that aren't as compelling or memorable; that said, our favorites likely won't match yours, so swing by and make your own judgments before it closes.

Collector's POV: While the name on the door calls this venue a gallery, it really is more like a museum; typically there are no prices posted anywhere and the works are not for sale, and this show is no different. For our specific collection with its overwhelming preponderance of black and white, the pared down images by Linders would be the best fit for the other city/industrial work already hanging on the walls.

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

Transit Hub:

• Reviews: Bint Photobooks (here), The L Magazine (here)

Nature as Artifice: New Dutch Landscape in Photography and Video Art

Through October 15th

Aperture Gallery

547 West 27th Street

New York, NY 10001

Irving Penn Dies

Irving Penn, one of the true giants of photography, died yesterday at the age of 92. In his long and amazingly prolific career, Penn took on several major subject matter genres, developed new perspectives and visual innovations for each, and made iconic pictures in his own unique style that changed forever how we view these subjects. A quick review:

Portraits: Penn made dozens of spare celebrity portraits (artists, musicians, actors and actresses), as well as surprisingly regal images of tradesmen, children, gypsies and tribesmen, either highlighting their own straight forward elegance or placed in the cramped corner of two converging walls, a Penn invention that freed the subjects from the formality of traditional poses.

Still Lifes: Penn's artfully collected and composed table top still lifes (frozen foods, watermelons, animal skulls, playing cards) remade a traditional subject in an entirely new and modern way. As flower collectors, we have always admired his floral still lifes (both black and white and color) for their electrifying boldness and vibrancy. And his oversized cigarette butts and discarded bubble gum blobs proved he could make staggeringly beautiful images from the overlooked and ugly.

Fashion: Penn's career at Vogue is filled with jaw dropping fashion images made for covers and spreads. In contrast to the movement of Munkacsi and Avedon, Penn 's images were remarkable in their calm; they were exactingly constructed graceful images that focused the viewer's attention on the elegant line of a dress or the refined turn of an arm.

Nudes: While Penn made a relatively small group of traditional fashion nudes of models, his less well known early 1950s nudes are fleshy and full figured, unlike anything that had been done in the nude form previously; folds of skin and wide curves of hips and breasts billow and sag in a whitened world, bleached out and abstracted. We continue to look for just the right image from this series for our own collection.
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Platinum: Beyond Penn's compositional marvels, he also introduced the subtleties of the platinum process to a much wider audience. Much of his best black and white work was printed later in platinum, bringing an entirely new set of rich tonalities to the already well crafted images.

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All in, it is no wonder Penn's obituary ran on the front page of the New York Times this morning. His impact on the world of photography was and still is monumental and his place in the pantheon of master photographers is secure.
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Penn is represented by Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York (here) and Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco (here). Given his voluminous output of imagery and his tendency to make decent sized editions of later prints, Penn's work is ubiquitous at auction; recent prices have ranged from $5000 all the way up to over $400000, seemingly regardless of print date or edition size; collectors just can't seem to get enough of his work. Harlequin Dress (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), 1950 and Woman in Moroccan Palace (Lisa Fonssagrives) (at right above, via Christie's) routinely top the price charts, even for recent prints from editions as large as 40.

Obituaries: NY Times (here), LA Times (here)

Auction: Photographs & Photographic Literature, October 22, 2009 @Swann

Swann's diverse sale of Photographs and Photographic Literature is scheduled two weeks after the rest of the New York auction season, perhaps to entice those buyers who stayed on the sidelines or kept their powder dry during the frenzy this week. The generally lower end sale features a deep selection of Lewis Hine images, a series of unusual artist portraits by Diane Arbus, and a group of crime images of famous gangsters and murderers. Overall, there are 327 photographs on offer, with a total High estimate of $2012650. (Catalog cover at right, via Swann.)

Here's the breakdown:

Total Low Lots (high estimate up to and including $10000): 297
Total Low Estimate (sum of high estimates of Low lots): $1352650

Total Mid Lots (high estimate between $10000 and $50000): 30
Total Mid Estimate: $660000

Total High Lots (high estimate above $50000): 0
Total High Estimate: NA

The top lot by High estimate is lot 28 Eadward Muybridge, 125 plates from Animal Locomotion, 1887, at $35000-45000.

Below is the list of photographers represented by at least 5 lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):

Lewis Hine (15)
Camera Work (10)
Diane Arbus (8)
Edward Curtis (8)
Walker Evans (8)
Andre Kertesz (8)
Horst P. Horst (7)
Berenice Abbott (6)
Civil War (6)
Edward Weston (6)
O. Winston Link (5)

While there aren't too many images in this sale that fit particularly well into our collecting genres, here are a few that caught our eye:

Lot 1, William Henry Fox Talbot, Untitled (lace), 1845 (at right, bottom)
Lot 64 Wilson A. Bentley, Group of 7 snow crystals, 1903 (at right, middle)
Lot 122 Walker Evans, Untitled (John Dais Co. Wholesale Fish), 1934/1950s
Lot 161 Walker Evans, Chicago South Side, 1946
Lot 169 Germaine Krull, Untitled (Parisian street scene), 1930s

The complete lot by lot catalog can be found here. The 3D version is located here.

Photographs & Photographic Literature
October 22nd

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

Talia Chetrit, Reading @Renwick

JTF (just the facts): A total of 20 black and white and color images, framed in thin black/white frames with no mats, and hung in the main gallery space and back office. All of the works were made in 2008 or 2009. There are 7 c-prints (all 20x16, in editions of 4+1), 1 inkjet print (20x16, in an edition of 4+1), and 12 gelatin silver prints (5 prints at 14x11, 3 prints at 20x16, and 4 photograms at 14x11, editions are either 4+1 or 3+1, depending on whether unique process steps are being used). (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Talia Chetrit's first solo show places her firmly in the process camp of contemporary photography, exploring the boundaries and meanings of the medium via experiments with light and color. I first came across her work in the After Color show at Bose Pacia last summer (review here); she had contributed some camera-less Photoshop gradients that were crisp exercises in monochrome abstraction. In this exhibit of new work, she covers a much broader array of techniques and approaches to studio-based picture making.

Several of the images on view are formal still lifes that have a vaguely Bauhaus feel to them; the wavy glass vase set against a graph paper grid seems straight out of the 1920s. Other pictures have a Surreal touch, merging playfulness and mystery - a plaster cast of a face, a fist and glove, and a photogram of a hand covered by undulating lines all have avant-garde sensibilities. Still others bear resemblance to traditional art school assignments (the abstract cut paper sculpture and the darkroom strobe lights in primary colors against black velvet), where the effects of light are tested and analyzed. Optical distortions, graphical elements, color patterns, chemical aberrations, they're all here.

Overall, what is on display is an eclectic group of experiments; having seen the output of these methods, I can now easily imagine Chetrit working in her studio, taking chances and trying out different things, some working, some not, moving from tangent to tangent, trying to grab hold of the elusive edges of the creative process. I was left feeling that this is an artist who is actively and aggressively searching, looking for new ways into a medium that is in the midst of wholesale transformation. I'd be willing to bet that the best of the ideas that emerge out of this creative stew will form the basis of a tighter body of process-based work going forward.

Collector's POV: The images in the show are priced as follows: the small prints are $1600, the large prints are $2000, the photograms in the back are $1800, and the images that include a unique process step are $2300. Chetrit's work has not yet entered the secondary markets, so gallery retail is really the only option for interested collectors at this point.

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

Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Interview: Too Much Chocolate (here)
• Feature: We Can't Paint (here)

Talia Chetrit, Reading
Through October 17th

Renwick Gallery
45 Renwick Street
New York, NY 10013

The World in Black and White: Vintage Prints from the National Geographic Archive @Kasher

JTF (just the facts): A total of 167 black and white images, generally framed in black and matted, hung in the entry and the two main gallery spaces. A small glass case in the first room contains books, magazines, and documents. All of the prints are vintage prints from the archives of the National Geographic Society (here); most are gelatin silver. The negative dates range from 1890 to 1950. A book, National Geographic Image Collection, is also available (here). (Installation shots at right.)

The following photographers are included in the exhibit (with the number of images on view in parentheses):

Clifton Adams (5)
Alexander Graham Bell Collection (5)
Hiram Bingham (6)
Pierre Daye Collection (9)
Captain Frank Hurley (6)
Willis Lee (7)
A. B. Lewis (10)
Charles Martin (1)
Herbert Ponting (20)
J. Baylor Roberts (7)
Joseph F. Rock (15)
Vittorio Sella (13)
George Shiras III (7)
B. Anthony Stewart (12)
Georges Tairraz (5)
Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden (22)
Volkmar Wentzel (1)
Maynard Owen Williams (10)
Edwin Wisherd (6)

Comments/Context: The big show of vintage prints from the National Geographic archive now on view in Steven Kasher's new ground floor space has the feeling of a Natural History museum exhibit wrapped in the trappings of the Chelsea art world; documentary images from exotic cultures, heroic expeditions and far flung places are hung salon style in the cool environment of a white cube. Beyond the inherent curiosity generated by the subjects themselves, the photographs present a thought provoking and prickly set of questions: when (and how) does photojournalism somehow become art? Can (and should) images originally made for historical or anthropological purposes be recategorized as art based on their inherent aesthetic merits? As I walked around the galleries, I found myself asking these same questions over and over again as I looked at each grouping of images. Are these particular pictures worthy of "crossing over"? Or are they just amazing historical artifacts?

The surprising answer to my continual questioning was often yes, many of these prints can indeed be thought of in an art context without too much of a stretch of imagination. Of course, the history of photography is full of pictures that were originally made on assignment (whether photojournalism or commercial commissions) that have evolved into the category of art; the resonance of the images themselves and the passing to time have combined to move them beyond their original contexts into an altogether different realm.

I think that hung by themselves, most of these pictures would retain their National Geographic documentary patina, but placed in the context of a larger art/photography collection, many of the images could take on additional meanings or create interesting connections. While each viewer will see different associations given the diversity of imagery on display, here are a few relationships that I saw:

• For landscape and nature collectors, the early panoramas of the Swiss Alps and Peru, by Georges Tairraz and Hiram Bingham respectively, could be stunning complements to other mountain scenes.
• Herbert Ponting's images of the discovery of the South Pole and other Antarctic adventures foreshadow the current wave of contemporary iceberg and global warming photography.
• The flash lit albino deer images of George Shiras III would be a nice pair with Caponigro's famous Running White Deer.
• Willis Lee's images of the stalagmites and stalactites of Carlsbad Caverns are a direct precursor to Ryan McGinley's current body of work.
• Vittorio Sella's botanical images from Uganda would fit into a collection of early flowers and plants (like ours).
• Alexander Graham Bell's flight experiment photos would fit well with a selection of Berenice Abbott's scientific images.

Overall, this exhibit is quite unlike the normal run of vintage and contemporary work to be found in the city's art galleries and museums. It forces the visitor to consider the nature of the medium itself, and how certain images traverse different categories over time. While not all of the works on view can credibly make the jump to art status, those that do are a strong reminder that not all the images that move us come out of the art establishment, and great pictures, regardless of their origin or maker, are worthy of a place on our walls.

Collector's POV: The prints in the show are priced between $3000 and $8500. Herbert Ponting and Baron Wilhelm von Gloeden are the only two photographers in the show with relatively consistent action in the secondary markets: Ponting's images have generally ranged between $1000 and $15000; von Gloeden's from $1000 to $5000, with an outlier or two a bit higher.

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

Transit Hub:

• Reviews: NYTimes (here), Art in America (here)
• Lens feature (here)

The World in Black and White: Vintage Prints from the National Geographic Archive

Through October 17th
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Steven Kasher Gallery

521 West 23rd Street

New York, NY 10011

Auction Results: Latin America, October 3, 2009 @Phillips

Phillips' Latin America sale took place last weekend in New York, and the photography included performed only marginally better than the photo lots in the Now sale in London a week before; the buy-in rate was slightly better, but still soft at over 45%, and the Total Sale Proceeds once again missed the total Low estimate by a decent margin.

I continue to be intrigued by this nascent strategy: can slicing the collector base into ever finer gradations based on subject matter, geography or other factors really grow the entire base and attract new clients, or are we all just looking at all the catalogues anyway? Can Phillips "make it up on volume", even if the specific sales don't individually bring in huge amounts? It will certainly be fascinating to watch.

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

Total Lots: 78
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $586600
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $836700
Total Lots Sold: 42
Total Lots Bought In: 36
Buy In %: 46.15%
Total Sale Proceeds: $480038

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

Low Total Lots: 59
Low Sold: 32
Low Bought In: 27
Buy In %: 45.76%
Total Low Estimate: $315700
Total Low Sold: $153563

Mid Total Lots: 17
Mid Sold: 8
Mid Bought In: 9
Buy In %: 52.94%
Total Mid Estimate: $351000
Total Mid Sold: $161875

High Total Lots: 2
High Sold: 2
High Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 00.00%
Total High Estimate: $170000
Total High Sold: $164600

A whopping 97.62% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range, so the estimates were obviously appropriately conservative. There was only one surprise in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate):

Lot 109, Vik Muniz, Gummy Bears, 2002, at $6250

The top lot by High estimate was lot 192, Vik Muniz, Maria Callas (from Diamond Divas), 2004, with an estimate of $70000-90000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at $92500.

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

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

Auction Results: Now: Art of the 21st Century, September 26, 2009 @Phillips London

The first of what looks to be a very long parade of themed sales at Phillips took place just over a week ago in London, and overall, the photography on offer performed quite poorly. Whether this was due to the material being too fresh and unknown or to a lack of actual buyers showing up we can't say, as we weren't present in the room at the time of the sale. But with a buy-in rate of more than 50% (i.e. more than half the photography lots failed to sell) and Total Sale Proceeds well below the total Low estimate, Phillips has to be wondering about how to tune the strategy for better results going forward.

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

Total Lots: 112
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: £465000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: £659500
Total Lots Sold: 54
Total Lots Bought In: 58
Buy In %: 51.79%
Total Sale Proceeds: £383601

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

Low Total Lots: 78
Low Sold: 34
Low Bought In: 44
Buy In %: 56.41%
Total Low Estimate: £220000
Total Low Sold: £90626

Mid Total Lots: 31
Mid Sold: 17
Mid Bought In: 14
Buy In %: 45.16%
Total Mid Estimate: £309500
Total Mid Sold: £177875

High Total Lots: 3
High Sold: 3
High Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 00.00%
Total High Estimate: £130000
Total High Sold: £115100

87.04% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were no surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate).

The top lot by High estimate was Lot 141, Rashid Rana, When He Said I Do, He Did Not Say What He Did, 2004, with an estimate of £40000-60000; it sold for £25000. The top outcome of the sale was Lot 125, Thomas Ruff, Jpeg wd01, 2005, with an estimate of £30000-40000; it sold for £46850.

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Phillips De Pury & Company
Howick Place
London SW1P 1BB

Paris à La Mode @KMR Arts

JTF (just the facts): A total of 15 black and white images, variously framed and matted, and hung in the entry and main gallery space. (Installation shot at right.) The negatives run from the early 1910s through to the 2000s, with most of the works from the 1930s-1950s; the prints are a mix of vintage and more recent prints. The following photographers are included in the show, with the number of images on view in parentheses:

Roger Catherineau (2)
Georges Dambier (3)
William Klein (3)
Jason Langer (1)
Jacques Henri Lartigue (1)
Jean Moral (4)
Louis Stettner (1)

In the back office alcove, 6 black and white images by Chip Hooper (waves and surf) are also on view. These images are either 20x24 or 26x32, in editions of 25 and 10 respectively.

Comments/Context: Since we live so close to New York and always have a plethora of gallery shows of photography to see at any one time, it's easy to forget that there are out of the way galleries in smaller towns across the Northeast that are also worth a visit. KMR Arts is located in Washington, CT, about two hours from the city, up in Litchfield County. Settled in a Colonial house in the middle of the village, it is the opposite of the cold, white cube we are so used to; the rooms are warm and inviting, sized for regular people and intimate works of art. But unlike the traditional program for a local gallery (local artists, decorative calendar art etc.), KMR has developed a strong program of photography, as evidenced by its recent show of Lillian Bassman (which we unfortunately missed, but was reviewed by the NYTimes, below) and by the current show of Paris fashion and glamour images.

Most of the works on view are images of French women posing in the streets of Paris, artfully arranged to accent the line of a coat or the drape of a dress, or printed in negative tonalities to add a Surreal touch. The abstract Catherineau photograms are therefore an unexpected inclusion; and yet, when placed in the context of the graphical elements of the fashion compositions, there is a surprising resonance. All in, the small show is a well edited mix of the known and unknown, with just a hint of the avant-garde, likely a good mix for a clientele that comprises both transplanted New Yorkers and locals.

Collector's POV: The prints in the show are priced between $1200 and $20000, with most in a range between $2800 and $5500. The Chip Hooper images in the back are priced between $2000 and $6000. While these fashion images don't fit into our particular collecting regimen, I was certainly pleased to see a thoughtful show of well selected French photography buried in the wooded hills of Connecticut.

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

Transit Hub:

• NYTimes review of Lillian Bassman show at KMR, 2009 (here)
• Chip Hooper artist site (here)

Paris à La Mode
Through November 28th

KMR Arts
2 Titus Road
Washington Depot, CT 06794

Weston's Westons @Danziger

JTF (just the facts): A total of 40 black and white images, framed in black and matted, and hung in the single room gallery. The prints in the show were made by Cole Weston from Edward Weston's negatives; the negatives were taken between 1920 and 1941; the posthumous prints were made in the 1960s/1970s/1980s (Weston died in 1958). All of the prints are gelatin silver contact prints, ranging in size from 4x5 to 8x10 or reverse. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: I have to admit up front that, as a collector, I've always been a bit skeptical of the Edward Weston images printed by his son, Cole Weston. Over the years we have owned a few (now no longer in our collection), but I've never really felt like they were truly authentic somehow; after all, they were made after Edward Weston's death. They always felt a little like cheating; even though the images were undeniably beautiful, I always knew (even if others didn't) that they weren't the "real" ones.

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This uneasiness had nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of the prints; on the whole, the Cole prints are brilliantly executed, with exacting craftsmanship and rigorous attention to Edward Weston's printing instructions. And this exhibit is an excellent reminder of just how breathtaking the prints can be. Danziger has selected a lovely mix of iconic images and lesser known variants to show off this work, many of which are slightly purer in their blacks than the originals printed by Edward Weston himself. I am a particular fan of the small 4x5 nudes Weston did in the 1930s, all fragmented body parts, transformed into exercises in form and line. There are also a group of nudes of Charis on the sand, as well as some earlier studio nudes that are slightly broader in composition than the later close ups. Mixed in among the nudes are a few vegetables and flowers, some dunes, a couple of shells, and a few other miscellaneous works.

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Since we have been on the lookout for vintage versions of the small nudes for years now, I can say with some confidence that there really aren't that many floating around in the market, and the prices for those that are available have been driven up substantially in the past few years as the scarcity factor increases. The iconic works are all well into six figures, and many of the best prints are now in museums or large private collections.

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Which makes me think that this show at Danziger has a surprising stroke of genius to it. While the Cole prints have long been stigmatized as a lesser substitute, the time may now be right for many collectors to revisit these prints as a viable alternative to the effectively unavailable vintage Weston work. The prices are generally still reasonable, the prints are gorgeous, and the Cole prints in and of themselves are rising in value as they too become less available. I guess that I remain conflicted on the ultimate verdict on these prints, but seeing the elegant grids of nudes that we have coveted for so many years hanging so invitingly on the walls made me wonder if it wasn't time for us to stop being such righteous purists and start thinking a little differently.

Collector's POV: The prints in this show are priced between $5000 and $15000, with many already sold when I visited the show. A few EW/CW prints seem to be available in nearly every auction; they have become widely available in the secondary markets in the past decade. During that time, prices typically ranged between $1000 and $5000. Today, most images remain in this range, but in the past year or two, many have started to creep upward, once in a while crossing the $10000 threshold for the most iconic images.

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

Transit Hub:

• Weston family website (here)

Weston's Westons, Iconic and Rare Edward Weston Prints from the Cole Weston Trust
Through October 24th

Danziger Projects
534 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011

Hellen van Meene, Tout va disparaître @Yancey Richardson

JTF (just the facts): A total of 16 color prints, framed in brown wood without mats, and hung in the main gallery space. All of the prints are chromogenic prints, made in editions of 10; the images are printed in one of three sizes: 12x12, 16x16, or a panoramic 16x32. The negatives were taken between 2007 and 2009, as part of one of four projects: Russia, Lewis Carroll's Phantasmagoria, Pool of Tears, or Going My Own Way Home. A monograph of this work is available from Schirmer/Mosel (here). (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Hellen van Meene's intimate portraits of the awkward drama of adolescence take the conflicted emotions of her teenage subjects and infuse them with a quiet melancholy. She has staged her models in moody rooms of rich color, often using natural light from a nearby window, and dressed them in 19th century draped gowns of silk and lace. The resulting pictures feel like small angst-filled performances, or odd dress up games, where the girls adopt blank stares and mannequin-like poses that only partially conceal their inner lives.

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The best of the works in this show are the smallest prints; the scale forces the viewer to enter the staged environment and pay attention to what is occurring. And even though the mood is consistently shadowy and mournful, it is those hidden vulnerable moments that come out when the girls are lost in thought that transform a handful of these unconventional set-ups into something altogether more intriguing.

Van Meene's panoramic portraits are shot at generally the same scale as their smaller cousins, thereby providing much more setting and narrative environment for the subjects than the close-ups. The challenge is that she is primarily telling subtle inner stories, where the emotional landscape is more important than the physical one. The result is that the larger backgrounds of the panoramas seem a little too staged or more expansive than necessary given the nuanced personalities being captured.

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In general, I liked the European style work much better than the images taken in America; the lyrical fairy tale settings of abandoned rooms in deep blue matched the subjects and their private emotions better; others felt like ghost story illustrations where our plucky heroine is wondering what to do next. In America, the models and their surroundings were more brash and confrontational; these teenagers weren't playing along quite as demurely. And while these images are revealing in their own way, Van Meene's magical spell is a bit broken by this directness; the images are less successful at transporting the viewer somewhere unexpected.
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All in, this is a well crafted, quiet show that rewards careful looking, where a few of the portraits strike just the right pitch in exposing the real drama of growing up.

Collector's POV: The prints in this show are priced according to size: the 16x16 prints are $5500, the 12x12 prints are either $5500, $6500 or $7100, and the 16x32 prints are $7000. Van Meene's work has started to become more available in the secondary markets in the past few years; prices have ranged from approximately $2000 to $6000. Since we aren't portrait collectors, Van Meene's work isn't a great fit for us, even though I found much of the show engaging.
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Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

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Transit Hub:

• Artist site (here)
• Interview with Conscientious, 2008 (here)
• NYTimes review, 2007 (here)

Hellen van Meene, Tout va disparaître

Through October 31st
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Yancey Richardson Gallery

535 West 22nd Street

New York, NY 10011

Jeff Wall @Marian Goodman

JTF (just the facts): A total of 13 large scale black and white and color images, framed in silver with no mat, and hung in the North and South galleries, as well as an additional small viewing room. The prints range in size from relatively small (31x24) to mural sized (93x116); unlike other previous installations of Wall's work, these images are not backed by lightboxes; they are normal prints. The edition sizes range from 2+1 for the largest works, through 3+1, 4+1, 8+2 and eventually 10+2 for the smallest works. Most of the negatives are from 2008 or 2009, with two outliers from 2007 and 1998. Photography was not allowed in the galleries, so unfortunately, there are no installation shots for this show.

Comments/Context: Jeff Wall is perhaps the most intellectual of the top tier contemporary photographers at work today; it only takes a few moments with some of his writings and interviews to recognize that this is an artist who has meticulously thought his images through ahead of time, systematically placed them in a larger art historical framework, and thoroughly analyzed his own approach in a depth of detail normally reserved for scholars and historians. For many younger photographers, Wall is a kind of God; a distant icon to be revered and emulated, an emblem of how the traditions of documentary photography and cinematography can be merged, and with a splash of technical perfection, can produce hyper real narratives that tell expansive stories in a single frame.

The selection of Wall's most recent works now on view at Marian Goodman is unfortunately a lopsided group of pictures; there are a handful of stand out images, mixed in with others that seem to miss the mark. I use the word "seem" here with some care - Wall's well known intellectual approach sets a sort of challenge for the viewer; none of what he has done is in the least bit random (these are not aimless snapshots), and his pictures are normally made up of complex layers of meaning and reference. So as I stood before the many works that didn't move me much, I couldn't help but ask myself the question: am I just too dumb to understand what Wall is doing here? Unable to parse many of the images into some kind of significance or meaning, and given the massive prices on the sheet in my hands, I had the distinct feeling of being talked down to.

There are however a few truly extraordinary images buried amid the less inspiring pictures. I thoroughly enjoyed Siphoning Fuel, an image of an older man in a Hawaiian shirt, on his knees siphoning gas from an old Chrysler, while a young girl squats down nearby; it's the kind of picture that I associate with Wall - careful narration and composition, full of pregnant possibilities. Knife Throw tells the story of two young men practicing their knife throwing skills, launching pocket knives into a battered and scarred pink wall in a dark garage or warehouse; again Wall has taken a complicated situation and pared it down into a memorable moment.

I therefore came away from this show somewhat conflicted: there are certainly a few images here that merit inclusion among Wall's best works; there are also quite a few that left me unmoved or puzzled, trying to figure out what an empty spider web jungle gym or a woman walking on the street with a green building in the background were supposed to be telling me. When he gets it right, Wall is the master of turning the mundane into something theatrical; unfortunately, when he misses, there isn't much to hold your attention.

Collector's POV: The smallest works in this exhibit are priced at either $110000 or $120000; after that, the prices jump to $385000 and then range all the way up to $550000. Wall's images have not been widely available at auction in the past few years; the few works that have come up for sale brought in between $70000 and $220000, but none of his iconic works were among this group, so this price range is likely suspect as a result.

Collectors are always making trade-offs, and given these huge prices, I certainly found myself thinking about all of the amazing work that could be acquired for the price of just one of these murals. If we had a world class contemporary collection, perhaps one of the best from this show would be a welcome addition; but for our modest collection, our dollars would clearly be better spent elsewhere.

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

Transit Hub:

• Exhibit review, NYTimes, 2009 (here, scroll down a bit)
• MoMA retrospective, 2007 (here)
• NYTimes Magazine feature, 2007 (here)

Jeff Wall
Through October 30th

Marian Goodman Gallery
24 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019

Auction Results: Contemporary Art, September 24, 2009 @Sotheby's

The contemporary photography in Sotheby's first sale of the New York season delivered average if uninspiring results, with a buy-in rate creeping up a bit higher than might have been expected and Total Sale Proceeds just covering the total Low estimate. If the two lots that seemed to have no reserve and sold for pennies on the dollar were included as buy-ins, the numbers would have looked even weaker. And Sotheby's should thank Ruud Van Empel, who single handedly delivered a quarter of the total proceeds on one lot.

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

Total Lots: 34
Pre Sale Low Total Estimate: $402000
Pre Sale High Total Estimate: $573000
Total Lots Sold: 24
Total Lots Bought In: 10
Buy In %: 29.41%
Total Sale Proceeds: $422375

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

Low Total Lots: 20
Low Sold: 15
Low Bought In: 5
Buy In %: 25.00%
Total Low Estimate: $150000
Total Low Sold: $106500

Mid Total Lots: 12
Mid Sold: 7
Mid Bought In: 5
Buy In %: 41.67%
Total Mid Estimate: $288000
Total Mid Sold: $149375

High Total Lots: 2
High Sold: 2
High Bought In: 0
Buy In %: 00.00%
Total High Estimate: $135000
Total High Sold: $166500

A generally soft 70.83% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range. There were no surprises in this sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate).

The top lot by High estimate was Lot 284, Wang Qingsong, Romantique, 2003, with an estimate of $50000-70000; it sold for $50000. The top outcome of the sale was Lot 249, Ruud Van Empel, World #17, 2006, with an estimate of $45000-65000; it sold for $116500.

Complete lot by lot results can be found here.

Sotheby's
1334 York Avenue
New York, NY 10021

The Abstracted Landscape @Laurence Miller

JTF (just the facts): A total of 19 black and white and color works, variously framed and matted, hung in the entry and main gallery space. This a group show of four gallery artists: Peter Bialobrzeski, Stephane Couturier, DoDo Jin Ming, and Toshio Shibata. (Installation shots at right.) The details for each artist's works are below:

• Peter Bialobrzeski: 2 c-prints, 60x50 each, in editions of 10, from 2005; 6 c-prints, 11x14, in editions of 9, from 2008; and 1 c-print, 51x65, in an edition of 5, from 2003
• Stephane Couturier: 1 c-print, 26x48, AP, from 1991; 1 c-print, 52x44, in an edition of 8, from 2005; and 1 digital c-print, 50x88, in an edition of 5, from 2004
• DoDo Jin Ming: 12 gelatin silver prints, hung as a single work, 55x60, in editions of 10, from 1996; 1 gelatin silver print, 30x40, in an edition of 10, from 2002; 1 digital c-print, 51x41, in an edition of 10, from 2004; and 1 digital c-print in two parts, overall 63x49, in an edition of 10, from 2004
• Toshio Shibata: 1 gelatin silver print, 20x24, in an edition of 25, from 1990; 1 gelatin silver print, 50x40, AP, from 1996; and 1 c-print, 50x40, in an edition of 10, from 2005

Comments/Context: This exhibit is a thematic group show of gallery artists, where images have been selected based on a broadly common handling of landscape elements. And while the show is entitled The Abstracted Landscape, none of the works on view is completely abstract in the traditional sense (i.e. non-figurative); rather these images are all landscapes that turn on compositional fragments of form and line, pattern and shape.

Peter Bialobrzeski is represented by two twilight building scenes from his series Lost in Transition (book reviewed here), a typology of shacks, and a massive hillside view from Heimat that dwarfs the people down to ant-like dots. Stephane Couturier's prints take the abstraction a bit further, where a roadway flanked by spindly trees and sculpted land becomes an exercise in blocks of color and texture; another image shows a terraced ground in an unreal shade of green, using the contrasts of the land to create juxtapositions of wild and controlled areas.

Three waterfalls by Toshio Shibata transform rushing water into cottony white curves; the most abstract image in the show peers straight down the face of a waterfall, turning the perspective upside down. (A recent Shibata book review can be found here.) And DoDo Jin Ming's negative prints of a faded sunflower field become a post-apocalyptic nightmare, complete with dark shadowy figures; her typology of pyramids plays with size as well as color, all variations on the simple triangular form.

Overall, this is a solid group show that highlights relevant work by each of the photographers included; the thematic construct is a bit thin, but the work itself is consistently well crafted.

(As an aside, for those of you who are familiar with the gallery space, the overall size of the display space has recently been reduced. What was once the second gallery room is now a private viewing space, and a door on the far side of the entry has now been closed off.)

Collector's POV: The prices for each of the four photographers in the show are as follows:

• Peter Bialobrzeski: $1500 for the small prints, $7500 for the Lost in Transition prints, and $15000 for the Heimat print
• Stephane Couturier: the prices were $7500, $15000, and $35000, based on ascending size
• DoDo Jin Ming: the group of 12 prints is priced at $10000 total, the Free Element print is $16000, and the two images from Behind My Eyes are $15000 and $10000
• Toshio Shibata: the small black and white print is $6000, the larger black and white is $25000, and the color image is $10000

There has been very little secondary market activity for any of these artists, so gallery retail is likely the best option for collectors in the short term. While none of these works is a great fit for our collection, I particularly enjoyed Shibata's look down the steep face of a waterfall (black and white) and Couturier's view through a crumbling light blue building (reminiscent of Gordon Matta-Clark).

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

Transit Hub:

• Peter Bialobrzeski: artist site (here)
• Stephane Couturier: NYTimes review, 1999 (here)
• DoDo Jin Ming: NYTimes review, 2002 (here)
• Toshio Shibata: artist site (here)

The Abstracted Landscape
Through November 14th

Laurence Miller Gallery
20 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019

Brassaï, Paris in the 30's, Early Prints @Houk

JTF (just the facts): A total of 37 black and white images, framed in black and matted, and hung in the entry and main gallery space. All of the prints are gelatin silver enlargement prints on ferrotyped paper, ranging in size from approximately 7x5 to 20x16 (or reverse). All of the images were taken in the 1930s; most of the prints are vintage, with some printed by the artist in the 1940s/1950s/1960s. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Brassaï's images of 1930's Paris at night clearly belong among the masterworks of photography; they have become emblematic of the alluring and bewitching lights of the city and the provocative nightlife that goes on in the cafes and bars. This fabulous show includes a variety of Brassaï's signature nocturnal subjects: couples in cafes (alternately happy, bored, dancing, or blithely smoking), backstage shots of cabaret shows and dancers, semi-nude women in brothels, and shadowy dark views of foggy illuminated bridges and street corner assignations.

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While many of the images on display will be familiar to most collectors, there are also a few surprises mixed in. Several of the cafe images were printed somewhat larger than normal, making the intimate vignettes of private encounters more striking; the larger size seems to have transformed them from stolen moments to spotlit studies in human interaction. There are also a handful of unexpected pure abstractions, made from soap and cotton, and a pair of scarce formal nudes.

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This show is a great reminder that vintage work isn't by definition tired and stuffy, or somehow distant and unrelated to the world of contemporary art. There are plenty of masterclass lessons to be drawn from this show, especially for those who seek to document the seamy underbelly of life.

Collector's POV: The prints in the exhibit are priced between $11500 and $95000, with one image "price on request". Works by Brassaï are readily available in the secondary markets, with prices generally ranging from approximately $2000 to $60000, with a few outliers in six figures. The huge Brassaï sale at Millon in 2006 brought a lot of material into the market, so collectors can certainly access prints at auction, as well as in galleries.

For our collection, the lovely nude, Torse, from 1934 would be the best fit, although we already own one Brassaï nude which is quite similar (here); we also have an unexpected outlier for Brassaï - a floral (here).
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Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• The Eye of Paris retrospective, 1999, @NGA (here)
• Review of 1999 show in Time (here)
• 2006 sale review in NYTimes (here)

Brassaï, Paris in the 30's, Early Prints
Through October 17th

Edwynn Houk Gallery

745 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10151