6
who also have the money to pay for them – not least, they also speculate
in value enhancement. The emphasis of the above-mentioned criteria
may differ from viewer to viewer and from buyer to buyer, but in some
way or other, they apply to all.
Auction revenues of selected photo artists in 2006 (in million
€
)
1- Andreas Gursky
10.1 Total revenue 2.20 Highest single price
2- Hiroshi Sugimoto
5.9
0.61
3- Irving Penn
5.3
0.30
4- Brassaii#
5.0
0.11
5- Alfred Stieglitz#
4.6
1.30
6- Edward Steichen#
3.8
2.60
7- Richard Prince
3.0
0.65
8- Ansel Adams#
3.0
0.53
9- Cindy Sherman
2.8
0.58
10- Robert Mapplethorpe# 2.6
0.56
(Source: www-artprice.com, # = deceased)
The essential part of important photographic art is the concept that it
constitutes – besides everything demanded from outstanding works, as
mentioned above. The best examples for this are the works by Bernd and
Hilla Becher, Thomas Demand, William Eggleston, Andreas Gursky, Tho-
mas Ruff, Stephen Shore, Thomas Struth and Jeff Wall, to name only a
few. Below, we will have a closer look at the primary concepts of these
photographers:
The artistic concept of selected prominent photographers
•
Bernd und Hilla Becher
(1)
Bernd 1931-2007, Hilla *1934 – famous German photographer couple.
University teachers in Düsseldorf of outstanding importance. Students:
Gursky, Höfer, Hütte, Ruff, Sasse, Struth et al.
Concept
: photographic depiction of structures of German industrial hi-
story threatened by demolition, such as water towers, furnaces, gaso-
meters, but also half-timbered houses of the Siegerland. The work,
which is combined in tableaus of six, nine or twelve parts was conside-
red conceptual art early on and was met by worldwide interest. Re-
prints mostly measuring 50 x 60 cm, are blown up and developed con-
ventionally.
•
Thomas Demand
(2,3)
*1964, model maker and photographer. He gained international publi-
city as one of the most innovative contemporary photographers
through a solo exhibition at MoMA in NewYork.
Concept
: Demand builds paper models of spectacular places, often
within the context of political or other mass media events. He photo-
graphs them and later destroys the paper models. Thus, he removes the
image from reality in multiple ways. The site which is unspectacular
without the media event is elevated into the artificial realm through
Demand’s conversion. Analogous to the fading memory, it receives a
reduced significance, until it has developed back into the originally ex-
perienced semantic level.
