Purchasing fine art photographs

May 23, 2007 7:01 AM

At some point in my life I would like to graduate from displaying posters on my wall to having fine art prints from the photographers themselves. I am thinking I would like a candid photograph of Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer (not in the same picture!). I assume there is a gallery to represent these photographers, but how do I start the process of finding them?
posted by nonstopflights to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

Do a google search on Annie Leibowitz prints. Should be a few of Johnny Cash and Joe. Then, look at the other offerings of the galleries you find. If you don't see what you want, call them and tell them what you are looking for and how much you are willing to spend. If you are serious, and they smell a customer, they will help you.
posted by spicynuts at 7:10 AM on May 23, 2007

Check out local frame and print stores. I've found that most stores, even if they don't have the item stocked, will have catalog books out that you can page through and find.

One word of warning: Do not purchase anything art related off of eBay. I've been burned on 3 separate occasions by folks who apparently live next to a Kinko's and a color scanner/printer.
posted by thanotopsis at 7:26 AM on May 23, 2007

When you see a photograph that you like just look at the credit and then perform an internet search for the photographer. Sometimes Wikipedia will land results. More often though, you'll find what you're looking for at an art auction. Famous photographers don't just strike prints from their neg whenever they feel like it. More often than not a photographer will strike a limited number of prints or license the image. Rock photography, like all fine art, is quite expensive when you start dabbling in original prints. Quite often these limited prints go for thousands and thousands of dollars. An original Leibowitz is going to set you back the price of a nice car if not more. If you simply want a nice photo and have no desire to seriously invest in an original piece, then you don't need to bother contacting galleries at all. There are tons of online print stores where you can find anything you want.

Also, a good resource for finding photographers is to check out non-fiction or compilation books on the given genre you're looking for. ie... "History of punk" by Joe Blow, etc...
posted by ISeemToBeAVerb at 8:04 AM on May 23, 2007

Together?
posted by fidelity at 9:51 AM on May 23, 2007

Morrison Hotel has a lot of rock photos, but they're mostly sixties "classic rock" stuff. You might get lucky, though.
posted by LionIndex at 10:53 AM on May 23, 2007

Perhaps this would interest you. Or maybe this one. Bill Graham's vault seems to have just about everybody, as one would expect.
posted by kyleg at 12:46 PM on May 23, 2007

Here's a Strummer (seven from the right) by Piper Ferguson. And it's not Johnny Cash, but she has a killer photograph of Merle Haggard wading through a swamp, on the second portfolio page.

There's also Gered Mankowitz, but I didn't see Strummer or Cash on his list of artists.
posted by Bigfoot Mandala at 9:46 PM on May 23, 2007

An original Leibowitz is going to set you back the price of a nice car if not more.

Not true. You can buy large format Annie prints for 5K. I nearly bought one of Pete Seeger on the Hudson...about 4 feet by 3 feet, priced at 5K. Of course, by the time you frame it, you're up to 7 or 8, which is why I didn't buy it.
posted by spicynuts at 1:28 PM on May 24, 2007