This mural-sized print of “Moonrise” had hung in the Polaroid cafeteria without any glazing. At some point, probably in the 1960s, someone decided to use it as a dartboard, presumably aiming at the moon as the bull’s-eye. If that was so, they weren’t very good at darts as the moon was never hit, but there were numerous holes in the sky, in the right side, and in the lower left of the print. The print was removed when this activity was discovered. In 1986 when Polaroid was getting ready for its 50th anniversary it decided to celebrate with an exhibition entitled “Ansel Adams and Polaroid: A Special Relationship.” In preparation, the curatorial staff was asked to restore the print. The Collection had five Moonrises, but this was the largest. The print was driven in a van to Western Massachusetts where conservator Robert Lyons spent six months delicately repairing the print. The price was $5,000, which was a lot at the time. […]
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The sale of the Polaroid Collection was an unmitigated triumph for Sotheby’s — and therefore also for the creditors of Polaroid — totaling $12,467,638, comfortably exceeding the pre-sale estimate of $6.9–$10.7 million. The sale was 88.8% sold by lot. Fourteen new artist records were set, including ones for a single photograph by Ansel Adams, Andy Warhol, Lucas Samaras, and Harry Callahan, and for photographic works by Chuck Close, Robert Rauschenberg, and David Hockney. The months of work without weekends off that Sotheby’s experts put into the sale and its catalogue were clearly rewarded. […] There is no clear disposition of the roughly 14,300 less valuable objects, which remain in the hands of whoever runs Polaroid as of August 31, when Polaroid converts from Chapter 11 bankruptcy to Chapter 7. (Friday, August 28 is the last day for all employees, though some will transfer roles and become contractors.) Sotheby’s has, apparently, offered to serve as an agent for institutions that might want to acquire the collection. Although earlier attempts to find buyers, with the 1700 “cream” works still part of the bargain, met with no acceptable offers, the auction house now has the freedom to go through the entire collection and make unspecified further arrangements regarding the items it has been given permission to auction. […] The loss of Polaroid 55 PN film is devastating for me. There is no substitute material which I could use to work the way I have for almost 50 years. I may have to stop making new work using the materials and techniques I’ve refined over several decades unless (and I pray that) someone or some manufacturer — Fuji? Ilford? Freestyle’s sources? — sees the mutual value in creating a substitute film. . . . […] |
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Guest Post 5: Federal Judge Sam Joyner on Polaroid
The third category of works, those of particular concern to us here, are those that entered the collection via a sale, donation, or barter arrangement that prohibited commercial use, reserved for the photographers the right in perpetuity to borrow the works for exhibition and publication purposes, did not specify transfer of ownership, and otherwise contain explicitly or implicitly encumbering language. Here too the court should determine this by examination of the relevant contracts and letters of agreement covering those works, whose sale to buyers not bound by the initial understandings between the Polaroid Corporation and the photographers would in fact constitute breach of contract. […]