LIVING WITH ART BLOG

Twenty or so years ago, in the back room of a well curated Gallery in Denver, I discovered a black and white photograph of Georgia O’Keefe. For me, it was love at first sight as I had long admired O’Keefe, both as a strong, independent woman and as an artist. When I took the photograph to the front desk to ask the price, it quickly became apparent that the photograph was a part of the owner’s personal collection and he had not planned on selling it. An hour or so later, during which I passionately discussed O’Keefe, and the owner passionately discussed Myron Wood, the photographer, I became the ecstatic owner of “A Rock Collection,” a photograph of O’Keefe in profile in her Abiquiu home sitting alongside a table of “very elegant” rocks and a large geranium plant.

On the way to my hotel I stopped at the Library to research Myron Wood. A respected and prolific photographer, he was born in Wilson, Oklahoma and earned a BFA in Music with highest honors from Oklahoma State University and was admitted to the Yale Graduate School of Music. Myron also attended the Progressive School of Photography in New Haven, Connecticut and had subsequently studied large format photography with Edward Weston in Carmel, California. At the time my photograph was taken, he was one of only two photographers for which O’Keefe would pose. The other photographer being Alfred Stieglitz, her husband. Now I had two heroes: Georgia O’Keefe and Myron Wood.

The purchase of this photograph was a breakthrough in my art collecting. Years before, when I was in Graduate School, I had seen a small painting of O’Keefe’s in the Forest Fenn Gallery in Santa Fe and had gotten tears in my eyes when I found out it was priced at well over $250,000. But now, I had a wonderful photograph of her. The photograph of O’Keefe was so personal…it was her. It occurred to me that while I might never be able to afford a painting by Picasso, Lee Krasner, Frida Kahlo or a photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe, I could afford to buy quality photographs of them. I could get to know them. Thus, began my photography collection. I still collect black and white portraits of painters, sculptors, and, photographers, as well as other genres.

Since the Daguerreotype, one of the earliest photographic processes, invented in 1839, photography has had to defend its status as an art from. Initially only having the ability to capture realistic images on metal plates, photography and photographers have survived several technological interruptions including the advent of film, color and digital. Cell phone technology has made us all photographers. If 75-80 percent of all photographs are taken by cell phones, why do photographs remain a collectible art form? I think the answer in part is due to the intimacy and immediacy of the medium. Photography is a personal medium.

Julie Maguire, New York based Curator and Director of the Brett Weston Archives agrees, “to dismiss photography as an art form has always been and still is a mistake. The time a photographer takes to create or frame a scene or subject can be just as arduous and emotional as painting a painting. From the viewer’s standpoint a photograph can be even more emotional because we perceive it as something ‘real’ and therefore relatable.” She continues by stating that, “as a collecting category photography has many advantages, the foremost being price. While some contemporary photographs have sold for millions of dollars in the last two decades, most photography is relatively inexpensive.” 

Photographs are the ultimate collectible. In addition to vintage and non-vintage photographs, there is a variety of price points as well as several types of photography from which to choose, including: landscapes, portraits, wildlife, still life, aerial, sports, architectural, abstract, conceptual, botanical, floral, nude and special event photography. There are also different types of prints including: dark room, digital, lenticular, giclee, and C prints. All this variety allows for great personalization when putting together a collection. Take it from me, collecting photography is interesting, challenging and fun.

Image - "A Rock Collection," By Myron Wood