Guest Post 6(b): Stephen Perloff on the Polaroid Auction

The Polaroid Auction: A Not So Instant History (Part 2 of 5)

by Stephen Perloff

(Note: This section of Perloff’s report continues his account of the June 21-22 auction of selections from the Polaroid Collection at Sotheby’s in New York. — A.D.C.)

The Sale (continued)

"Sotheby's Billboard, Manhattan, June 2010," by A. D. Coleman

A phone bidder soared above collector Christopher Luce for William Garnett’s Plowed Field, Arvin, Calif. (Vertical Aerial 500 Ft. ($6,000–$8,000) at $50,000, but Luce came back for Garnett’s Nude Dune, Death Valley, Calif. (Vertical Aerial About 500 Ft.) (Sand Dune #1) ($6,000–$8,000) at $37,500

L0153 claimed Adams’s mural-sized Siesta Lake, Yosemite National Park, California below estimate at $80,500. We reached lot 86 at the three-hour mark of the sale. But the most important mural-sized images were yet to come.

A bidder in the room went toe-to-toe with L0153 for Aspens, Northern New Mexico ($150,000–$250,000), but it eventually fell to our anonymous phone bidder at $494,500, the third highest price of the sale. L0153 also claimed the fifth highest-priced lot, The Tetons and Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming ($250,000–$350,000) at $350,500.

Another phone bidder, who claimed a few lower-priced lots, took a 16×20-inch print of Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park ($20,000–$30,000) at $53,125. It was a brief respite.

Ansel Adams, "Moonrise over Hernandez," unique "dartboard" mural

Next up was the mural-sized Moonrise ($300,000–$500,000). James Alinder, bidding for a client, was in it till the end, but eventually yielded to the bidder who had gone after Aspens at $518,500, the second highest lot of the sale. Oddly, L0153 was not a player on this lot.

This mural-sized print of Moonrise had hung in the Polaroid cafeteria without any glazing. At some point, probably in the 1960s, someone decided to use it as a dartboard, presumably aiming at the moon as the bull’s-eye. If that was so, they weren’t very good at darts as the moon was never hit, but there were numerous holes in the sky, in the right side, and in the lower left of the print. The print was removed when this activity was discovered. In 1986 when Polaroid was getting ready for its 50th anniversary it decided to celebrate with an exhibition entitled “Ansel Adams and Polaroid: A Special Relationship.” In preparation, the curatorial staff was asked to restore the print. The Collection had five Moonrises, but this was the largest. The print was driven in a van to Western Massachusetts where conservator Robert Lyons spent six months delicately repairing the print. The price was $5,000, which was a lot at the time.

When finished, the print looked beautiful. Lyons had done fine work. The print was in the exhibition and traveled to several venues.

Gerlovin/Gerlovina, "'@®Tmce_marker#39; (Arm Raised)," 1988

At the preview, if you viewed the print from a variety of angles you could see numerous tiny marks that are barely perceptible. They aren’t obvious if you’re not looking for them. However, if the buyer wanted a print with a unique provenance, they really got one in this case.

The collector who took Moonrise came right back for Winter Sunrise, Sierra Nevada, from Lone Pine, California ($300,000–$500,000) at $482,500, number four on the top ten list.

Lot 100, Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park ($300,000–$500,000) brought the evening to a close. Dealer James Danziger, who bought a couple of less-expensive Adamses, dropped out at $410,000. Then Jim Alinder, consulting on his cell phone, and L0153 presaged the record 183-game Wimbledon match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut that was to follow over the next few days. Necks strained as heads bobbed back-and-forth, back-and-forth, between Alinder and the phone. Finally Alinder hit the winner: $722,500, a new record for Adams and obviously the top lot in the sale. The audience applauded, partly for the success of the evening sale, including the fact that every lot had sold, partly that after three-and-a-half hours it had finally ended, and partly because someone had finally triumphed over L0153, who had taken every other lot he or she had bid on.

Lucas Samaras, "Tsiaras Brothers," 1980

A much smaller audience reaching about 55 people returned for the three sessions the next day. There were few higher-priced lots included, but one notable new buyer, a private collector who had just gotten interested in photography and who came with price reports and a well-marked-up catalogue, and who bought numerous lots of William Wegman and Ansel Adam prints as well as a few others.

Robert Rauschenberg’s North Carolina (from The Bleacher Series) ($20,000–$30,000) sold for $116,500, the top lot in the morning session. A number of photographs by David Levinthal also sold for prices considerably higher than the pre-sale estimates. Selected images from American Beauties, a lot of two unique large-format Polaroid Polacolor prints from 1989/90, sold for $34,375 (lot 185, $3,000–$5,000). The 137 lots took a much more reasonable 2 hours and 45 minutes, but Denise Bethel, who provided superhuman work as auctioneer, was already so exhausted that she exclaimed as she came to the last lot in the morning session, “. . . the last lot in today’s sale.” If only. But fortunately she got a break as another auctioneer took over for the afternoon session.

Denise Bethel of Sotheby's

The afternoon began with Howard Greenberg hiking past fellow dealer Robert Mann to $40,625 for a lovely print from a Polaroid Type 55 negative of Ansel Adams’s El Capitan — Winter, Yosemite National Park, California ($10,000–$15,000). Next came the first pass of an Adams print (several other lots had passed in the morning session), then Mann returned for a 16×20-inch print of Adams’s Winter Sunrise from Lone Pine, California ($25,000–$35,000) for the same price. A phone grabbed The Grand Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming for $80,500. But the mural-sized Winter Sunrise, Sierra Nevada, from Lone Pine, California ($150,000–$250,000) passed at $70,000. Then the mural-sized print of The Tetons and Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming ($200,000–$300,000) sold to the phone over Howard Greenberg for $326,500, sixth place and the only lot not in the evening session to crack the top ten. Sotheby’s condition report for this lot in part read, “This majestic print is in generally very good condition. Upon close examination, there are small areas of in-painting and retouching visible in the sky, the central portion of the print, and along the left edge of the image. This print has undergone recent successful conservation, and a treatment report is available upon request.” To my eye it didn’t take very close examination to see these problems.

An order bidder bought a smaller mural-sized print of Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park ($200,000–$300,000) for $158,500. This was only $113.86 per square inch, as opposed to $358.56 per square inch for the record-setter of the previous evening.

Ansel Adams, "Sulfite Crystals" 1962

L0153 went just over estimate for another mural of Cedar Trees in Snow, Winter, Yosemite National Park, paying $122,500. With its white snow nestling on dark branches and against dark tree trunks, this print does not have the wide range of delicate grays found in many Adams prints; consequently, I thought it was one the few murals that came close to maintaining the presence of the smaller prints. L0153 also bought Adams’s Portfolio Three: Yosemite Valley for $146,500. This lot had been underestimated at $35,000–$50,000.

A larger, but not mural-sized print of Grand Tetons and the Snake River went to a bidder in the room at $53,125. L0153 took Bridalveil Fall, Yosemite ($40,000–$60,000) for $146,500.

Aspens, Northern New Mexico ($25,000–$35,000) at $104,500; Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park ($20,000–$30,000) at $74,500; and 11 of 12 plates from Edward Weston’s Fiftieth Anniversary Portfolio ($50,000–$70,000) at $86,500 went to different phone bidders.

Anonymous X-Ray, printed by Ansel Adams, 1960s

There were a couple of lots not by Ansel Adams that are worth noting. A phone swept up Harry Callahan’s Plant Detail (Weed Against Sky) just over estimate at $50,000. And a luscious little unique Polaroid Type 52 print of Minor White’s Peeled Paint, Rochester, New York ($5,000–$7,000) soared to $43,750, also going to a phone bidder.

But then it was back to Adams. Aspens, Northern New Mexico ($10,000–$15,000) went to a phone at $46,875; a mural-sized print of Winter Sunrise, Sierra Nevada, from Lone Pine, California ($150,000–$250,000) went to our new collector in the room, over the bid of James Alinder, at $122,500, the most expensive piece he bought; and a group of three selected Teton images ($25,000–$35,000) went to another phone for $46,875.

The last lot, number 489, finally hammered down at 6:50 p.m. In all the four sessions of the sale took almost ten-and-a-half hours to complete.

Records Achieved

Mark Berghashn/a$15,000210Luigi Ghirri$25,463$34,375323Walter Chappell$8,750$20,000350Paul Caponigro$11,400$13,750    Record for a Photographic Work by the Artist3Chuck Close$230,500$290,5005Robert Rauschenberg$57,600$242,5006David Hockney$76,509$194,50053Andy Warhol$146,500$254,500

(To be continued.)

Part 2 of 5 : 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5

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Stephen Perloff, by Judith Harold-Steinhauser

Stephen Perloff is the founder and editor of The Photo Review, a critical journal of international scope publishing since 1976, and editor of The Photograph Collector, the leading source of information on the photography art market. He has taught photography and the history of photography at numerous Philadelphia-area colleges and universities and has been the recipient of two grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for arts criticism. He was the recipient of the Sol Mednick Award for 2000 from the Mid-Atlantic region of the Society for Photographic Education and the first annual Vanguard Award from the Philadelphia Center for the Photographic Image in 2007.

Text copyright © 2010 by Stephen Perloff. All rights reserved. Published by permission of the author. To contact Stephen Perloff, email him at info [AT] photoreview [DOT] org.