Tangents
The Value of a <i>Photograph </i>
Rhine II. Photo: Andreas Gursky
Not too long ago, a piece by the German photographer Andreas Gursky, called Rhine II, sold for $4.3 million to an art collector. This was the highest (disclosed) price anyone ever paid for a photograph, and the news startled me into thinking about the value of photographs. Our most valuable photographs are usually those of near and dear ones. During the nineteen-eighties, when I began working in California, a wildfire blew out of control and started burning people's homes. My colleague with a house in danger had an hour to evacuate his family and important belongings in one car. Luckily the house did not burn. When he returned to work next week, looking exhausted and battered, I asked him what items they had taken in the car. He said the first items they saved were family photographs, which, unlike other things, were irreplaceable. For those in the news business, photographs have an altogether different kind of value. A photograph of an important event may inform and educate us. Thus it is valuable for many. The news value diminishes quickly, but still, some news photographs have become iconic in our collective psyche. One such photograph is that of the naked girl in Vietnam running away from a napalm bomb blast. It helped intensify protests against the Vietnam War. There must be numerous other ways a photograph is valuable, since photographers get paid for countless types of photographs. For example, in the commercial world, a photograph communicates a message about a business to clients and stakeholders through an advertisement, catalogue or annual report. Documentary photographers try to create a document of, say, a certain group of people or a place. This work often takes on historical or political value. In each of these cases, the photograph has a practical usefulness. For photographers who make their photographs as art, the game is different. They mostly work without paying attention to the practical value of their photograph and are more interested in expressing their unique vision or making a statement through photography. The lucky ones have their work accepted by the art establishment. It takes years – sometimes decades – of hard work and drudgery to gain acceptance as an art photographer with the associated financial benefits, and not everyone succeeds. Ansel Adams, who spent over six decades photographing the American West, was a key figure in the world of high-priced photographs. He started selling photos for less than $10 and built his reputation slowly. In 1981, a print of his famous photograph “Moonrise, Hernandez†sold for $71,000 and caused a stir. After he died, all his autographed photos went up in price. Today, for a photograph to fetch stratospheric prices like Gursky's, many factors must align, including the photographer's fame and background, an effective “limited edition†to control supply, making it into a one-of-a-kind object, and, perhaps most significantly, support of the art establishment. But, after all is said and done, for me the value of a photograph lies in the joy the viewer experiences when looking at it.
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