Polaroid to auction art: Photographers lament loss of historic collection of instant images

Sep 06, 2009 (Boston Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- PRDCQ | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- All of the precious Polaroids, a collection of thousands of one-of-a-kind prints by hundreds of photographers ranging from Ansel Adams to Andy Warhol, were supposed to stay together forever.

But that was back when Polaroid ruled the earth.

The company's art collection survived a 2001 bankruptcy intact, to the delight of photographers and photo historians. Now, however, with the once-mighty instant photo giant going through the wringer of another reorganization, the collection is headed for the auction block -- in a breakup that many bemoan but others shrug off as a sign of the recessionary times.

Polaroid recently won court approval to hire the Sotheby's auction house in New York to unload its 16,000-piece collection, starting with an auction by next June of a select group of the most valuable images.

"It's become kind of an orphan," said A.D. Coleman, a photo critic and historian. "It's kind of sad to lose this kind of collection."

The Staten Island, N.Y., man led a group of photographers in a last-minute bid to convince a bankruptcy court judge to delay the asset sale. But their claim that Polaroid doesn't really own their images was denied.

Polaroid, founded in Cambridge in 1937, built up the collection in part through a barter system. Participating photographers in the company's 'artist support program' agreed to fork over prints now and then in exchange for the use of Polaroid's coveted but prohibitively expensive 20x24 cameras, which create instant images much larger than the typical consumer Polaroid that spits out snapshots.

"The Polaroid collection was created in a unique and artist-friendly way with unusual rights," said Coleman. "But the game changed."

The game's goal now is all about squeezing the most money out of the stashed-away collection to help pay off Polaroid's creditors. The company's core business -- and the Polaroid brand -- already hasbeen sold for $86 million to a joint venture including Boston's Gordon Brothers Group. Polaroid exited the instant-film market last year, finally giving in fully to the digital technology that, along with mismanagement and massive debts, had driven the storied Bay State business into bankruptcy the first time around.

Still, splitting up and selling off the Polaroid collection always has been considered a worst-case scenario.

"The artwork is something that is a significant asset," said George Singer, an attorney handling Polaroid's bankruptcy. "The community would have an interest in keeping the collection together, but considering the debts that are owed, the company has to do what's best to maximize the value of this collection."

Eileen Cowin, a photographer in Santa Monica, Calif., who contributed about 29 large-format prints to the collection, said the selloff by Sotheby's could devalue the rest of her Polaroid output.

"If I sold a Polaroid piece for $5,000 in the past, now it'll be up for auction for $500 or something," she said. "If I have somebody come in to value my work, they could cite the auction amounts."

And what if her work never makes it to auction? "Who knows, maybe this will just go in some basement someplace and never be seen again."

Linda Benedict-Jones, curator of the Polaroid collection from 1984 to 1993, said that while "everyone assumed" the pictures would stay together, "sometimes things don't work out the way we want them to.

"It will get broken up," she said. "What we need to hope for now is the people who acquire it will take good care of it and will share it."

gturner@bostonherald.com

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