Photographs

William Christenberry Photographs, ca. 1975

Appraisal: William Christenberry Photos, ca. 1975

Transcript

GUEST: I brought in two photographs by William Christenberry. I saw them in a local thrift store.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: And I liked them, being from Tennessee, and I know Mr. Christenberry is from Alabama.

APPRAISER: Mm-hmm.

GUEST: And I really loved these signs because they remind me of signs I saw growing up.

APPRAISER: How much did you pay for them?

GUEST: Oh, I paid five dollars apiece. Probably less because the thrift stores have military discounts.

APPRAISER: Are you in the military?

GUEST: My husband was in the military, in the U.S. Army for 22 years.

APPRAISER: Wow. So tell me when you purchased these from the thrift store.

GUEST: I got these about five years ago.

APPRAISER: So they spoke to you as a fellow Southerner.

GUEST: Yeah-- oh, yes. The 31-cent gas is really a laugh.

(both laugh)

APPRAISER: Definitely not 31 cents anymore.

GUEST: Not anymore, no, not anymore. I have done some work lately on Mr. Christenberry. I believe Mr. Christenberry knew Walker Evans and William Eggleston.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: And I think Mr. Eggleston is a fellow Tennessean.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: So it's good. So I'm hoping that they're worth something.

APPRAISER: Okay. William Christenberry was from Tuscaloosa County, but he had family ties to Hale County, Alabama, and photographed there many times over the course of his life. Which is also where, as you mentioned, Walker Evans, a very important photographer, also photographs. So they're very much associated in the history of the medium. These were made in the 1970s. They are both part of William Christenberry's sort of middle body of work.

GUEST: Oh, okay.

APPRAISER: He acquired a Brownie camera, a Kodak camera, as a child in 1944, and went on to study painting and sculpture as an adult.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: So he became a fine art artist, not a photographer. But he kept that Brownie camera with him throughout his education.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: He actually became an art teacher in Washington, DC.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: But he did return to the camera.

GUEST: Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER: And he began photographing where he was from in Alabama, a little bit like taking notes...

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: ...for his other artwork.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: But as his affinity for the practice grew, he just started photographing more and more and more.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: And today he's really remembered largely as a photographer. His practice is also so heavily associated with the South. He did leave Alabama to work and practice as an artist, but he returned again and again and again to make pictures just like these of architecture, of signs, of what we might call the vernacular landscape around him.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: So you might look at these and think, "Oh, they're just color snapshots." But in fact, they represent this incredible, really formal and rigorous practice...

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: ...of looking and seeing and remembering his own life. Did you unframe these pictures?

GUEST: My husband unframed one of them.

APPRAISER: Okay, okay, tell me about that.

GUEST: And I saw the signature.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: I believe it was on this one.

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: But I have seen this one on the internet more, so, so...

APPRAISER: Okay.

GUEST: I don't know which one is the most famous of the two.

APPRAISER: So this piece is titled "Signs Near Demopolis, Alabama." Do you know what the title of this piece is?

GUEST: Well, I have listened to some of his lectures on the internet, and he just mentions 31-cent gas.

APPRAISER: Okay. We can't open the frames today on camera, because they're a little hard to open.

GUEST: Okay, okay.

APPRAISER: But we did open one of them.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: We opened this one here.

GUEST: Oh, 31-cent, okay.

APPRAISER: And we do see that Christenberry signed the print on the back.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: And also editioned it. It's of 25.

GUEST: Oh!

APPRAISER: And he dated it.

GUEST: Okay, okay.

APPRAISER: So, this practice of editioning a photograph was very new. This practice was really adapted from the print market to give the photographs that fine art association.

GUEST: Oh, okay.

APPRAISER: We'll take a quick look at the back of the frame of this piece.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: And here we see Christenberry's label, his name, his title, his date, and the edition. And we also see something kind of special down here, this Sander Gallery stamp.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: Which is associated with a Washington, DC, gallery...

GUEST: Okay, oh.

APPRAISER: ...by Gerd Sander.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Who's a famous figure in the photographic market.

GUEST: Oh.

APPRAISER: And he represented Christenberry in the very early stages of his photographic career. So this gives the piece great provenance. It really adds to the story of the history of this work of art.

GUEST: Oh, okay.

APPRAISER: In terms of value today, at auction...

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: I would estimate each of these between $1,000 and $1,500.

GUEST: (laughing): Oh! Thank you so much! (laughing): Not bad, for ten dollars.

APPRAISER: Not bad for ten dollars.

GUEST: I just love them. I love these.

APPRAISER: Aww.

APPRAISER: I love them. Oh, good.

(both laugh)