Prisrekord for fotografi av Edward Steichen

Fotografiet "The Pond - Moonlight" av Edward Steichen ble nylig solgt for 2,9 millioner dollar på en auksjon hos Sotheby´s i New York. Dermed er det satt en ny rekord med hensyn til pris for et fotografi.

Edward Steichens fotografi viser månen som skinenr mellom trærene og speiler seg i en vanndam. Dette er et av tre kjente kopier, de to andre er i museums-samlinger.

Edward Steichen (1879 - 1973) regnes som en de mest betydningsfulle amerikanske fotografene i perioden 1900 til 1950 (Her finner du noen av bildene). Fra 1947 til 1962 var han direktør for Museum of Modern Arts avdeling for fotografi.

The photograph was put up for sale by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has another copy in its collection.

Stephen Perloff, the editor of the Photograph Collector, a newsletter about the photography art market, said before the Steichen auction that it would be a "moment of history", the Associated Press news agency reports.

Steichen began experimenting with colour photography in 1904.

He was one of the first Americans to use the autochrome - a revolutionary method of producing colour photographs.

The previous record for highest price for a photograph at auction was set last November by Richard Prince's Untitled (Cowboy). It sold for $1,248,000 (£719,000).

BBC NEWS | Americas | Rare photo sets $2.9m sale record.

Pressemelding utgitt i forkant av auksjonen:
Edward Steichen's masterful multiple-process photograph The Pond-Moonlight (pictured on page 1, est. $700,000/1 million) is one of only three known prints of this image and is the best of Steichen's early landscapes. Made by Steichen in his mid-twenties, this photograph shows the young photographer working at the very peak of his aesthetic and technical abilities. As the other two prints of this image are in museum collections -- one retained in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the other in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art -- the appearance of this print for sale is a rare opportunity for collectors.