Richard Sullivan (richsul@earthlink.net)
Thu, 22 Jul 1999 13:13:43 -0600
At 01:24 PM 7/22/99 -0700, you wrote:
>DEAR RICHARD,
> Yes, I know that New York requires galleries to give a disclosure
>statement (or did in 1993 when I moved out) with each print sale.
>PLEASE NEVER DESTROY NEGATIVES: They are historical documents and many will
>be of social and cultural significance that we cannot imagine. It won't hurt
>having around those which are not significant as a price to pay to preserve
>those that are but only posterity can judge...not us... so keep them safe.
Interesting, I like to know what they are required to say. California, to
the Robert Scull auction, passed a law making the artist a partner in
future sales. Anyone ever heard of an artist ever getting anything?
Are negatives anymore of an historical document than say the plates etchers
print from? Etchers are obliged to cancel their plates when the edition is
complete. They do this by drilling wholes or scratching them into un
usability. With the new digital age upon us, mere scratching the neg may
not be sufficient. In fact for the most part, etchings and engravings and
the like, even if steel-faced, are more limited in their potential output
than negatives are. (Not being an etcher, I take it on faith, that the
common assumption is that steel-facing also degrades the print quality.)
Restrikes were common in the print world, and which edition the print came
from is very important in terms of price. A 1st edition Goya Los Caprichios
print may go for many thousands of dollars where a 6th edition of the same
image may go for only hundreds. Luckily for print collectors, in order to
get more editions, reworking of the plate was necessary, and so one can
tell which edition they are from by small hairline details in the print.
Photographs can be nearly identical from print to print.
Around the mid-19th Century printmakers started cancelling their plates. I
have seen it said that there was some serious hanky-panky going on with
plates and editions that was hurting the market so the practice was adopted
by the better printmakers to protect the value of their work. It appears
that some dealers displayed the cancelled plate to assure the buyers that
there would be no more prints made. How anyone new that 2000 weren't pulled
before the plate was cancelled, I don't know.
The major print dealers association a few years ago put a moratorium on the
sale of Dali prints due to the flagrant abuses that were going on. Even
Dali, when alive, participated by pre-signing paper that the prints were
to be made on. I understand there are Dali prints with the signature
running through the plate mark. Of course Dali's prices have plummeted.
I don't have much of a qualm with negs going into storage, etc. The
argument is more academic. The real issue is in the editioning of prints
and how that is being done.
As a final thought, we can be sure that there will not be any surreptitious
Brett Westons made from the original negative appearing soon. He may have
been a lot more savvy than folks give him credit for.
--Dick
> There is a standard procedure for all of this. The negative(s) are
>retired to a vault for 100 years, I believe as a lawyers escrow arrangement
>(Not certain of this part) when the edition is finished.
>I feel certain that, except for those on Mount Olympus, none of us will be
>around to make any more prints OF OUR OWN NEGATIVES! These are the vintage
>prints. If a museum or anyone else makes many new prints, they only serve
>to INCREASE THE FAME AND VALUE OF THE ORIGINAL, VINTAGE, LIMITED EDITION
>PRINTS made, signed, and numbered, by the hand of the original
>photographer! They do not dilute the value of the originals...they ENHANCE
>it. This has been proven repeatedly. And the negatives are still there for
>historical, educational, and cultural research.
>
> CHEERS!
> BOB KISS
505-474-0890 FAX 505-474-2857
<http://www.bostick-sullivan.com>http://www.bostick-sullivan.com
http://www.workingpictures.com
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