Sally Mann at Gagosian, Los Angeles

[Michael W]

Yesterday I visited the Gagosian gallery in Beverly Hills to see the Sally Mann show. There are about a dozen 40x50 inch prints from wet plate collodion negs. The photos are all close ups of her childrens faces. Interesting effects due to the long exposure times & fragile nature of the emulsion. The look of the prints is impressive but I would like to see them as contact prints rather than enlargements as I think this would emphasize more the surface characteristics of the original plates. I suppose they need to be 40x50 when you are asking $40k per print.

 

[BrianShaw]

Ooooh, thanks. I did not know of htis show. I'll be sure to keep my wallet in my trousers, though!

 

[MikeSeb]

$40k per pop, eh? And she'll no doubt get it.

Other than lack of talent and business savvy, there's nothing between me and such "success"!

 

[Lee Shively]

Forty thousand is kinda pricey to me too. But I doubt I'd be able to afford a "small" contact print by her. I love her work...I just buy her books.

 

[removed account4]

i remember when i was a student, a teacher suggested that
one could take a pin and release the collodion image from the
glass. from my own experience using collodion i know the image
sort of embeds itself into the collodion, and it IS very easy to remove
the collodion from whatever it might be attached to ...

when someone makes prints from wet plate negatives,
do they remove them from the glass?
print through the glass?
rephotograph the plate using a modern film &C?

just wonderin'

40K, that's a lot of puppy chow, good for her!

john

 

[Kerik]

Collodion sticks to different substrates differently. It adheres to metal (japanned tin and black-enameled aluminum) much better than glass. You can successfully lift the entire collodion emulsion from glass by placing the plate in hot water before the plate dries. Not so easy with metal...

When printing glass negs you simply print right through the glass.

BTW and IMO, Sally's work is worth every penny (although I won't ever have that many pennies laying around to buy a print). She's one of my heros, and not just because she's a fellow wet-head. I've been a fan as far back as the At Twelve days...

 

[Jersey Vic]

I saw her show "What Remains" a few years ago and the prints (30x40's I believe and mostly sold out) were pretty extraordinary.

 

[Michael W]

Another gallery tip if you are in Los Angeles - there are 3 good photo exhibitions on at the Getty centre, Brentwood.

1: Andre Kertesz, not a comprehensive collection, more an eclectic selection. Interesting to see that many of the prints were contacts from 645 negs. Mostly his early Hungarian work. There are also shots from Paris & New York, some of the masterpieces as well as some I'd never seen before.

2: the Nude - a selection of 2 dozen or so images of the human body across the history of photography. Starting with a couple of daguerreotypes including one erotic shot of two nude women, presumably intended for private delectation. Further on there is a Bill Brandt shot done with the police camera next to a Diane Arbus shot of a nudist husband & wife.

3: Graciela Iturbide - comprehensive survey across several large rooms of this Mexican photographer. Very interesting for me to see after having just spent 5 weeks in Mexico, although I was in DF whereas most of her shots are from regional areas. Have to admit I'd never heard of here before but I was impressed by her work. Ranges from documentary style to poetic fine art work. Some photogravures & platinum prints, but mostly silver gelatin.

Getty centre obviously has very deep pockets, both for collecting as well as curating.

 

[BWKate]

I hope to see those shows at the Getty when I go to L.A. in March.