U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: Gum at Christies New York

Re: Gum at Christies New York



I suppose it does no good to speculate, but I've been puzzling why it is that Steichen's gums, or gum over whatevers, have sold for so much more; in fact his moon over the pond cyanogum I believe still holds the record for highest price paid yet for a photograph, a couple of years ago (I don't now remember the price, but someone probably does). Way more than $9,000, which I actually think is a steal for a Demachy, even though like you, I'm not keen on the Symbolist content. I suppose it has mostly to do with name recognition, and then to a lesser extent with a more universally appealing content. Steichen's evokes a universally accessible mood, an emotion, where Demachy's is more interesting in an academic sense as a record of a style that was popular once but now seems just curious.
Katharine



On Apr 16, 2007, at 7:31 AM, Peter Marshall wrote:

Anyone feeling rich?

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lfsearch/LotDescription.aspx? intObjectID=4893308

7,000 - 9,000 U.S. dollars
Lot Description ROBERT DEMACHY (1859-1936)
Symbolist Study of Sleeping Woman in Woods, 1905
gum bichromate print
6 3/8 x 9in. (16.2 x 22.9cm.)

Looks rather gloomy, even murky in repro, to me, but I'm not a great Demachy fan. There are many great images in the auction, and this certainly wouldn't be my pick even if I had the cash to spare. There are a some platinum prints going too, but this was the only gum I noticed.

Regards,

--
Peter Marshall
petermarshall@cix.co.uk _________________________________________________________________
My London Diary http://mylondondiary.co.uk/
London's Industrial Heritage: http://petermarshallphotos.co.uk/
The Buildings of London etc: http://londonphotographs.co.uk/
and elsewhere......