Photography takes the test of time: +8.1% in six months

[06.08.2002]

 

In the mid-1990s, painting was the only segment of the art market that investors considered of speculative interest. But recently, with growing demand and a wave of artistic renewal, other creative formats have proved as, or more, lucrative than paintings. The photography market has been expanding rapidly for the past five years and is one of the art world’s fastest-growth segments. The value of oil paintings has risen by an average 4.77% annually since 1992. But investors in photography have enjoyed annual growth of 5.92% over the same period.

The rise of photography has been strong but not steady. Over the last ten years, some periods have been more fruitful than others. And lately, the upward trend has been marked by huge price swings, reflecting a lack of consistency in rating the quality of art works sold. The market really took off in 1999. Prices paid for vintage images at the first Jammes auction drove photographs into the same financial bracket as other art works. The year also saw the highest ever price paid at auction for a photograph, GBP 460,000 for

Gustave LE GRAY’s La grande vague (1855). After the euphoria, prices stagnated in 2001 as collectors became more selective, concerned that the speculative bubble would overwhelm artistic passion. Only exceptional images fetched high prices. Since January 2002, with sales now more solid, prices have risen 8.05% in six months.

Some segments of the photography market are more profitable than others and rarity is the key factor to take into account. The smaller the supply, the more chance of making a profit. With this in mind, it is hardly surprising that older prints have yielded higher returns recently: vintage prices have been rising by 14.7% annually since 1992). This is a highly profitable segment that provokes interest and pulls in the crowds, a combination of factors that drove a 63.8% leap in prices for vintage photographic images between January-June 2002. And the second stage of the Jammes auction produced even higher gains than the first. Contemporary images appeal to younger collectors, but spectacular prices for the more popular artists are counterbalanced by a poor appetite for second-string photographers. In fact, increases in prices of contemporary works of art have not been as sharp as recent prestigious auctions suggested. As for the modernists, doubts have been raised about the authenticity of prints since a recent scandal over forged work attributed to MAN RAY. This market segment has long suffered from a lack of confidence by buyers, who preferred the safer areas of either older or contemporary images. As a result modernist photographers have offered little return over the last 10 years (benchmark +3.4% per year on average since 1992). But some recent high hammer prices suggest this unjust neglect may be nearing its end and the modernists may be coming back into vogue

   

Price Trends For Photography 

Annual Growth Rate  (from January 1992 to june 2002)

Growth Rate from January to June 2002

Old Photography

+ 14,7%  

   + 63,8%  

Modern Photography

+ 3,4%  

+ 32,7%  

Contemporary Photography

+ 5,2%  

+ 7,9%  

Photography in general

+ 5,9%  

+ 8,1%  

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