Few art forms have undergone as much upheaval as photography. Changes in technology over the last century-and-a-half have regularly thrown the medium into flux. And yet the impact of a great photographic image remains.<\/p>\n

Recently, we had the opportunity to discuss the medium of art photography with two of the world\u2019s most influential photography collectors: the Chicago-based husband and wife, Richard and Ellen Sandor. The Sandors have been avid art collectors since the 1970s, and have amassed a stellar collection of around 2,500 pieces. The collection encompasses not only photography but also other artistic mediums, including new media and sculpture. During our in-depth interview with the prominent collecting couple, we spoke to them about photography as an art form, their own prized collection, their unique collecting philosophy and their views on the current photography market.<\/p>\n

The resulting article was published in the most recent July-August edition of Private Air Luxury Homes Magazine<\/a>. To find out exactly what the Sandors had to say, scroll down to read an extended excerpt from the feature article.<\/p>\n

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There was a time when photography wasn\u2019t seen as art, but simply a means of documenting reality. That time has passed. These days, particularly in major Western cities like New York, Paris and London, collectors clamor at photography auctions and museums and galleries host huge photography shows; its status is well and truly elevated. But 30 years ago, this wasn\u2019t the case. A fact that Richard and Ellen Sandor can attest to.<\/p>\n

The Chicago-based husband and wife have been collecting for three decades and have witnessed the growth of the art photography market. \u201cPhotography was never in the mainstream when we began collecting it,\u201d says Richard. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t mainstream, but we believed that it would become mainstream\u2026 One of the big changes was when the Getty acquired their first group of photographs and subsequently, other museums such as the San Francisco Modern and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts would establish photography departments. There were no photography museums in Europe, none in Atlanta, none in Houston and none in California \u2013 no major departments of photography.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in the 1970s, there were just a scattering of photography dealers, but no real gallery scene or auction house activities. A change was afoot. \u201cThe change began in 1975,\u201d explains Richard, \u201cwhen approximately $250,000 of photographs were sold at auction by Sotheby\u2019s\u2026 Look at what has happened to the photography market from 1975 to the present. It\u2019s grown from $250-300,000 to easily $50 or $100 million. It\u2019s about an 18 percent growth per annum.\u201d As if more proof is needed, the Sandors point to other indicators: the Association of International Photography Art Dealers now has about 125 members and all the major auction houses \u2013 Sotheby\u2019s, Christie\u2019s, Phillips and Swann among others \u2013 hold auctions several times a year.<\/p>\n

For the Sandors, the appeal of photography has deeper roots. Ellen Sandor, a well-respected artist in her own right, had just graduated from a Masters in Sculpture from the Art Institute of Chicago, when the pair began acquiring photography. \u201cBefore that, we just collected lithographs,\u201d she says. \u201cWe were young collectors of lithographs but I became very passionate and seriously obsessed with photography, with sculpture, with the different media I had studied in graduate school.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Like many photography enthusiasts, Richard was drawn to its accessibility. \u201cAs a kid growing up, we went to a lot of movies and I think that informed my sensibilities to photography. Once my eyes were opened, I recognized that it was both a field and a discipline.\u201d The ability to master its history was also key. \u201cI liked it because you could grasp it,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can\u2019t grasp 500 years of painting or 1,000 years of sculpture easily. One can encompass and understand the history of the medium because it is relatively short-lived.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nowadays, the Sandors collection contains some 2,500 works, much of which is displayed in their Chicago home. Though photography dominates, it is not the only medium to feature in the collection, which is divided into themes that range from Paris Between the Wars to Czech Modern to African American. As well as photographs by such luminaries as Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Cindy Sherman, Kara Walker and James VanDerZee, there are complementary paintings, drawings and sculptures that, when clustered together, simply make sense. For instance, Rodin’s Balzac sculpture is paired with a Man Ray photograph of Picabia imitating Balzac.<\/p>\n

One of the most interesting aspects of the eclectic collection is the inclusion of postmodern and new media works \u2013 a strand in which Ellen, a new media artist herself, was no doubt hugely influential. \u201cI was able to make sure that Hudson [an art dealer and gallerist] introduced Richard to the artists at an early stage so he got them very inexpensively and he got the early pieces\u2026,\u201d she says. \u201cIt didn\u2019t take long for Richard to appreciate some of the really crazy postmodern images \u2013 although some of them took a little longer than others. Our living room \u2013 which is quite amazing as far as juxtapositions \u2013 we now have some of the best of new media,\u201d enthuses Ellen. \u201cIt\u2019s very exciting and it all works with the other pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s just the beginning. Click here<\/a> to read the\u00a0full article, including\u00a0additional images of the collection. You’ll also find some of the\u00a0other\u00a0feature articles we’ve written for Private Air Luxury Homes Magazine here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Few art forms have undergone as much upheaval as photography. Changes in technology over the last century-and-a-half have regularly thrown the medium into flux. And yet the impact of a great photographic image remains. Recently, we had the opportunity to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[892],"tags":[699,1512,865,1513,1514,995,1515,1516,1045,1318,1517,1518,1345,1519,1506,1520,149,1507,1521,153,1508,1522,166,1509,1523,519,1524,1510,1511,1234,403,93,133,1231,225,111],"yoast_head":"\n