BILLINGS — Jessamine Spear Johnson was born in 1886 on the eastern front of the Bighorn Mountains. Her mother began taking photographs as a hobby, and at age 10, Jessamine discovered her own love of the art form.
But Jessamine’s photos were tucked away in boxes for decades—until they were recently brought to light by her granddaughter, Tempe Javitz.
“Jessamine Spear Johnson— I was a Johnson— was my grandmother. My father was her fifth child,” Javitz said. “My grandmother, at about age 10, her mother had started taking photographs with a glass-plate camera. She started helping her mom. Well after Jessamine got married, we find her workbook of all of her expenses. She was letting her husband know where she’d spend money. And in 1908, she bought her first film camera, a Brownie, for $2.”
After around 16 years of sorting thousands of photographs she previously didn’t know existed, Javitz had a plan for how she wanted to share her grandmother’s work.
“I spent years with 34 boxes of (Jessamine’s) photographs I was scanning. I now have over 16,000 images on my computer. Not all of them are in terrific shape,” Javitz said. “Many years later, I’m married, living out in California but I went home every summer. I’m visiting with Annabelle, her oldest child and one of my favorite aunts, and Annabelle gave me 23 of her diaries. And that started the idea that I was going to rescue her.”
Javitz grew up in Montana but now lives in California. She’ll be visiting the Treasure State next month for one special reason.
“The book that I just published with the South Dakota Historical Society Press, it’s called ‘Bighorn Visions: The Photography of Jessamine Spear Johnson’,” Javitz said. “I’ve been invited to the South Dakota Festival of Books at the end of September. I’m going back to Montana and Wyoming in late August, early September, and I have several book signings to go to there.”
In April, Javitz’s book, ‘Bighorn Visions: The Photography of Jessamine Spear Johnson’ hit the shelves, featuring photos from Jessamine.
“Jessamine never went anywhere without her camera…. Because the photos follow that,” Javitz said. “She was capturing, you know, what it was like to live then, what it was like to ranch. There are lots of cattle, sheep, dude ranching photos. But there are also historical photos.”
The photographs serve as a time capsule from the days of the wild, wild west.
“Her legacy is important, and I think it’s important for more people to realize that women through time have been doing important artistic work,” Javitz said.
Johnson was a pioneer in more ways than one, snapping photographs of life across Montana and Wyoming. She lived during a time when women were just starting to enter the workforce and become more independent.
But photographers like her were rare.
“Photography is not as common among these women as we would like to think. And in large part, that’s simply because photography is an expensive hobby,” said Lauren Hunley, a community historian at the Western Heritage Center in Billings. “We don’t have a lot of women, specifically a lot of people in total, looking at photography as an extra hobby. We do have a lot of professional photographers, but it’s different when you’re a professional.”
Hunley says Jessamine’s candid photography paints a picture of what life was actually like back then.
“They documented what they did on a daily basis, what’s happening on their ranch,” Hunley said. “As a historian, those are the photographs that are vitally important to us.”
Photographs that preserve Western history—and are now documented for all to see.
“The photos there are historically, amazingly important. I had no idea how important until I started doing more research,” Javitz said. “One of the things that I think is important about what my grandmother Jessamine photographed is this was happening in her lifetime. Women were joining roundups, women were breaking horses, women were being equal partners in ranching. That all happened within her lifetime and with her own girls. She had a feeling, I’m sure, that she was seeing history happen.”
To learn more about Johnson and Javitz, visit Javitz’s website.
To purchase ‘Bighorn Visions: The Photography of Jessamine Spear Johnson’, click here.
From left, Baller Bucky, Flamingo Bucky, and Bucky Come se Picasso.
Five years ago, Bucky the Badger took on a multitude of forms and found himself spread across the streets of Madison for the public-art project Bucky on Parade.
“Game Day Bucky,” “Baller Bucky,” “Bucky de los Muertos” and more versions popped up across the city for everyone to enjoy.
This year, Destination Madison rejuvenated the program for a limited time on its five-year anniversary, introducing a digital, mobile-friendly pass and online map that Bucky fans can use through Sept. 15. The app requires a free sign-up, accessible through Destination Madison’s website.
“When we launched Bucky on Parade five years ago, the response from residents and visitors alike was incredible, even better than we had anticipated,” said Kate Dale, Destination Madison’s vice president of Marketing & Brand Strategy. “It proved to be a great way for people to explore Madison and come together through their love for Bucky Badger and Madison exploration, as well as offer an opportunity to raise money for local charities.
“We are thrilled to celebrate the five-year anniversary of the project for people to find many of the statues using a new digital passport platform and hope it brings just as must joy as the first time around.”
This virtual pass can be used to locate returning Bucky statues that have remained available to the public. Once users visit these statues, they can check in on their mobile device and earn an exclusive Bucky On Parade Anniversary sticker.
Even if you don’t earn a sticker, visiting these statues are well worth any Badger fan’s time. The Bucky On Parade website provides statue locations for the public statues available out of the 85 total statues.
For the sports lovers, “Game Day Bucky” located outside the University Bookstore, “Baller Bucky” at UW Health on the east side of Madison and “Jump Around Bucky” just outside Capitol Square are trademark statues to cross off a bucket list.
For those who enjoy the more artistic pieces, “Bucky Come Se Picasso” on the west side of Madison, “Bucky De Los Muertos” on Regent Street and “Bucky Lloyd Wright” on the east side of Madison are popular statues to grab a photo with.
In addition, there will be one new Bucky on Parade statue appearing soon to mark the fifth anniversary of the project and the 175th anniversary of the University of Wisconsin. Look for it at the 175th anniversary celebration on July 26 on campus, where you can have your photo taken with it at an open-air photo booth.
This original project in 2018 was a free public-art event where Bucky lovers could find the statues of different types scattered around Madison for fun and photo opportunities. The statues, designed by local and regional Madisonian artists, represented the art, culture, heritage, food and spirit of the city of Madison through visual representations of Bucky in different settings and scenarios.
Bucky On Parade was produced by the Madison Area Sports Commission with support from the Greater Madison Convention & Visitors Bureau and partnerships with the University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW–Madison Athletics and the Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association. Many sponsors contributed to the project.
These producers, sponsors and partners, along with the artists that created the statues themselves, then sold the statues, with proceeds from the project going to charity. More than $1 million was raised, and a good part of it went to Wisconsin men’s basketball head coach Greg Gard’s Garding Against Cancer foundation and the Madison Area Sports Commission. that the event was a fundraiser that raised $1 million, a big chunk of that going to Greg Gard’s Garding Against Cancer foundation.
Bucky enjoys a moment with Graduate Bucky. Photo: Bryce Richter
Edmonds summer concert series returns
It has been a while since we shared the Edmonds Concert in the Park schedule. and we don’t want anyone to miss them. The popular Summer Concerts in the Park series is back. The public is invited to enjoy free music each Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at City Park, Hazel Miller Plaza and Hickman Park. They started July 9 and will run until Aug. 27.
Summer Concerts in the Park is a program of the Edmonds Arts Commission with sponsorship support from Lynnwood Honda, Carter Motors/Lynnwood Acura and the Hazel Miller Foundation.
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Edmonds Waterfront Center hosts photography exhibit with the Puget Sound Camera Club
Through Oct. 3.
Edmonds Waterfront Center
220 Railroad Ave.
A brand-new gallery exhibition at the Edmonds Waterfront Center features work by 19 members of the Edmonds-based Puget Sound Camera Club (PSCC). The 36 works displayed feature a variety of photographic styles and subjects, and nearly all are for sale. The exhibit runs through Oct. 3.
The camera club’s presentation is the latest in a series of three-month exhibits by regional arts organizations hosted in the dedicated gallery space at the Edmonds Waterfront Center.
Chris Currie, president of the PSCC, describes the group as a vibrant, welcoming community of photographers. Although based in Edmonds, it draws members from across the region and the US. The club, open to photographers of all skill levels, encourages a free exchange of ideas on both the artistic and technical aspects of photography. Members can show their latest work and receive constructive feedback from experienced commentators. Each month, the club hosts two meetings: a “Digital Projection Night” in which members can participate either in person or via Zoom, and a “Print Night” which is in-person only. The club meets at Maplewood Presbyterian Church, 19523 84 th Ave W. Edmonds, but is not affiliated with any religious organization. Visitors, guests and new members are welcome.
The Edmonds Waterfront Center is open for EWC programs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and for City of Edmonds programs from 4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
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Edmonds Marsh Estuary Advocates Paint the Edmonds Marsh Contest
Submissions due Monday, July 17, 5 p.m.
There’s still time to enter. The goal of the contest is to help more people appreciate the beauty and function of the Edmonds Marsh and to advocate for its future restoration. The subject, of course, is the marsh, with submissions invited in two categories: the beauty of the marsh as it is now or a vision of the marsh as a large, functioning estuary. Artists need not be residents of Edmonds. Anyone who loves the marsh is welcome to enter up to three paintings in any medium. Submissions are due by 5 p.m. Monday, July 17. Two $1,000 top prizes will be awarded, along with honorable mentions and a prize for an artist under 18.
Jurors will include Marni Muir and Lynn Hanson.
Marni Muir is a member of the board of the Cascadia Art Museum. She served as a member of the Edmonds Arts Commission for eight years. As an art broker, dealer and artists’ representative, Muir has a broad appreciation of the arts. She has lived in Edmonds almost her entire life and been involved in the local arts community for more than 40 years. Muir demonstrated her passion for the need to protect the Edmonds Marsh in 2014, when she completed an art installation at the marsh itself, as noted in this MyEdmondsNews article.
Lynn Hanson is a member of the Lynnwood Arts Commission and serves on the governing board of Arts Walk Edmonds. She is the owner of the Lynn Hanson Gallery, representing over 25 artists, in Pioneer Square and she has an art studio in Lynnwood. Exhibited internationally, her own work has also been featured in the Seattle Art Fair for three years. Her work stems from a rapt attention and visceral connection to the natural world: from a childhood spent stalking garter snakes at Whiskey Ditch in rural Minnesota to a daily ritual of exploring. Learn more on her website.
More information about the contest entry, prizes and the marsh can be found here. You can learn more about the Edmonds Marsh at the EMEA website.
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Shakespeare in the Park
Lynndale Park Amphitheater
18927 72nd Ave. W., Lynnwood
Enjoy an evening of theatre for the whole family at Lynndale Park Amphitheater this summer. Performances by Wooden O Productions and Green Stage.
Thursday, July 20 The Tempest
Thursday, July 27 Henry VI Part 1
Thursday, Aug. 3 Romeo and Juliet
All performances begin at 7 p.m., rain or shine.
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Ballyhoo Theatre presents: ‘Chicago: Teen Edition’
Performances run July 21-30
The Black Box at Edmonds College
20310 68th Ave. W., Lynnwood
Based on the 1926 play by Maurine Dallas Watkins, and set in roaring ’20s Chicago, the musical follows Roxie Hart, whose crime of passion lands her on Merry Murderesses Row, sharing the spotlight with vaudeville icon and fellow felon Velma Kelly. To keep their names in the headlines and themselves off death row, Roxie and Velma ultimately join forces in search of the “American Dream”: fame, fortune, and acquittal. Chicago: Teen Edition has a book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, Music by John Kander and Lyrics by Fred Ebb, and is performed by students ages 15-21. The show has direction/musical direction by Shileah Corey and choreography by Mackenzie Neusiok.
Get tickets here.
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Story Time with author Ellie Peterson
Friday, Juy. 28, 9:30 a.m.
Edmonds Bookshop
111 5th Ave. S., Edmonds
Author Ellie Peterson will read her books at a new Story Time event for children at Edmonds Bookshop, Friday July 28 at 9:30 a.m.
All are welcome to join in the fun at Edmonds Bookshop with Peterson, children’s author and illustrator of How to Hug a Pufferfish and many other picture books. According to her website, Peterson aims to create books that “amuse, intrigue, and inspire children of all ages,” so come for a morning of inspiration. Parents are expected to accompany their children for the duration of the 30-minute presentation, which will include some fun hands-on activities. Follow Edmonds Bookshop on Instagram, Facebook, or check their website to find out about this and future monthly story times.
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As If Theatre Company Announces the 2023 Kenmore Quickies – A Play on Art
Friday, Aug. 11, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 12, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Aug.13, 5 p.m.
Kenmore Community Club
7304 N.E. 175th St., Kenmore
As If Theatre Company announces its third annual short-play festival, The Kenmore Quickies – A Play on Art, running Aug. 11-13 at the Kenmore Community Club. Each year, the Quickies features eight prompted short plays written, directed and performed by local theater artists. At the June kick-off event, eight directors and 13 actors were randomly assigned to one of eight playwrights, who were given a specific prompt from which to write a 10-minute play in a four-week timeframe. The festival will be a weekend of performances of all of the plays, with a winning play chosen by the audience.
This year, the prompts are works of art created by local visual artists. Each playwright was assigned one of the selected pieces of art (ranging from paintings, sketches, digital design, photographs and glasswork) to inspire their storytelling.
“We’re so excited to be in our third year of the Kenmore Quickies,” says As If Theatre’s Artistic Director Cindy Giese French. “We continue to be overwhelmed by the talent that comes out to participate in this festival; as playwrights, directors, and actors. And the artwork we curated this year has raised the bar even further! The scripts are funny, heartfelt, a little weird and just wonderful.”
Playwrights include Holly Arsenault, Angela Gyurko, Romney Humphrey, P.H. Lin, Andrew Meyers, Anna Tatelman, Carolynne Wilcox, and Michael Yichao. Visual artists providing the works of art as prompts for each playwright are Staci Adman, Suzanne Bailie, Sam Gentry, Sara Solum Hayashi, Payal Patel, Kimberly Smith, Sebastian Vivas, and Bex Worrich. The following will be directing one of the eight plays; Jana Blumberg, Terry Boyd, Jack Conley, Dawn Cornell, Marianna de Fazio, David Dorrian, Keith Gehrig, and Yvonne Williams. Acting in the festival will be Jana Blumberg, Terry Boyd, Monica Chilton, Dawn Cornell, Tina Devrin, Kevin Finney, Sam Neer, Jane Martin Lynch, Kait Miller, Jennifer Nielsen, Elizabeth Shipman, Jay Vilhauer, and Christina Williams.
All of the plays will be presented at each performance. The audience favorite will be announced after the Sunday performance. Tickets are $20 and on sale and can be found here.
— By Elizabeth Murray
Elizabeth Murray is a freelance writer thankful to call Edmonds home. When she’s not busy wrangling her two kids (and husband), you can find her playing ukulele
Posing for a professional photographer on an expanse of white sand in St Lucia, Naomi Isted’s clothes are impeccably colour-coordinated with those of her husband and children, their smiles as bright as the Caribbean sunshine.
Bemused onlookers peer over their sunglasses eager to fathom the scene before them. Could they be models showcasing a new range of family beachwear, or perhaps they’re famous?
In fact, neither is true. They’re just an ordinary family from Hertfordshire who’ve taken the extraordinary decision to hire a photographer for their holiday — paying him hundreds of pounds to ensure their picture-perfect, sunkissed memories are caught on film.
‘It avoids the risk of getting rubbish pictures, or photos of only three of us at a time,’ says Naomi, 44, a broadcaster and interior designer married to property developer Haydn, 50, with whom she has children Fleur, 13, and Rocco, eight. ‘In the past, if I wanted photos of me with the children I’d have to pester Haydn to take some under duress. The results were often so poor I wouldn’t want to show them to anyone. Then I found a photographer in the Turks and Caicos in 2017, and haven’t looked back since. My kids smile for the camera when there’s a stranger behind it, and it means we get a gorgeous set of pictures of all four of us taken in as little as half a day.’
Welcome to the indulgent world of vacation photography. You might think the practice would be limited to image-conscious celebrities, but it’s a fast-growing trend with many ordinary people. Forget switching off with a book and leaving your hairdryer at home when the kids break up for the summer holidays. In the era of Instagram perfection, even a family beach holiday demands glossy photos for your grid and expertly filtered smiles for the Christmas card.
And women, in particular, are ready to part with thousands for the privilege. Companies such as Flytographer and Angel are cashing in on the boom, connecting travellers with photographers in their holiday destination.
Nicole Smith founded the former a decade ago. ‘Since then, we’ve had tens of thousands of people use our services to hire a photographer around the world, including solo travellers, couples and more than 20,000 mums,’ she says. ‘It’s so important for mums to get into the photo instead of always being the invisible one documenting the moment.’
For Naomi, hiring a vacation photographer is as much a part of a family holiday as buying a new bikini. In the past six years, they’ve had multiple shoots in St Lucia, Los Angeles, Turks and Caicos and Miami, their long-haul destinations of choice.
Prices start from £300, depending on the photographer and duration. The family’s most recent shoot, during the Easter holidays, was a six-hour stint in St Lucia costing around £100 an hour, for which they were all dressed in white and blue.
‘I always have colours and outfits in mind, and plan them when I’m packing our cases. My husband and kids don’t enjoy the shoots, but they prefer them to the alternative, which is me pestering them for photos throughout the holiday,’ she says, revealing that she sometimes hires a hair and make-up artist to get her camera-ready, too. (You can add on another £50 an hour for that.)
‘My husband would prefer to be lying on the beach with a cocktail, while the children would rather be in the sea. There have been many moments when I’ve told them we’re having a shoot and their reaction is: “Oh, please no, it’s so boring!”‘
Veterans of holiday photography know that getting your oh-so perfect photos means military precision planning to avoid possible pitfalls. Naomi once booked a photographer for the start of a Caribbean holiday, with the family’s skin still pasty from a British winter, save for sunburnt shoulders and noses.
‘Now I book the shoot for the end when we’re tanned, and make sure it ties in with the most photogenic locations or activities. I post them on Instagram, and use them for family Christmas and birthday cards. This summer, we’ll be holidaying in Florida and California, and I’m now looking for photographers.
‘People may say it’s an absurd luxury, but I’d argue that you can’t put a price on capturing memories we can then treasure for ever.’
Hannah McClune is another devotee of hiring vacation photographers — even though she’s a professional photographer herself. ‘Before, it was always me taking pictures on holiday, but rarely appearing in them,’ says Hannah, 41.
She lives in Reading with husband, Neil, 44, a finance manager, and their sons, Myles, 12, and Alexander, nine. ‘It would feel like work.
‘So when we flew to the Dominican Republic a couple of years ago, I knew there must be plenty of photographers on the island. I found a great one on the internet and briefed her to take candid shots of us all wearing white on the beach.
‘She and her assistant drove us to a remote beach and snapped away as we played with a football.
‘I took a variety of outfit changes, mostly colour-coordinated T-shirts, shorts and swimwear in bright shades to reflect the tropical vibe. The boys did get fed up, but we gave them snacks while the photographer took shots of me and my husband in the sea — the first photos on our own since our wedding day in 2009.’
The half day’s photoshoot cost around £700. Another in India two years ago was £300. ‘We holidayed in Kerala and the photographer turned up with three assistants,’ Hannah recalls. ‘We were up at 7am to go to a tea plantation. But it wasn’t quite as successful as the Dominican one, because the photographer staged a lot of the photos.
‘We only had one outfit change into swimwear there as we were travelling in a taxi, so there wasn’t really anywhere to change.
‘The kids sometimes complain, but it’s all over and done with in a matter of hours. My advice is to have a shoot towards the end of a long-haul holiday so the kids aren’t jetlagged. The best way to find a photographer is on Instagram and look for one with a photographic style similar to what you want.
Photographer Juliet Lemon, 41, specialises in wedding, corporate and wildlife photography, but since 2013, well-off families have also been hiring her to travel with them to document their holidays. Charging upwards of £2,000 a day, Juliet recently spent eight days in Finland with one family, snapping their adventures in the Arctic Circle. She’s also been to Palma, South America and on multiple safaris.
She says: ‘The clients who flew me to Finland wanted to be fully immersed in the holiday, not fretting about taking photos,’ explains Juliet. ‘Having me there meant they could enjoy those magical moments husky sledging, feeding reindeer, ice fishing or watching the Northern Lights, while I discreetly snapped away.
‘I accompanied one family on a multi-generational holiday to Africa, photographing them in the desert and whale watching at sea. Since the trip the grandfather has died, meaning the photos I took are now even more precious to his family.
‘Of course, there have been more challenging clients, too. One memorable woman hired me to travel with her, but often cancelled our day’s shoot at a moment’s notice if she wasn’t feeling in the mood.’
As Juliet points out, there’s a big difference between snapping away on an iPhone and having an experienced photographer, who understands lighting techniques and has everything from underwater equipment to drones and long lenses.
She wouldn’t need to convince hair and make-up artist Joyce Connor of the benefits. Last year, Joyce hired photographers for solo bucket-list trips to Cairo and Cappadocia in Turkey, and boasts envy-inducing pictures as a result. ‘I’m the world’s worst selfie-taker and asking a stranger to take a picture is a gamble,’ says Joyce, 59, who’s single and lives in Reading.
‘One man took photos of himself with my phone as he’d flipped the camera by mistake. In Cairo, a photographer charged me just £40 for a three-hour shoot. He doubled as a terrific tour guide.’
Joyce was so blown away that she planned her Cappadocia trip entirely around a photoshoot.
‘I wanted the shoot against the backdrop of Cappadocia’s famous hot-air balloon rides at sunrise in tribute to my sister who died last year from cancer, but loved them. I booked my flights around the photographer’s availability.
‘He even hired a fabulous, floor-length purple gown with a flowing skirt for me, which makes the photos even more sensational.’
Joyce was collected at 4am for a three-hour shoot costing £160, including dress hire, three drone videos and 40 edited images.
‘The assistant held the hem of the dress up, then let go as the photographer pressed the shutter, so that it billowed out in the pictures. I show them to everyone, they’re so incredible.
‘I’m already researching photographers for a holiday in Bali and Singapore in August with my daughter and grandkids to celebrate my 60th birthday.’
High-end stylist Oriona Robb, 46, has spent the past ten summers in various glamorous rented villas on the Algarve with her husband, Colin, 52, an investment banker, and their daughters, aged 21, 15 and ten.
Oriona, from North London, says: ‘I’ve been hiring local photographers for years to take the pressure off myself.’
‘I always style the shoots and prefer us to wear white outfits because it compliments a sun-kissed and glowing complexion. White also brings a simple, fresh and elegant aesthetic to the photos. I’ve bought a beautiful white dress for this summer, which cost £400 from Ivana Ma London.
‘There are always a few rows when it’s time for a photoshoot, though. Someone will be in a bad mood, or too hot and bothered. Whenever we gather for a shoot, the temperature seems to be scorching, so we end up sweating and arguing.
‘My husband is the only relaxed one on the shoots and just goes with the flow. When we see the pictures afterwards everyone is happy. I have a wall on the landing with all the black and white framed photos, and it’s super emotional seeing how we are evolving as a family from one summer to the next.’
Oriona pays around £150 per hour for a half day’s shoot and sometimes has a photographer a couple of times during the summer. ‘I always have a few taken on my own, too, styled in the pool, or a particularly photogenic part of the villa.
‘It’s pure convenience and indulgence, but the memories are worth every single penny. It wouldn’t be a summer holiday without a vacation photographer now.’
The blistering art market is finally cooling off.
For years, the world’s chief auction houses seemed impervious to volatile stock-market swings, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and historic inflation. Even amid the pandemic, Christie’s and Sotheby’s quickly pivoted online and art values kept soaring. Now, the veneer is cracking.
Sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s slowed dramatically this spring as seasoned collectors chose not to ply their art troves into an uncertain economy. Auction executives and dealers alike agree the current slump may not drag everything down like the recession of 2008. But the market is bracing for shrunken sales that draw fewer jaw-dropping prices, as savvy collectors choose to hang onto their treasures rather than sell them at auctions.
“We’re in a changing market,” said
Guillaume Cerutti,
Christie’s chief executive, calling it solid but “less impressive.”
In June, Christie’s sold Anne Vallayer-Coster’s ‘Still Life with Vase of Flowers and Pineapple’ for over $2.9 million.
Photo: Christie’s Images Limited 2023
Cerutti blamed a supply shortage for the drop in its overall sales during the first half of the year, which fell 23% to $3.2 billion compared to a year ago, the privately held London house said Wednesday. Christie’s said its total included $2.7 billion in auction sales, down 23%, and $484 million in privately brokered art sales, down 19% compared to the first half of 2022.
Rival Sotheby’s, also privately held, said it will not release its first-half sales figures. A recent report from auction research firm ArtTactic said it found the house had auctioned roughly $2.8 billion in the first half, down 7.8% compared to the same period last year. Sotheby’s total doesn’t reflect any additional private sales, ArtTactic said.
Phillips, which has jockeyed lately to consign blue-chip material away from the bigger firms, suffered a blow this spring: Its $453 million in first-half sales represented a 39% drop from a year earlier. Phillips said 2022 proved a banner year, so any comparison will look like a letdown.
Only Bonhams, a London auctioneer that focuses more heavily on lower-priced luxury objects and collectible cars, appears to have emerged unscathed: The house said its $550 million in sales during the first half of the year represented a 32% bump from a year ago.
“No doubt some discretionary sellers are more hesitant now, but when we bring collections to market, we’re doing exceptionally well,” said Ben Gore, Christie’s chief operating officer. “There is plenty of through-cycle stability.”
In May, Jeff Koons’s ‘Sacred Heart’ sold for over $7.8 million, a record for the artist in Asia.
Photo: Ela Bialkowska/Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze/Christie’s Images Limited 2023
A year ago, collectors were giddy to return to live sales after the pandemic, crowding into packed salerooms to watch Christie’s sell a $195 million Andy Warhol or lining up in droves to see Hubert de Givenchy’s gilt antiques.
Microsoft
co-founder
Paul Allen’s
mammoth $1.6 billion estate followed last fall, but the priciest collection for the house since then has been Boston real-estate magnate Gerald Fineberg’s $210 million estate.
Auctions can’t predict or control when coveted estates will enter the marketplace and stir up the sizzle that leads to blockbuster sales, which means they often need to rely on collectors seeking profits to resell their trophy works. Christie’s said this is the segment that saw the strongest pullback this spring, in part because sellers would rather not risk their works selling for less than they want or going unsold.
Christie’s top painting for the spring was a discretionary sale: Fashion designer Valentino Garavani’s $67 million Jean-Michel Basquiat, “El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile),” sold in May.
Yet the stakes and attitudes remain more freewheeling at lower price points, which is why Christie’s luxury category, which includes items like watches, wine and other goods, reported $590 million in sales during the first half, up 43% from last year. The house’s jewelry expert Rahul Kadakia said 38% of Christie’s newcomer bidders filtered in through this luxury portal.
The houses said mid-market fare—or pieces priced under $1 million—still look affordable to millennial buyers entering the marketplace. This lent a boost to everything that appeals to younger tastes, from editioned pieces like prints and photography to watches as well as contemporary and modern paintings by women and artists of color.
Bruno Vinciguerra, Bonhams chief executive, said his house shifted more of its sales entirely online to allow collectors up to a week to find time to log bids rather than ask bidders to show up for in-person sales. This multiplied participation from Asian and Middle Eastern collectors in its sales, he said. During the first half, Asian objects represented half of its top-10 pieces, including an 18th-century bedchamber sword of Tipu Sultan that sold in May for $18 million, nearly seven times its high estimate.
Bonhams also fared well selling collectible cars, a category Bonhams has long dominated in the U.K. that’s still ignored by larger firm Christie’s. But Vinciguerra said cars appeal to younger and celebrity collectors.
Bonhams found strength in car sales, including this 1912 Simplex 50HP 5 Passenger Torpedo Tourer, which sold in January for $4.9 million.
Photo: Bonhams Cars
Whatever the market trajectory, dealers expect the auction industry to keep scrambling to adapt to do more with less—and to shift even more of its focus online. At Christie’s, Cerutti said nearly 80% of the bids placed in its auctions this spring were done online, up from 45% pre-pandemic. More than half of the works in all its sales were also won by these online bidders, up from 20% in the first half of 2019.
As a result, the houses will likely do whatever they can to shed some of the cloistered, crustier elements of their reputations to appear more edgy and hip—a tall order, dealers say. Christie’s has already rescheduled more of its online sales to Saturdays because it says that’s when younger collectors have more free time to browse. Marketing teams are also alerting audiences to upcoming auctions via music-filled, social-media videos rather than merely issuing press releases.
Christie’s also said it’s not giving up on a secondary market for digital art. Instead, it’s conducting sales in niche areas where NFTS are still deemed cool, like Denver—not a typical art-sales hub. The house plans to keep collaborating with digital artists with proven online followings. The hope is these NFT collectors eventually start adding pieces from physical categories.
“The NFT market may be more fallow,” said Christie’s executive Marcus Fox, “but we’re carefully and steadily ramping up.”
Write to Kelly Crow at kelly.crow@wsj.com
How are you approaching the art market right now? Join the conversation below.
There are some tough photography-related words to pronounce, but which ones trip up the most photographers? SimpleGhar used the online pronunciation resource, Forvo, to find out. Which photo words did Forvo users look up the most?
The most mispronounced photography word is “bokeh,” which Forvo users have listened to the pronunciation of 20,000 times.
But how does one pronounce “bokeh?” According to Forvo, it is “bow-kuh,” but is that correct? It is no wonder that so many people are trying to get to the bottom of the “bokeh” conundrum because many photographers can’t agree, either.
As it turns out, despite its Japanese origins, there is divergence within Japan concerning the pronunciation of “bokeh,” so there is not one true answer.
When it comes to the second-most listened-to photography term, the situation is thankfully much more straightforward. “Aperture” has been listened to 17,000 times on Forvo. “App-er-chur.” Easy.
Next up on the list is a word that should be very familiar to PetaPixel readers — “pixel.” “Pik-suhl” is the correct pronunciation. Perhaps some people think it might be “pick-sell?” It is common for PetaPixel staffers to hear someone mispronounce the first half of the site’s name.
Throughout the rest of the top 10 are a few other surprising inclusions, such as “JPEG” at number five, “viewfinder” at number 9, and “backlighting” rounding out the top 10 list.
Camera companies were not included in SimpleGhar’s “Photography terms” list, but if they were, “Nikon” would have topped the list with 43,000 listens. Nikon instead made the “Consumer Tech Brands” list in the number 12 spot.
Nikon’s correct pronunciation is an unending debate among photographers. Per Forvo’s pronunciations, all come from users in Nikon’s native Japan, English speakers routinely miss the mark.
Nikon itself says there is no debate — there are multiple correct ways to pronounce the company’s name, including the popular “Nee’kon” and “Nick-on” in the United States and the United Kingdom, both of which are a bit of a departure from the Japanese pronunciation of Nikon.
Other photography-related companies making the brand list are Sony at number three, Adobe at number six, Panasonic at 18, and GoPro in the 20th position.
Additional lists of mispronounced technology words are included in SimpleGhar’s complete article. “GIF” makes one of the lists, by the way, although SimpleGhar sidesteps the controversy by saying that the hard or soft “g” sounds are both correct.
Ales Pushkin, a nonconformist artist, iconographer and civic activist who once deposited dung outside the office of Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, has died in a prison hospital under “unclear circumstances”, his wife, Janina Demuch, reported in a Facebook post on 11 July. He was 57.
Pushkin was being held in a prison known for its brutal conditions in Grodno, in western Belarus, after being sentenced to five years in 2022 for depicting a post-war Belarusian anti-Soviet guerilla fighter with a machine gun. This was deemed to be a crime committing “deliberate actions aimed at rehabilitating and justifying Nazism”.
Most, a Poland-based Belarusian opposition news site, reported on 12 July that Pushkin had died of multiple organ failure after the prison failed to treat his perforated ulcer in time. The artist’s Facebook page was flooded with tributes to his art and bravery.
Pushkin was one of a number of Belarusian artists caught in a wave of oppression following the 2020 protests challenging Lukashenko’s claim to have won the presidential election against Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the wife of a jailed opposition blogger. More recently, Lukashenko has been a self-interested ally of Vladimir Putin in Russia’s war against Ukraine, and Lukashenko’s brutal tactics against opposition activists, including artists, presaged the Kremlin’s domestic crackdown on freedom of expression.
Tsikhanouskaya tweeted on 11 July, after news of Pushkin’s death emerged, that he “used his art to fight for freedom” and build a Belarus free of tyranny, to which he was such a threat because “dictators fear artists” who “have the power to express thoughts & ideas that challenge the regime’s lies” and “hold a mirror to the world, one that tyrants dread to look into”.
Pushkin, who’d promoted the revival of Belarusian culture, saw where Lukashenko’s regime was headed back in 1999, responding to it with the delivery of manure in his Gift for the President performance. He was also known as an iconographer and restorer and depicted a man resembling Lukashenko in a Last Judgment scene that he painted for a church in his native village of Bobr.
Mr. Jones was surfing on Sunday off the coast of Sumatra when the fin from his board cut an artery, The Associated Press reported.
Mikala Jones, a professional surfer known for his photography and videos filmed from inside the tight tubes of breaking waves, has died after an accident while he was surfing in Indonesia, his family said.
His father, John Jones, told The Associated Press that his son, 44, was out on the waves on Sunday during a trip to the Mentawai Islands off the western coast of Sumatra when the fin on his surfboard sliced his femoral artery, which supplies blood to the lower limbs.
This week, the online surfing world mourned a member of its tribe and circulated some of his most popular works, including a photograph that showed him peering through the barrel of a breaking wave as he rode it into an opening of sunlight.
In one of Mr. Jones’s last Instagram posts, he filmed himself standing up on a surfboard as the walls of a wave folded around him. “Time to live,” he wrote. Besides his wife and children, he said, surfing was “all I need.”
Isabella Jones, one of his daughters, and professional surfers wrote messages on social media about Mr. Jones, who grew up on the east side of Oahu, Hawaii, and later lived in Indonesia with his wife, Emma Brereton, Isabella and another daughter, Violet.
Keala Ashton, Mr. Jones’s nephew, was surfing with him in the isolated region when he was injured, a family friend, Nathan Myers, said in an interview on Wednesday.
“I tried my absolute best to do everything I could and I’m sorry it wasn’t enough,” Mr. Ashton wrote on Instagram. “We were in an environment that was as tough as it gets.”
As described in a profile in The Surfer’s Journal published in 2014, Mr. Jones set out from Hawaii to Papua New Guinea, Panama, Sri Lanka and the Azores to find waves. In Sumatra, “he bagged more than one cover shot standing tall in the belly of the beast,” the article, written by Mr. Myers, said.
“It’s like a disease,” Mr. Jones told Mr. Myers. “But when you pull up at a spot you’ve been researching and the swell is there, the wind is right and you’re about to paddle out to empty perfection, that’s what it’s all about. That’s where I get my fix.”
“I love the travel. I love the surfing. But right at the point where the two come together — for me that’s the best moment. That’s what I keep chasing,” he said.
In Bali, he set up a surf shop and worked with clothing sponsors while continuing to travel, the article said. Mr. Myers, who was also Mr. Jones’s neighbor in Canggu, Bali, for a decade, said Mr. Jones was among a generation of “free-surfers” who research where the best waves are and pursue them throughout the world.
“They are chasing storms,” Mr. Myers said, “and they would take amazing photos. He became one of the very best POV guys,” he said, using the cinematic shorthand for point of view.
Mr. Jones made some of the sport’s best point-of-view videos while riding barrels, using techniques that he had worked on for more than a decade, including board-mounted cameras and rigs he held in his hand, before he started a collaboration with GoPro.
In a video interview on Surfline that featured his most famous shot, at an undisclosed location in Indonesia, Mr. Jones gave credit to predecessors who had pioneered photography from on top of the board before social media. He published footage of his work on his Instagram page.
As a producer of surfing videos and photography, he began to pursue not only good waves but the light of the breaking dawn. “I’ve always wanted to get the sunrise,” he said.
“When the sun is coming up you only have 15, 20 minutes tops to get into a barrel,” he said.
“I just called it work,” Mr. Jones said, referring to his use of the word during the video interview. “But it’s fun.”
