Forget a thousand words. This picture's worth $2.9 million (photo was of a Long Island pond)

Associated Press ^ | February 14, 2006

[new cruelty]

NEW YORK (AP) -- A photograph of a pond taken by Edward Steichen sold for more than $2.9 million, easily setting a world record for the highest-priced photograph ever auctioned, Sotheby's said.

"The Pond-Moonlight," taken on Long Island in 1904, sold on Tuesday for $2,928,000, including the buyer's premium, Sotheby's spokesman Matthew Weigman said. The buyer's identity was not immediately disclosed.

The photograph shows a pond in a wooded area with light coming through the trees and reflected in the water. Pre-sale estimates priced the photo, which is slightly bigger than 16 inches by 19 inches, at up to $1 million. The only other two prints are in museum collections.

...

Stephen Perloff, the editor of The Photograph Collector, a newsletter about the photography art market, said before the Steichen auction that it would be a "moment of history."

[TheLion]

Now that is a photo!

[syriacus]

I thought Margaret Sanger founded the organization that became Planned Parenthood which goes back way before the 1950s.

Speaking of Planned Parenthood
Dr. Mary Steichen Calderone, was a Medical director of the Planned Parenthood Federation in 1953 -1964

[TheLion]

Apparently Steichen did a lot of World War II photos....here is one:

[SuziQ]

Nice. But $2.9 million worth of nice?

It was taken by Edward Steichen. That's worth a lot right there, to photography enthusiasts and collectors.

[Richard Kimball]

Man, as a photographer, I wish you didn't have to be dead to make that kind of cash.

[syriacus]

I remember reading some about Steichen's life, a few years back, when reading Carl Sandburg's biography. Sandburg was his brother-in-law.

[macamadamia]

Now that is a photo!

Yeah, whenever I see that photograph of Mantle, I always have two thoughts, "I want that photo" and "Man, I wish I took that picture!" Its a poetic image.

[syriacus]

Steichen bio at artnet

[rock58seg]

Maybe you can get someone at DU to give you that much for it. The building appears to lean left.

[TheLion]

I grew up with this guy as one of my heroes. I used to listen to the games on radio any way I could!

[Eastbound]

This one should be worth $ 20 mil then:

CLICK!

[BradyLS]

No, no! You need to make the guy the same shades of sepia as the rest of the pic! Maybe insert Tourist Guy-- or even Evil Bert! That's be coool...

[BradyLS]

That one guy is thinking: "Alright. America remains safe AND I still get some..."

[syriacus]

Edward Steichen His life and works.

Edward Steichen is photography's greatest artist as this large retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art clearly shows....etc

[B4Ranch]

CN_Tower in Toronto

[syriacus]

And does your boycott extend to [Fonda's] films?

What boycott?

[BushMeister]

A better look at the Steichen:

[Ichneumon]

Have you been to the Cy Twombly exhibit in Houston? Basquiat is a master in comparison.

Speaking of alleged "art" spotted in Houston, my favorite example of "you've gotta be kidding me" pseudo-art hanging in a museum was something I saw in the Menil Collection over a decade ago. It was just four small canvases side by side (each about a foot square), each canvas completely covered in a different solid pastel paint color (chosen apparently at random) with no variations of texture or color, and the title of the work was "The Four Seasons".

I want to know who paid how much to buy and display *that* unimaginative and talentless crap?

[devolve]

bump

[The KG9 Kid]

You just gave me an idea for a 7-part epic miniseries for PBS!

... oh, wait.