Episode 34: A Conversation with Rick Wester
Rick Wester has been a fixture of the photo scene in NYC for over 30 years, and it was a pleasure to speak with him about his work in the auction market. He is known as a fierce competitor, a collaborative colleague, and a tireless promoter of photography and photographers.
During our chat, he referenced a photograph that, while estimated conservatively, was given a full-page illustration in a Sotheby’s catalogue. Full-page illustrations are usually given to photographs of very high value. This gesture made people stop and consider the photograph, which is not by a “big name” photographer. This clever move by Sotheby’s in April 1993 lead to a higher sale result for the photograph. Estimated at $7,000-10,000 the photograph ended up selling for $25,300 with buyer’s premium, the equivalent of over $57,000 today.
Wester brought it up in the discussion to highlight some of the things he learned during his early years in the auction business, and how he eventually disrupted the usual look of auction catalogues to get attention.
Here is a scan of that Sotheby’s catalogue page:
From 1979 until 1982 he was employed at LIGHT, the seminal gallery of contemporary photography on 5th Avenue and 57th Street where he assisted in exhibition preparation and eventually became a registrar and salesperson. At LIGHT he gained an in depth knowledge of the work of such notable artists as Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, Emmet Gowin, Ray K. Metzker, Frederick Sommer, Garry Winogrand and many others.
In 1982 Rick became a private dealer and consultant with corporate clients in the law, advertising and insurance fields as well as an advisor to several private collectors. In 1992 he joined Christie's Inc. Under his leadership, Christie's market share in Photographs rose significantly, reaching a high of 64% in 1997. Continuing the successful trend in 1998, Christie's Photographs Department brought in over $11.1 million, which marked the first time an auction house achieved over $10 million in annual sales in this category.
One very notable result in October 1993 at Christie’s New York was Two Callas by Tina Modotti. With buyer’s premium, the total for this stunning print was $189,500. Here is the page from the catalogue, with the hand-written results by Denise Bethel of Sotheby’s.
From June 2001 until August 2002 Rick was a Director at Gagosian Gallery. He initiated two exhibitions by artists he introduced to the gallery, Roger Ballen's "Outland" and a private exhibition of work by Vera Lutter to coincide with her inclusion in the Whitney Museum of American Art's 2002 Biennial.
In 2004 he was hired as a consultant to Phillips de Pury & Company, heading their Photographs department. In January 2005 he joined the firm full-time as a Partner and Worldwide Head of Photographs. Numerous record prices were achieved for artists as diverse as Vik Muniz, Robert Adams, Lee Friedlander, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Garry Winogrand, and many others.
Garry Winogrand’s Women are Beautiful portfolio of 85 photographs sold in October 2005 at Phillips for $120,000 against an estimate of $45,000-65,000!
Garry Winogrand, Women are Beautiful portfolio, 1981
Rick’s long career is filled with records and incredible moments. Some ones I have to mention, however, are sales such as Photographic Masterworks 2; The Image as Object: Photographs from the Collection of Barry Friedman; An Important Collection of Andrè Kertèsz Vintage Photographs and Photographs from the Collection of Thomas Walther. Under his direction, record prices were set for over twenty-five master photographers including Alfred Stieglitz, Man Ray, Bill Brandt, Paul Outerbridge, Jr., Henri Cartier-Bresson and Tina Modotti. Here is one of the many important photographs from that period and a personal favorite of mine:
Man Ray, Noire et blanche, 1926, Christie’s New York, 5 October 1998, The Image as Object: Photographs from the Collection of Barry Friedman, sold for $607,500
