E-Photo
Issue #4  8/15/1999
 
Dr. John Murray Indian Sale Goes On And On And On...

By Alex Novak

As we reported in the last newsletter, the Dr. John Murray sale of early Indian photography at Sotheby's in London just won't go away.  Out of 224 lots, there are now a measly two lots remaining unsold, both with condition problems.  That's OVER 99% sold, with nearly half of the action after the sale itself.  We estimate that the auction results now top over £600,000 in sales, although we have not yet had confirmation on this figure. 

The Murray material is currently selling in the secondary market for steep mark-ups of as much as 400+% by 19th century photo dealers, who made what they considered to be low wholesale purchases at the sale.  While there is a lot of material, particularly paper negatives, most of it was bought for key private and institutional collections, and it's not likely to come on the market in any kind of quantity.  While there is some diversity to the quality, the best images and negatives are spectacular.  Their size and the panoramic nature of some just add to their impact.  I talked to Indian collector Steve Gujral at some length.  Like me, he was one of the big buyers at and immediately after the auction.  He and I both agreed that this was a unique buying opportunity for these images, and he frankly gushed with enthusiasm that he was even more convinced of Murray's place in photographic history after finally getting his images home.

Several exhibitions and books largely focused or solely focused on Murray are in the works by several institutions and collectors.

Novak has over 47 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.