FAQS

Q: I see your logo includes the words appreciating photography. I have always appreciated photography, but from the point of view of its appreciating, how good an investment is it? DF, New Zealand

A: All over the world, collecting photography is HOT! The auction houses are realizing prices up to 100 times those achieved just ten years ago! The chic of the art now graces the homes of the discerning, and is redefining investment portfolios.

Best known is the work of Ansel Adams, the greatest American photographer of the 20th century, and The Edward Carter Galleries have the largest available inventory of the artist's work.

Ansel Adams created the image of Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, in 1941.

In 1950, he charged $50 for a print.

Before Ansel died in 1984, he made a total of 1300 unique prints of Moonrise. Today, nearly all are in museums or collections. All of Ansel's negatives are in vaults, and will never be used to make prints for sale again.

At the opening of The Edward Carter Galleries in SoHo in 1999, a Moonrise was sold for $24,500.

In the spring of 2000, we sold another print for $50,000. Fine photography appreciates, and besides our inventory of unique, original Ansel Adams' photographs, The Edward Carter Galleries represent artists whose work we believe will appreciate as much as you appreciate it.

Let me explain further.

It is the mission of this gallery to help clients build a collection of affordable art that will increase in value over time.

Fine art photographs of living photographers, unlike other multiple-originals such as serigraphs and lithographs, are printed as they are sold, and not necessarily at the time the original image is created. This creates pricing based on demand for a particular image. When an image gets popular, the artist increases its price. This effectively limits the edition as the number of people able to afford the image decreases. Ansel Adams always said of his own work "buy the one that is most expensive, because this means that people would rather have that image, even at an increased price."

Let me use the work of Christopher Burkett as an example. Jeanne Adams, daughter-in-law to Ansel Adams and CEO of the Ansel Adams Galleries, states, "Christopher Burkett is doing for color what Ansel did for black-and-white." His multiple-stage contrast masking pushes the limits of what a color photograph can accomplish. We are now finding that the value of Burkett's photographs is following the same "tiered-pricing" trend established by Adams in the 1960's. Understanding the historical context of photography pricing will help you make important decisions about adding to your collection.

As of January 1, 28 of Burkett's top images will double in price due to their continued increase in popularity. We strongly recommend adding any of these images to your collection before that date.

Edward Carter

Q: What is your advice on collecting photography? CS, California

A:

• You must love the photograph.

• You must realize that you are now the steward of that photograph.

• You must learn everything that you can about the photographer.

• You must have knowledge that the seller is of the highest repute, which will, when possible, provide you with provenance-the history of that print.

• You must know the photograph's process and its likely stability.

• You must be assured that it is an original photograph and not a "fine" lithographic reproduction.

• You must know if the photograph is from a limited edition and, if not, how many prints of the image exist or could there be.

• You must receive a certificate of authenticity from the seller.

• You must learn how to care for the print.

• You must know how to frame and display the photograph

Q: How should I take care of a fine photograph? LC, New Jersey

A:

• With owning significant works of art comes the responsibility for their care and future. You are a steward; protect and save this image for future generations.

• Let no direct sun fall on the print. Indirect sunlight and incandescent light are appropriate.

• Your photograph has been mounted and matted with acid free archival all rag board. It is very important to maintain an acid free environment for your art.

• Temperature in a normal range is fine, but avoid high humidity for all works of art on paper.

• A photograph should be displayed only after it has been carefully, archivally framed. The frame should not distract from the image itself, but softly define its territory and let the art speak.

• Use museum grade acrylic (Plexiglas), it is almost unbreakable and filters out 90% of the harmful ultraviolet rays. In very bright locations you can use UF3 Plexiglas that will remove even greater percentage of UV rays. In situations where windows are in walls opposite the print, non-glare Plexiglas may be required. To clean the Plexiglas, use a soft cloth and a plastic cleaner if necessary. Glass cleaners contain abrasives and will scratch the acrylic surface.

• To hang your photographs at a proper height for most people, center the print 60" off the floor. To accurately determine this height, add half the frame vertical dimension, subtract the space above the wire to the top of the frame plus 60". For example, if the frame is 20" tall and the distance between the wire to the top of the frame is 3", the math is: +10"(half of 20") -3" +60"= 67", place the part of the hook where the wire will rest 67 inches from the floor.

• While your photograph will look good in normal room light, it will appear even better with special lighting. To light your photograph, install track lighting or individual fixtures in the ceiling for each picture, using about a 65-watt incandescent spotlight. For longer walls you can use floodlights as wall washers. While the smaller halogen fixtures have a much colder light, they can be a good choice for many locations

• For long-term storage of a collection, metal flat files or archival storage boxes are the best choice. These are available from most professional photo supply stores.

We recommend changing placement of picture once or twice a year to give the image a new visual life. Enjoy your photograph!

Q: Why do people compare Christopher Burkett to Ansel Adams? BC, New York

A: At first glance, it might be hard to see any connections between Ansel Adams and Christopher Burkett's photographs. It is true that their philosophies are very different; Adams believed that the control he needed could only be found through black and white, while Christopher Burkett sees color, in its most saturated and brilliant state, as the means to capture his subjects in all their glory. Upon closer inspection, it is clear that these two photographers share the drive to make beautiful and strikingly individualistic images of the landscape that surround us.

Jeanne Adams, daughter-in-law to Ansel Adams and CEO of the Ansel Adams Galleries, states, "Christopher Burkett is doing for color what Ansel did for black-and-white."

Visit our galleries to enjoy the juxtaposition of one of the most important and influential photographers of the twentieth century with another photographer whose career is relatively young, but no less prolific and impressive.

Q: I have seen signed Ansel Adams prints that said Special Edition. Are these worth more or less than others that he has signed? GR, Taiwan

A: In October 1937, Virginia Adams (Ansel Adam's wife) inherited her father's Yosemite painting studio, Best's Studio. Appalled at the trashy level of the curios that had been sold at the gallery, Ansel hired an assistant to make souvenir prints from a selection of AA's Yosemite negatives. These were called special edition prints and sold for $3/apiece. They are made to this day, and are clearly differentiated from original photographs made by Ansel himself by the stamping on the verso (the back) of the mount stating they are special edition prints - or SEP's. From about 1955 to 1972, AA signed them and then from 1972-1974 he initialed them. The same assistant, Alan Ross, has been printing them (by the thousands. Hundreds to thousand-plus are sold of Moon and Half Dome alone, annually). They now are $150/apiece, including acid-free mount and over-mat. I value the signed SEP's at $150 plus the value of the signature/autograph and the initialed at even less.

People are stung by SEP's all the time. I have fought hard to keep them out of the big auctions - Sotheby's, etc. - and even though I have worked with all those folks, on occasion an SEP does slip by and into a catalog and then at auction. We once gave two SEP's to one of our kids school auctions - like 15 years ago - and I stood up at the podium and very clearly explained what they were and what their current market value was and still some fool (or rather two) bid them up to nearly a thousand apiece. So, we have never donated them again.

As you probably know, Ansel was trained as a classical pianist and he liked to apply musical terms to photography. He described his negative as the score and each print would be his new performance from that score. It was imperative for Ansel to perform his own score - to not only make the negative but to interpret each into a print. Special Edition Prints are not original Ansel Adams - they are, as they have always been, lovely and well-priced souvenirs.

Mary Street Alinder

copyright © 2001, THE EDWARD CARTER GALLERIES, LTD