A most perplexing series of grandiose, self-flattering, and wildly inaccurate statements has appeared in a press release posted at the website of WestLicht Schauplatz für Fotografie in Vienna, the museum that acquired the portion of the former Polaroid Collection designated by the Trustee for the Minneapolis Bankruptcy Court as the “Swiss Assets,” which resided until recently in the holdings of the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland. My concern remains the issuance of false and misleading statements that, inevitably, go viral and contaminate the knowledge base. […]
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There were no bids made on the photographs still at Sotheby’s. This cluster, named the “Sotheby’s Assets” by the court, had a minimum bid figure of $556,750 during the earlier bidding period. It’s my understanding that this lot includes some 685 works, among them the ones withdrawn just prior to the auction due to the campaign to stop the auction, those that went unsold at the auction, and presumably some others brought down from storage in Somerville to Sotheby’s in anticipation of the auction but for various reasons not included therein. […] I find myself wondering if the malevolent ghost of J. P. Morgan himself, still furious with Edward Steichen for making that iconic 1903 portrait, lurked around JPMorgan Chase & Co. headquarters while this deal went down in order to exact revenge on the entire medium through which his murderous inner child had been evoked for all to see. […] At 5 p.m. CST this afternoon, bidding closed on three separate chunks of the now-dismembered Polaroid Collection. For all intents and purposes, the dispersal of this unique, irreplaceable collection will have run its course by the end of this month. The first phase of the ill-fated Collection’s distribution in parts took place last June, through […] |
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Guest Post 8: Bill Ewing on Polaroid at the Musée de l’Elysée
The collection was not put together in the standard way — by curators picking and choosing individual pieces. Photographers gave work in return for free materials, and gave what they felt like giving. It is, frankly, very uneven; there are some great pieces at one end of the spectrum, and some godawful ones at the other. Actually, the best individual works are often by lesser-known or even unknown photographers. The “name” photographers often are represented by lackluster work. […]