The photo website
Luminous Lint about the
economy of photographic art in its newsletter of January 14th 2009:
“Whatever
the period or medium, the photography market enjoyed the strongest
growth in the last decade. [...] Cognizant of the historic strength of
the photographic market, several banks and public investment groups,
including Deutsche Bank,
Camera Work AG, and the Art
Photography Fund, have acquired portfolios of photographic art that
have shown steady growth even in the current economy. [...] This year
to date
Camera Work’s stock has gained 11.6%. [...]
“Photographs
that are readily available [...] will be, and have already been,
somewhat affected by the market, especially at auction. Also, those
photographs/photographers that have experienced too sharp a rise over
the last three years (think
Penn,
Avedon,
Beard,
Horst—late prints,
Newton,
Lindbergh,
Stern,
Frank,
Weston,
etc.) may have some difficulties selling for the more recent sky-high
prices, especially at auction. On the other hand, most high quality and
rare vintage photographs do not appear to be going down much, if
anything at all (maybe sideways for a year or two). [...]
Luminous
Lint’s advice to collectors: do your homework, buy prudently, and you
can not only enjoy great photographic treasures, but also hold
investments that help you weather the current financial crisis and
realize future gains that will far exceed those of the traditional
investment market.“
Source:
Luminous Lint, newsletter from January 14th 2009