Yet another myth that exists among Russian collectors is the low artistic value of photographs. Photography is a very complicated Art form, behind which there is no less effort, history and spiritual dedication of the artist than in any classical form of Art.
We shall now talk about the most expensive photographs in the world and, you will be surprised, but this list contains a photograph by a compatriot well-known to us all. But let’s leave that for the end. Three works by the great American artist and photographer
Cindy Sherman are listed among the top 10 most expensive photographs of the world. The photo Untitled#96 (the first shown in this section), sold for $3.89 million in 2011, was made in Cindy's recognisable style of staged photography. The other two works of hers, featured here, are also untitled, but are numbered – №48 and №153, went for $2.9 and $2.7 million, respectively. These works also depict girls.
The value of a photograph is influenced not only by the artist’s name, the depth of meaning and visual aesthetics. Sometimes the historical context bears significance. For example, Edward Steichen's photograph “The Pond – Moonlight”, considered to be the first colour photograph in the history of photography, was sold for $3 million. Another unusual photograph, but by the famous artist Andreas Gursky, “Rhine II”, was sold for an unprecedented sum – $4.33 million. At the same time, the photograph itself was heavily retouched, and reworked in Photoshop – Andreas removed the figures of a man, a dog and even a power plant. Finally, a photograph of the Tobolsk Kremlin, taken (you won’t believe it) by Dmitry Medvedev, was sold for $1.7 million in 2009. As you can see, perhaps even more factors affect the price of a photograph than, for example, a painting on canvas. If you still have any questions about collecting photographs, you will always find an art consultant at http://en.jart.market ready to answer them, free of charge. There, you can also buy photographs, for example, by the French photographer Charles Xelot, who has made a series of works, researching the Russian North, having lived there for three polar winters
