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| Collecting Photography Norbert Weber, Curator | |
| Photography radically overturned the conviction that artists are the only ones who are capable of creating a natural representation of the world. Various uncertainties arose also due to the fact that shortly after the invention of photography, representatives of modern art abandoned naturally realistic depiction which had been regarded as an ideal ever since the Renaissance period; meanwhile, the audience persistently adhered to this ideal of art which had been held in such high regard for centuries. While the audience tended to reject modern art, artists kept on questioning, for a long time, the artistic nature of photography. When I was a little boy, I experienced this confusion as a drama in my own family. My father was an artist who used a restrained impressionist painting technique, thus he was warmly welcomed by audiences in the 1950s. Undoubtedly his success was strengthened by his skill in glossing over, by means of light brush strokes, the grating elements left on Germany's mountainous landscape by the post-war economic growth. However, there was an incident that shook to the core my father's conception about his creative work. A farm owner asked him to make a painting of his homestead. Father took his easel, paints and brushes, and went on his way. When the painting appeared to be finished, he handed it over to farm owner. I shall never forget the indignation with which my father quoted the farmer, who had mostly complained about the imprecise depiction of the recently renovated roof: "Tell me, please, Mr. Weber, exactly how far away were you when you painted the roof tiles?" Meanwhile artists, art scholars and the conversant audience have long since acknowledged photography as a visual arts medium of equal value. Yet among amateurs, art photography is still mistrusted, because the quality of art work supposedly depends on virtuosity and workmanship during the creation process. They regard work with a fully automatic camera to be child's play, in comparison to painting - which involves the use of paint and brushes. | |
 KPF (Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects). DZ-Bank Tower Frankfurt, 1993. (C) DZ-Bank | |
| Strangely enough, this sort of reserved attitude can be encountered also among professionals. The Swedbank (formerly Hansabanka) Art Prize, awarded since 2000, is one of the most important prizes awarded in the Baltic states. Until now, it has never been received by a painter. The prize has been awarded mostly to artists working with the medium of photography, as well as representatives of installation and video art. Therefore during a recent visit to the Swedbank office building in Rīga, I was quite astonished to find out that the works exhibited there are not of photography and the majority of works therein are paintings. The paintings by Ieva Iltnere, Laris Strunke, Andris Vītoliņš and Helēna Heinrihsone are, of course, good works of art, but so are the photographs of Swedbank prizewinners Marko Laimre, Marko Mäetamm, Arturas Raila and Mark Raidpere. In my point of view, the traditional art medium exhibited in office building of the bank creates an effect that is counterproductive to the innovative image of Swedbank, as suggested by the Art Prize and the dynamic architecture of its building near the Daugava River.
The DZ-Bank in Frankfurt am Main proves that a different approach is viable. The main building of the bank - a 208 metres high tower - hosts one of the most significant contemporary art photography exhibitions. Its insurance value, according to collection supervisor Luminita Sabau, approximates EUR 24 million. The collection currently comprises more than 6000 works created by more than 550 artists. In their midst - all the internationally significant photographic artists (Robert Mapplethorpe, Gilbert & George, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, to name just a few), as well as highly regarded new artists. What is notable is the fact that the creation of the collection and the shaping of the bank's image are closely interconnected issues. The way the company sees itself is reflected both in the openness and the architectural complexity of the DZ-Bank tower building, as well as the art collection, whose creators have undertaken to pay attention to new trends. Adapting to the layout of the premises, the works of a single artist are exhibited on each floor, whereas elsewhere works are gathered together in thematic exhibitions. As far as possible, artists took part in the interior decoration of the rooms and the floors. Once a month, groups of visitors are offered the opportunity to see the works exhibited on the floors of the building, meanwhile in the so-called Art Foyer a regularly changing exhibition is accessible to the public on a daily basis. A significant part of the art collection was included in a travelling exhibition The Promise of Photography (1998-2000), which was exhibited in cultural institutes in Tokyo and Hannover, Paris and New York, as well as Berlin, Frankfurt and Brussels, and received favourable international acclaim. A consistent and integrating approach towards the popularisation of art in the company supplements and perfects the holistic creation of the image. A good example of this is the work Museum for the Workplace by two American artists, Michael Clegg and Martin Guttmann, in the creation of which bank employees were also involved. They were asked to bring along various personal items, art works in their broader sense: paintings, small sculptures, posters, photographs or postcards, all things that are of significance for their owners. Clegg and Guttmann arranged these items in four groups at the premises of bank and photographed them. The photographs were enlarged, and the key element in these large-scale photographs is the overall impression, as opposed to the various forms and nature of the individual objects. The various works - doesn't matter, whether its a child‘s shoe, a postcard or an oil painting - become equal constituents of the Museum for the Workplace collection, which is integrated into the architecture of the bank. The aim of this account is to show that a perfect art collection is not merely a repository of good art works. A clearly set out direction is always a characteristic feature of the most distinguished collections. For a corporation to create an art collection it requires something more: namely, a coherent idea for the collection and its popularisation that is consistent with the total philosophy of the enterprise. Such a collection is the only one that can achieve credibility and remove suspicion that it merely serves as decoration, or a means of investment. Along with these general considerations, creating a photography collection also requires knowledge about the specifics of collecting this medium. The buyer of photographic art work, just like any experienced art collector, must pay attention to the proof of origin, signature, date and numbering of each print. As regards photography art editions, a collector must take into account so-called price differentiation - a feature that is not common in the case of other media editions. It is a system whereby the first prints are sold at a more favourable price. It encourages buyers to act fast, and stimulates selling of all themes in the series, not just the most popular ones. Limited edition photographs are rare and expensive - provided that works of the particular artist are being sought after. However, there are artists who do not limit the editions of works, for instance, the internationally influential Finnish artist Pentti Sammallahti. Vintage prints are the non plus ultra to any collector of art photography. These are prints that the photographer makes himself, or orders to make, soon after taking the photograph. In such cases it is hard to establish the exact moment of time. It is a question of wide interpretation whether it is weeks, months or years. | |
 Inta Ruka. Iveta Tavare. From the series 'My Country People'. Silvergelatine print on baryt paper. 34x33cm. 1994. Collection: Latvian Contomporary Art Museum. (C) Inta Ruka | |
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A collector of photography must pay particular attention to the durability of the work. This depends on printing techniques and the paper/background paper used, as well as archiving conditions. Baryta-coated paper is the conventional photographic paper for making black-and-white prints. If photographs are processed properly and the photographic paper mentioned above is used, photographs are of high quality, that is, they have clear white and dark black tones, as well as good grey nuances. In comparison with all the conventional photographic materials, these photographs have the longest life and may even exceed 100 years. In colour photography, photographic paper coated with polyethylene layer is used instead of baryta-coated paper. It definitely has a disadvantage: the estimated "life-span" of polyethylene is 30 years, and after that it may become brittle or lose its lamination. RC paper, which is currently used and which has a protective polyethylene layer, does not guarantee a longer life cycle of the photograph either. Producing so-called digital fine art prints involves the use of digital printing processes. The durability of such prints largely depends on use of special high-quality ink and paper which is suitable for long-term archiving. In addition to processing and materials-related aspects, the collector must take into account another crucial factor, namely, archiving. A photograph is such complex item that its durability mainly depends on the manner in which it is treated. It has been developed in a chemical process and under certain circumstances it may continue to react with the ambient environment. Damage mostly occurs due to the impact of light and excessive air humidity. Keeping in mind all these considerations, the following thought of the French photographer Nadar (1820-1910) - one of the pioneers of photography - seems still relevant: "Photography is a wonderful invention, science that attracts the brightest minds, art that inspires the wisest thinkers - and, still, any fool can pursue it." /Translator into English: Jānis Aniņš/ | |
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