Art photography’s developing image

Art photography has finally come into its own as a ‘fine art’, having long been overshadowed by an old-world artistic focus on painting and sculpture. Swelling ranks of new collectors are aggressively acquiring photographs, from vintage photos to cutting-edge digital images, setting new auction records annually and continually redefining fine art. But photography’s fight for acceptance in the modern art world has been a long time in coming.

Visions of the world have been preserved for posterity since 1839 via a process called photography. That year, Louis Daguerre and William Henry Fox Talbot discovered that an image would remain on a metal plate or piece of paper after allowing sunlight to react with the light-sensitive chemical qualities of silver. This discovery led to further development that eventually brought modern photography to life.

Photography’s advocates envisioned a new art medium able to reproduce the subject matter in exact detail. But photographers and their new-age equipment were swiftly put to utilitarian and commercial use, providing a rapid and inexpensive means of recording history through press photographs, family pictures and criminal evidence.

Throughout the 20th century, lenses, apertures, speed and camera construction became the variables that created a photographer’s distinctive style. New photographic processes allowed more aesthetic experimentation as the century progressed. Technological advances in camera equipment merged with creative influences and styles to create new possibilities for photographic artists.

Museums and fine art galleries in the mid-1900s were reluctant to place photography on equal par with painting and sculpture, as it was considered a mechanical procedure and was relegated to the Industrial sections of expositions. Although people understood that photography was an art of some kind, it wasn’t considered collectible and most serious photographers made their living selling reproduction rights for their pictures to newspapers and major corporations.

But changes in art appreciation led to the growth of art photography by the late 1970s. Photographers learned the tricks of modern art from their counterparts in the traditional arts and set about building a body of work that was unlike anything from the past. Photographers such as Ansel Adams, Nan Goldin and Adam Fuss continually surprised art critics with vision and innovation in works over the course of the 20th century.

By the end of the 1980s, photographers found themselves increasingly welcome at gallery showings and upscale museums. The 1990s marked a period of renewal for art photographers as their work moved from museums into popular culture. Posters, calendars and magazines were responsible for many collectors’ first look at works by Adams and Annie Liebovitz. But this cursory appreciation grew as buyers interested in the varying aesthetics of photography began to spend money on original works.

Hype for contemporary photography in 2000 seems to be at a peak. A spring auction at Sotheby’s netted double the estimates for most of Paul Strand’s work. But the “classics,” including work by Alfred Stieglitz, Charles Sheeler and Andre Kertesz, are still solid investments. The top price for a work of photography was paid in October 1999 at Sotheby’s London for a nineteenth century photograph: Gustave Le Gray’s “Grande Vague-Sete” sold for US$840,500.

Established photographers of the twentieth century are also consistently good investments. Photos by Tracey Moffat, Vik Muniz and Sally Mann are among the most highly valued, selling for $5000 to $20,000, but there is also an increasing number of talented photographers on the rise whose work sells for $500 to $5000.

It is difficult to imagine the world without photographic art. After a century and a half of development, the medium has finally taken steps towards acceptance as fine art as photographs find a home in museums and galleries. And in a market build on reputation and demand, this once utilitarian art form stands to command ever-higher prices from collectors.

By Pamela Saunders