POLAROID TO AUCTION ITS COLLECTION – The Boston Herald newspaper reports that Polaroid will auction its unique, 16,000-piece collection to help pay creditors during a reorganization of the company.
The Financial Times newspaper adds:
Sotheby’s has been given the go-ahead to hold a mega-auction of a vast archive from Polaroid, the now-bankrupt pioneer of instant photographs. The collection dates back to the 1940s, when Polaroid promoted its new invention by encouraging artists to use it, sometimes giving free film or cameras and receiving photographs in return. Among approximately 16,000 images in the collection are hundreds by famous names, including Andy Warhol, Ansel Adams, Robert Maplethorpe and William Wegman.
A.D. Coleman, a photo critic and historian told the Herald, “It’s become kind of an orphan. It’s kind of sad to lose this kind of collection.”
Polaroid, founded in Cambridge in 1937, built-up the collection in part through a barter system. During the early years of the company, photographers, such as Ansel Adams, donated instant prints in exchange for materials and equipment from the company. More recently, participants in the ‘artist support program’ agreed to donate prints in exchange for the use of Polaroid’s expensive, large-format 20×24 cameras and materials.
A group of photographers who had donated prints tried convince a bankruptcy court judge to delay the auction. But their claim that Polaroid doesn’t really own their images was denied.
“The Polaroid collection was created in a unique and artist-friendly way with unusual rights,” said Coleman. “But the game changed.”
The last of Polaroid’s film is due to expire in October 2009. The Observer newspaper gave eight leading photographers Polaroid cameras and asked them to capture some final images on the instant film.
Polaroid has had a loyal following from the beginning. The UK-based website, My Last Polaroid, is a tribute to the final days of the company’s film.
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