Let me recommend a photography show that is currently at the New York Metropolitan Museum (the one that ISN’T on strike) and will continue through September 3rd. World-class collector Thomas Walther has tapped his inventory of snap shots to put together an exhibit and a book that is both quirky and striking. He was nice enough to have me invited to the opening, which was held just two days after I got back from my last trip to France in June. And while my impressions were somewhat impacted by jet lag, I still found the exhibit rather fascinating.
Given that most of these images are probably the least expensive photographs in Walther’s vast collection, it was indeed a strange setting for them. But Thomas, more than a lot of collectors, has always had the courage of his own convictions, rather than depending on big names or high auction prices to validate his choices. Not to say that he hasn’t bought heavily at auction, or to say that his collection is not littered with top masters. But for him, the image has always come first.
What makes it interesting is that $50 prints (in some cases, perhaps even less, and in some, a bit more) are now on the walls of the prestigious (and often--in the past at least--overly prestige-conscious) Met and have been reviewed favorably in the New York Times.
Several dealers who had supplied some of the images were at the opening party (undoubtedly their first major museum opening), drinking a bit too much and mumbling about how they now felt themselves validated by the show. I am not sure that was the case, but perhaps now collectors and institutions will feel more comfortable making decisions based on image, instead of pedigree or just on the photographer’s name. Great photographers indeed take great photographs, but so do lesser lights on occasion. The only difference is that a great photographer has a strong BODY of work. Even great photographers take and make bad prints.
Buying by name alone is the worse form of naiveté, because it indicates a lack of education about photography (or any art, for that matter). And education is cheap to get. It just requires your time and disposition. You can start that education by visiting the Met and the Walther’s vernacular show.
By the way, I noticed that the Met’s able curator, Maria Morris Hambourg, took the selection process even one more step beyond Walther’s already fine eye, when she picked out the images which were clearly the most intriguing and complete for those "gifted" by Walther to the Met.
Having these images at this fine institution will help to unsettle a lot of people (a very positive outcome in my way of thinking), which should make for the best gift of all.
Novak has over 48 years experience in the photography-collecting arena. He is a long-time member and formally board member of the Daguerreian Society, and, when it was still functioning, he was a member of the American Photographic Historical Society (APHS). He organized the 2016 19th-century Photography Show and Conference for the Daguerreian Society. He is also a long-time member of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers, or AIPAD. Novak has been a member of the board of the nonprofit Photo Review, which publishes both the Photo Review and the Photograph Collector, and is currently on the Photo Review's advisory board. He was a founding member of the Getty Museum Photography Council. He is author of French 19th-Century Master Photographers: Life into Art.
Novak has had photography articles and columns published in several newspapers, the American Photographic Historical Society newsletter, the Photograph Collector and the Daguerreian Society newsletter. He writes and publishes the E-Photo Newsletter, the largest circulation newsletter in the field. Novak is also president and owner of Contemporary Works/Vintage Works, a private photography dealer, which sells by appointment and has sold at exhibit shows, such as AIPAD New York and Miami, Art Chicago, Classic Photography LA, Photo LA, Paris Photo, The 19th-century Photography Show, Art Miami, etc.
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