First, a quick apology for the slow pace of posts on eyecurious over the past few weeks. Post frequency will be returning to normal very soon. In the meantime, here is a little slice of photographic miscellanea that made my jaw drop. Below is a list of the 10 most expensive photographs of all time. Have a quick look through and see if there is a name that stands out.
- Andreas Gursky, 99 Cent II Diptychon (2001), $3,346,456, February 2007, Sotheby's London auction.
- Edward Steichen, The Pond-Moonlight (1904), $2,928,000, February 2006, Sotheby's New York auction.
- Dmitry Medvedev, Kremlin of Tobolsk (2009), $1,750,000, January 2010, Christmas Yarmarka, Saint Petersburg.
- Edward Weston, Nude (1925), $1,609,000, April 2008, Sotheby's New York auction.
- Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe (Hands) (1919), $1,470,000, February 2006, Sotheby's New York auction.
- Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe Nude (1919), $1,360,000, February 2006, Sotheby's New York auction.
- Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy) (1989), $1,248,000, November 2005, Christie's New York auction.
- Edward Weston, Nautilus (1927), $1,082,500, April 2010, Sotheby's New York auction.
- Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey, 113.Athènes, T[emple] de J[upiter] olympien pris de l'est (1842), $922,488, 2003, auction.
- Gustave Le Gray, The Great Wave, Sete (1857) $838,000, 1999.
(Source: the modern day Encyclopedia Britannica, Wikipedia)
No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you (although Wikipedia may very well be): Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian President, is second only to Gursky and Steichen for this view of the Kremlin Tobolsk.
Admittedly he achieved his tidy $1.75 million sale price at a charity auction where Putin had previously managed to sell this masterpiece for the puny sum of $1.14 million, but should we be reconsidering Medvedev's standing as a photographer? After his recent address to the Russian people on the subject, perhaps we should.