548 Edward Weston photos up for auction in a single lot

[Darin Boville]

A huge lot of Edward Weston photos will be auctioned by Sotheby's next month. Al printed by Cole. I didn't know there was a Cole Weston Foundation but that is the seller--estimated to bring in $23 million.

And look how dark that Pepper No. 30 is in the press release! :)

http://artdaily.com/news/72404/Sotheby-s-New-York-to-offer-548-Edward-Weston-photographs-as-a-single-lot-this-September#.U_2Xo0s_32s

--Darin

[Doug Howk]

Its interesting that, in Ed Weston's will, Cole Weston was given exclusive rights to reprint the negs. Maybe Ed realized that Brett needed to work on his own stuff whereas Cole was of a lesser ability as a photographer (but good printer). Just speculation.

[chris_4622]

A huge lot of Edward Weston photos will be auctioned by Sotheby's next month. Al printed by Cole. I didn't know there was a Cole Weston Foundation but that is the seller--estimated to bring in $23 million.

And look how dark that Pepper No. 30 is in the press release! :)

http://artdaily.com/news/72404/Sotheby-s-New-York-to-offer-548-Edward-Weston-photographs-as-a-single-lot-this-September#.U_2Xo0s_32s

--Darin

$2/3 million.

[invisibleflash]

http://artdaily.com/news/72404/Sotheby-s-New-York-to-offer-548-Edward-Weston-photographs-as-a-single-lot-this-September#.U_3cvjbn-L0

Sotheby's New York to offer 548 Edward Weston photographs as a single lot this September

[Mark Sampson]

You have to wonder... how many copies of which images? I can't imagine that Cole printed over 500 different negatives.

[Merg Ross]

[QUOTE=Doug Howk;1165949]Its interesting that, in Ed Weston's will, Cole Weston was given exclusive rights to reprint the negs. Maybe Ed realized that Brett needed to work on his own stuff........./QUOTE]

That is true. Also, Brett was opposed to the printing of EW negatives by anyone. He made that very clear after his experience of printing for the 50th Anniversary Portfolio and Print Project. Cole was EW's only choice for the task.

[Paul Cunningham]

$2/3 million.
Now you have me wondering: 2-3 million or two-thirds million. Proper punctuation saves, lives.

[Mark Sampson]

well, about 15 years ago Gallery 292 in NYC was selling Westons printed by Cole for $1200. Should have bought one...

[Tin Can]

The whole thing is odd. Odd a father saddles his son, Cole with a lifetime of copywork.

Odd to sell them all at once.

I bet the auction estimate is way undervalued, by at least a factor of 5. Odd.

Crazy odd art money these days.

[djdister]

Now you have me wondering: 2-3 million or two-thirds million. Proper punctuation saves, lives.

I interpret that as 2 to 3 million, but certainly not 23 million. But hey, a million here, a million there, and pretty soon you're talking real money...

[Vaughn]

I have a EW reproduction print signed by Cole [not a wet-process print, but printed with ink (non-ink-jet)]. A curious thing...and more strange than curious. I guess Cole made the print from an EW negative and then it was copied then reproduced to include in a book.

Can't imagine it is worth much, but the book should be worth a little more with the print still with it.

[Vaughn]

A post has already been created and posted to:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?116028-548-Edward-Weston-photos-up-for-auction-in-a-single-lot&p=1166066#post1166066

[Ken Lee]

The two threads on this topic have been merged into one.

[Darin Boville]

$2/3 million.

Whoops! Hey, that's much more affordable...$1200 a print!

But surely that is too low, even for prints by Cole?

--Darin

[Drew Wiley]

If they were vintage prints it would be one thing, not reprints by Cole. They might look the same, but every serious collector knows the difference. But auction frenzies are funny things. Sometimes they go into overdrive, and sometimes they bellyflop. There are plenty of second-string original EW prints out there at reasonable prices. Not everything he did came out classic. But at least he did it. Cole himself was primarily a color photographer, stuck reprinting his father's negs.

[Merg Ross]

The whole thing is odd. Odd a father saddles his son, Cole with a lifetime of copywork.

Odd to sell them all at once.

I bet the auction estimate is way undervalued, by at least a factor of 5. Odd.

Crazy odd art money these days.

It is unlikely that the stipulations of the will were a surprise to Cole, or the other three sons. Cole was the natural choice to carry on and promote the fame of his father. He had the personality and desire, plus the added opportunity for a more secure income. He was also a good printer, although I suspect that there will be some inconsistency within the single lot.

If my math is correct (?) Sotheby's figures between $3,500 and $5,500 per lot print. I would guess less, but have been wrong before. Randy, let me quote you, "crazy odd art money these days".

[Drew Wiley]

I'd rather have a real Cole print of a Cole shot, printed on Cibachrome, or a real EW printed by EW himself. Cole was obviously a highly competent black and white
printer, but he deserved his own piece of the pie, just like Brett. Most people know his own work from those early "coffee table books" - Ektachrome shots of Big Sur etc, though he did a lot more than that. I suspect it's that little slice of real estate that EW bought down there that really fueled the long term financial success of the family, once the local farm land all got scooped up.

[Bill_1856]

Keep in mind that in a sense, Weston was a lot like the rest of us -- shot lots of crap to get a few Great images. Yes, no doubt his percentage was certainly high, but unless I was a museum I wouldn't want all the flotsam and jetsam of such a large offering, just to get a few of the masterpieces printed by Cole (not by Edward).
Caveat Emptor!

[Drew Wiley]

I doubt Cole printed any of the flotsam and jetsam (bad analogy, because some of EW's greatest images were literally flotsam and Jetsam). What he seems to have done is precisely replicate EW's more classic images for sale, after EW was personally incapable of doing do, or not longer living. Otherwise, EW, just like all of us, had his share of bellyflops. His commercial portrait work from his studio is a somewhat different subject. I've seen a number of his personal secondary or "work prints" for sale, and other than a famous name, they aren't all that remarkable. But as they say, it's better to invest in a lousy work by someone famous than a great work by someone unknown (which pretty much scratches me off anyone's list). I've recently seen some of those less masterful EW vintage prints sell for around 2K to 5K apiece, versus ten to twenty times that price for an image itself now famous. His commercial work from his portrait studio is largely off the radar, but would probably sell for a few hundred by comparison, just like those low contrast prints AA made specifically for halftone reproduction use, versus "fine prints" per se. Of all that clan, I regard BW as the most consistent printer. I'm sure he threw away his share of tentative prints too, but at least he threw them
away.