Re: Elton sells photos
liljj
Elton John Photo Collection Nets $900,000
NEW YORK (AP) - Is Elton John's fortune going multimedia? The British pop
star, who usually makes his living playing the piano, netted $900,000
Thursday night by auctioning off a collection of photographs taken by some
of the world's most famous photographers.
The top earner was a 1988 black-and-white Robert Mapplethorpe photo of a
vase holding white tulips, netting $83,650, said Rik Pike, a spokesman for
auction house Christie's New York.
A 1950 Irving Penn photograph of his wife, Swedish model Lisa Fonssagrives,
took in $57,360, Pike said. A 1942 Ansel Adams photograph of the Grand Teton
mountains in Wyoming sold for $43,020.
In all, 73 of 78 photos offered were sold, many for well above pre-sale
estimates. All prices included the auction house's 19.5 percent commission.
John began collecting photographs in 1991 and had what Christie's called one
of the leading private collections in the world.
He is, of course, better known for his musical hits, including ``Goodbye
Yellow Brick Road,'' ``Rocket Man'' and ``Bennie and The Jets.''
"liljj" <lil...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:k60bd.158067$as2....@bignews3.bellsouth.net...
> This is from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
>
> News: Elton John to sell 100 photos
>
> By CATHERINE FOX
> The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
> Published on: 10/12/04
>
>
> It is photography week at all the New York auction houses, but Christie's
> has a special gig. On Thursday evening, it will hold a gala auction
devoted
> to the sale of 100 photos from the collection of Elton John.
>
> The entertainer's celebrity is not the only reason for the sale's cachet.
> Photo connoisseurs are excited because of the quality of his collection.
>
>
> JOEY IVANSCO/AJC
> (ENLARGE)
> Jane Jackson, curator of Elton John's photography collection, has
been
> documenting his photos for the database she is completing. His collection
> count is at 4,000 and growing.
>
> EMAIL THIS
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>
>
> "His collection is one of the finest in private hands," says Josh
Holdeman,
> international director and head of Christie's photography department.
"Many
> of these are rare and sold-out pieces."
>
> The items in the sale - 11 of which were included in "Chorus of Light,"
the
> High Museum's 2000-2001 exhibition - cut across the range of the singer's
> interests. Robert Mapplethorpe's flowers, a variety of Irving Penn's
> subjects, fashion photos and male nudes are among those on the auction
> block.
>
> The part-time Atlantan is famously an acquisitive gent. He gets excited
> about something - art deco, cars - and collects it intensively. When he
> tires of the subject, he sells it.
>
> But photography, which attracted his interest in 1991, remains his
> magnificent obsession. His collection count is at 4,000 and growing. With
> this first - and probably only - photo sale, he is merely pruning, says
Jane
> Jackson, who sold her gallery, Jackson Fine Art, to become director of the
> Elton John Collection.
>
> The sale represents a new phase in his collecting. In the past, John has
> purchased whatever he fancied. Now he will make more strategic
acquisitions.
> His mission: to build a premier collection of photos from 1916 forward.
>
> "I wanted him to diversify," Jackson says. "I made a list of artists we
need
> to have and important work by artists we already have."
>
> She also made a list of areas in which they were photo-heavy, which
evolved
> into the auction roster.
>
> Neither would have been possible if Jackson hadn't spent the past 1 1/2
> years making a detailed inventory of the collection. That was no mean
task.
> The singer had never had the photos inventoried, and they were scattered
> throughout homes in Atlanta; Nice, France; and England. When she started
> out, she didn't even know the whereabouts of some of the pieces.
>
> Jackson and two assistants visited the homes to document each photo for
the
> database she is now completing, in a residential apartment converted into
> collection headquarters. The flat files in the living room and storage
racks
> in the breakfast room contain almost 1,000 photos. Her office is the
> bedroom, where one long wall holds John's collection of photography books.
>
> In addition, photos lean against walls and hang in every nook and cranny.
> It's a rare apartment in which photos by the likes of Gregory Crewdson and
> Paul Strand are relegated to the bathroom.
>
> Even while she was hard at work on the inventory, Jackson had time to find
> photos to add to the collection. Presciently, John acquired vintage photos
> by Richard Avedon, who recently died. He added such contemporary work as
> Scott Peterman's spare images of ice houses and Loretta Lux's off-kilter
> portraits. And he also purchased an archive of 500 Sept. 11, 2001, images
> shot by amateurs.
>
> "He thought it was important for someone to have them," Jackson says.
>
> John will benefit from the ever-growing interest in photography.
Pre-auction
> estimates project his take to be between $700,000 and $1 million. By the
> same token, he will be acquiring in the same bull market.
>
> For instance, a high-quality print of Man Ray's "Glass Tears," which John
> purchased for $165,000 in 1993, sold privately in 2000 for $1 million,
says
> Jackson.
>
> Inevitably, the future of a collection of this magnitude becomes a
question.
> Jackson denies rumors that John plans to build a museum, but she adds,
> "Elton would love for it to be in one place. Probably London or Atlanta."
>
>
>
>