Rising value of photography

Found an interesting article on Forbes.com about the rising value of photography today. The highest amount ever paid for a photograph up until last October had been $822,400.00. Then in November, it went up to 1.2 million, and 3 months later, an Edward Steichen photograph, “The Pond-Moonlight”, sold for 2.9 million at a Sotheby’s auction.

Up until very recently, photography had been considered subordinate to the fine arts like painting, sculpture, etc. The great master Ansel Adams, who struggled his entire career to have his work accepted by the art community, never really enjoyed commercial success until late in life. A mural of his famous print “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico” sold for $71,500, the highest ever paid for one of his photohraphs. Seems like a paltry sum by today’s standards. Hopefully, the value of fine art photography will continue to rise and become appreciated by viewers and collectors worldwide.