Digital BW, The Print

> Just keep in mind that the most expensive photography ever sold was an
> "edition" of 2.
> This was the outtake or something like that from a Marlboro man ad that
> sold for over a million bucks this winter.


Nope, it's been "super seeded" thrice already - maybe more by now..=*^):



A 1904 Edward Steichen photo of a moonlit pond has shattered the record  
for the most expensive photograph ever sold at auction.

The print, "The Pond-Moonlight," went for $2,928,000 at Sotheby's in  
New York last night, more than doubling the previous record. The old  
record, $1,248,000, was set Nov. 8 at Christie's for an untitled  
photograph of a Marlboro cigarette ad by contemporary art photographer  
Richard Prince.

Sotheby's says the high bidder for "The Pond-Moonlight" was Peter  
MacGill of the Pace-MacGill Gallery in New York, on behalf of a private  
collector.

MacGill has made a point of setting records. He tied a photo auction  
record last October when he bid $822,400 for a Dorothea Lange print at  
Sotheby's; he was also behind the private sale of a Man Ray photo in  
2000 that was rumored to be $1.25 million.

"The Pond-Moonlight" was one of 35 lots sold yesterday as part of an  
auction of photographs from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Sales from  
the auction benefit the Met's recent purchase of the Gilman Paper  
Company's photo collection; some of the images for sale at auction were  
from that collection. The auction was continuing today.

Two other images exceeded the Prince record at Sotheby's last night,  
both by photographer Alfred Stieglitz. One, a portrait of Georgia  
O'Keefe called "Nude," sold for $1,360,000. The other, also of O'Keefe  
called "Hands," sold for $1,470,000. Both prints are from 1919.  
Sotheby's said both went to a west coast dealer, but did not disclose  
the buyer's name.

The three big sales drastically exceeded the auction house estimates.  
Before the auction, the Steichen photo had a high estimate of $1  
million and the two Stieglitz photos had high estimates of $500,000.

The record-setting Steichen print is notable for its scarcity and  
technical achievement, as well as the beauty of the image itself.

Steichen took the photograph in the wetlands around Mamaroneck, N.Y.,  
near Long Island Sound, in the fall of 1904. There are only three known  
prints made from Steichen's negative, each with a different look and  
tone.

Starting from a black-and-white negative, Steichen used a special  
printing process to layer different hues of color over it. Sotheby's  
describes the print sold yesterday as a platinum print with one or more  
layers of gum-bichromate applied on top of it. Each layer was a  
different tone, and could have been altered with a brush or sponge. The  
resulting print is a ghostly blue-green.

The subtle hue of "The Pond-Moonlight," which measures 16 1/6 by 19  
11/16 inches, is a world apart from the previous record-holding print,  
Prince's bright, bold cowboy image that measures 50 by 70 inches.

Steichen's print is an example of the Pictorialism movement, which  
stressed the artistic qualities of an image above its subject. It also  
reflects Steichen's background as a fine art painter. Steichen was born  
in Luxenbourg in 1879 and trained as a painter in Milwaukee, but made  
his name as a photographer in New York. He shot for Vogue and Vanity  
Fair beginning in the 1920s, and became director of photography at the  
Museum of Modern Art in 1943. He died in Connecticut in 1973.

Sotheby's says the print belonged to various private owners until the  
Gilman Paper Company acquired it in 1983. The auction house says the  
first sale of the photo was to John Aspinwall, a friend and supporter  
of Steichen, in 1906. The original bill of sale is lost, but a letter  
said the print first sold for the relatively high price of $75.

http://www.vnuemedia.com/pdn/newswire/article_display.jsp? 
vnu_content_id=1002033354

Christer


			Christer, AKA Christer Rosewell
		  pronounced "Chris-ter" - NOT "Christ-er"
"It's the artist's job to accomplish two things-to stir the emotions of  
the viewer
	  and to lay bare the soul of his subject." Jousuf Karsh
      		  Member EP (Editorial Photographers)
			  http://www.ChristerArt.com
		  	   4.1 million visitors to date..


On May 15, 2006, at 9:15 AM,  
DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com wrote:

> Just keep in mind that the most expensive photography ever sold was an
> "edition" of 2.
> This was the outtake or something like that from a Marlboro man ad that
> sold for over a million bucks this winter.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]