It is my considered opinion that Sotheby’s, Singer, and trustee John Stoebner, who had threatened A. D. Coleman with a lawsuit, should instead be sending him a dozen, long-stemmed, red roses; a bottle of Charles Heidsieck 1995 Blanc des Millénaires champagne; and The Farmer’s Market Feast with a 56-piece Every Flavor Box, a 28-piece box of fruit squares, a 12-piece box of dipped apricots, and a 6-piece box of raspberry chocolates from John & Kira’s chocolates. For the very small and inconsequential price of removing a handful of lots from the sale, Sotheby’s gained publicity and notoriety for the auction far in excess of what they could have generated on their own. The idea of the scarcity of these objects and the vague hint that this may be a very fleeting opportunity to obtain them certainly ginned up the bidding enormously. […]
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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. […] The sale of the Polaroid Collection was an unmitigated triumph for Sotheby’s — and therefore also for the creditors of Polaroid — totaling $12,467,638, comfortably exceeding the pre-sale estimate of $6.9–$10.7 million. The sale was 88.8% sold by lot. Fourteen new artist records were set, including ones for a single photograph by Ansel Adams, Andy Warhol, Lucas Samaras, and Harry Callahan, and for photographic works by Chuck Close, Robert Rauschenberg, and David Hockney. The months of work without weekends off that Sotheby’s experts put into the sale and its catalogue were clearly rewarded. […] The Polaroid Collection is inarguably a whole, much greater than the sum of its parts. So this auction is an amputation — which doesn’t render the remainder of the collection insignificant or meaningless, but inarguably diminishes it by reducing the complex synergy of its interactive parts. Indeed, I could feel the synergy leaving the room, almost palpably, as I wandered through the galleries. […] |
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Polaroid Collection: Update 22
Based on the precedent that Sotheby’s and Trustee themselves set in withdrawing selected contested works from the auction, it would seem that all those with work in the collection have standing that would enable them to challenge the disposition of the remaining collection, if that disposition takes the form of a sale. It wouldn’t surprise me if more of the photographers in the collection decided to make their voices heard on this issue as placement of the rest of the collection moves to the front burner. […]