Tuesday, June 22

photographs from the polaroid collection

Farrah Fawcett by Andy Warhol. Polacolor Type 108 print.


Yesterday, and ending today, Sotheby's in New York have been auctioning off over 400 lots of rare instant (and some more traditional prints) shot by photographers such as Ansel Adams, Chuck Close, William Wegman, Robert Frank, Robert Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol... The Polaroids are a huge draw... and I did not know that Ansel Adams was so intwined with building this collection and also the Polaroids in general.
Adams encouraged Land to innovate and to push the boundaries of what could be achieved with instant cameras and film; both men shared the belief that Polaroid technology could produce works of aesthetic merit as well as technical acclaim. Professionally and personally, Land and Adams became fast friends and regularly vacationed together with their wives, often in the American
Southwest. -via Sotheby's
Chuck CLose, 9-part Self Portrait. Larege Polapan prints.

By David Levinthal. Cowboy with Lasso (From Wild West).
Unique large-format Polacolor print.

Ansel Adam. Ice Breaking on High Sierra Lake. Type 52 Polaroid.

This might be a good time to grab an auction catalogue... the Polaroid Collection already on eBay starting at $20. Great coffee table material. Further reading.