Is This the World’s Highest-Grossing Photograph?

[r.e.]

244097


This long read article in today's NY Times is an interesting and fun read:

Is This the World’s Highest-Grossing Photograph?
“Girls in the Windows” wasn’t made by an art world giant, but people keep buying it. And buying it. And buying it.

URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/21/business/gigli-photograph-girls-in-the-windows.html

The NY Times has a paywall, but allows a limited number of views each month by non-subscribers.

[r.e.]

From one of the reader comments:


Not in the article are the camera, lens and film specs. All I could find is what he told Time: "It was shot on a 4×5 Speed Graphic – which I seldom used – with a wide angle lens. And I did about, I’m guessing here, 15 or 18 shots." I'm guessing the lens was a 90mm, because wider lens is more difficult to accommodate on that camera.

[darr]

I wish I could read the article, but I have already used all my freebies for recipes.
I no longer care to subscribe to the Times, just the New Yorker.
Can you name the photographer? I will do a little research for more.
TIA!

[bdkphoto]

Ormond Gigli -girls in the window

[Pieter]

Ormand Gigli , 1960.

[r.e.]

I wish I could read the article, but I have already used all my freebies for recipes.
I no longer care to subscribe to the Times, just the New Yorker.
Can you name the photographer? I will do a little research for more.
TIA!

You should be able to read it a week Friday. This is not a news story. It's what the NY Times calls a "long read", and it's unlikely that you'll find what's in the article in other sources. In part, it's about how this photograph has been marketed and the roles of auction houses and art dealers.

[jnantz]

https://entertainment.time.com/2013/11/14/girls-in-the-windows-the-real-story-behind-an-iconic-new-york-photo/

(interview with him ... speed graphic fast wide angle lens )

[Pieter]

For those who can't access the NYT, I just got an email promoting this photo at a local gallery:

Ormond Gigli's greatest image, Models in the Windows, was taken on New York’s East 58th Street in 1960. It is widely considered one of the most famous fashion shots of the 1960s, and captures a slice of long-gone New York. It has such great energy and is so memorable, you are sure to remember it long after having seen it for the first time.

Self-assigned, the Models in the Windows image is some of Gigli's best work and has a fabulous creation story to match. Here are Gigli's own words on the story..

"In 1960, while a construction crew dismantled a row of brownstones right across from my own brownstone studio on East 58th Street, I was inspired to, somehow, immortalize those buildings. I had the vision of 43 women in formal dress adorning the windows of the skeletal facade.

We had to work quickly to secure City permissions, arrange for models which included celebrities, the demolition supervisor’s wife, my own wife, and also secure the Rolls Royce to be parked on the sidewalk. Careful planning was a necessity as the photography had to be accomplished during the workers’ lunch time!

The day before the buildings were razed, the 43 women appeared in their finest attire, went into the buildings, climbed the old stairs, and took their places in the windows.

I was set up on my fire escape across the street, directing the scene, with a bullhorn in hand. Of course, I was concerned for the Models’ safety, as some were daring enough to pose out on the crumbling sills.

The photography came off as planned. What had seemed to some as too dangerous or difficult to accomplish, became my fantasy fulfilled, and my most memorable self–assigned photograph. It has been an international award winner ever since.

[Drew Wiley]

Not even close. The biggest money-making photo in history was probably one of the Marlboro Man, seen on billboards and magazines all over the world for decades. It's also one of the most socially significant ones - can you think of any other image that's killed more people than that one?

[Pieter]

Not even close. The biggest money-making photo in history was probably one of the Marlboro Man, seen on billboards and magazines all over the world for decades. It's also one of the most socially significant ones - can you think of any other image that's killed more people than that one?
You are referring to the profit made by the company by using an image to advertise their product rather than the sales of the photograph itself. Unless you count Richard Prince's theft of the Marlboro Man ads to make his appropriation art, the actual Marlboro Man image(s) were never sold on the art market.

If you are considering the profits generated through advertising, there are many contenders beyond the Marlboro Man. For example, specialized business-to-business ads for commercial airplanes and military contracts. Very big bucks involved there.

[r.e.]

Careful readers will note that the NYT headline ends with a question mark. It is not making a definitive statement. The headline, like many headlines, is just a tease and doesn't mean anything at all.


I gather that you haven't read the article. You're wrong about the purpose of the headline, and you have no idea what the author has to say about the question in the headline, which he discusses in some detail.

So far, the NY Times has published 400 comments on this article from people who have read it. Some of the comments also make interesting reading.

[r.e.]

“It must be the highest-grossing photograph of all time.” Oh yeah, that's real definitive. I call BS.

Now you don't even have the headline right: "Is This the World’s Highest-Grossing Photograph?"

You know, you'd save yourself further embarrassment if you just read the article instead of continuing to make erroneous assertions about something you haven't even read.

You're also missing the point. It's an interesting article about the history, including economic, of a surprisingly successful photograph. It is not a news piece on the 2024 election or an academic paper on artificial intelligence. Judging from NY Times reader comments, the photograph elicits a lot of reactions, from memories of 1960s New York, to a civilised debate among readers about this 1960 photograph in relation to feminism, to discussion about the art market and the unusual way that this photograph has been marketed.

No need for hightened blood pressure.

[notorius]

I can see where Physical graffiti album cover author(Peter Corriston) took inspiration from. :)

[h2oman]

Fun photo - great story!