For those looking at starting an art collection, photography is an art form that is growing in both popularity and financial merit. However, it can often be a daunting experience, not just because of knowing what to buy, but also because of knowing how to buy. An image upload and a brief description of your valuable collection could be all it takes to access the finance needed to buy a valuable photograph. Unbolted offers low interest rate loans against the value of your assets, giving you the cash you need to buy the goods you want. So, now that you’ve got your money in place, the question of what to buy remains. Dr. Jan Seewald, Executive Curator of LUMAS (pictured), explains what to invest in when it comes to the art of photography….
What do you think is important to consider when investing in photography?
Even though it is tempting to consider art as an investment, I would not recommend collecting with a financial motivation when starting out. Art should always trigger emotions and it is vital to actually “fall in love” with a piece to enjoy it over a long period of time. However, it is important to determine how much one is willing to spend on photography each month or each quarter, especially when starting out. Before buying something, it is most important to actually find out what you like. To determine this, the following strategy always worked for me: go to museums, browse through galleries, attend art fairs whenever possible and flip through photography books. This way, you will find out what you are drawn to because you may personally relate to it. Pretend you have an unlimited budget and see what you would buy, if there were no limits. Your taste will narrow down and you will know quickly where your soft spot is.
Have you seen any particular trends across LUMAS’ 37 worldwide galleries over the last ten years?
A trend, which is quite interesting, is that more and more people are buying art online. That was not the case when we started out with LUMAS ten years ago. A lot of people come to one of our LUMAS galleries and see something they like, but they may not want to decide straight away. They want to think about the perfect place for their new work and make the choice at home. Picking up on this trend we created an app, which allows the user to visualise any work from the LUMAS portfolio in their own home, by downloading a placeholder code on the wall, which allows you to view any LUMAS photograph in 3D on your own wall. Once you find a work you like, convenient in-app ordering is possible from the LUMAS Online Shop.
Do you think photography will continue to increase in popularity as a fine art form?
Photography has become more and more popular over the last couple of years. Historically, prices for photographs used to be much lower than for other art forms, such as paintings or sculpture, but this is changing fast. There is a strong increase in value and in prices, especially when it comes to big names such as Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Andreas Gursky, Richard Prince or Cindy Sherman. But the interest in photography is growing stronger, which is apparent in the growing worldwide interest in photo fairs, such as Paris Photo, Unseen Photo Fair Amsterdam, AIPAD or the newly established Photo London, which is being held for the first time in May this year. I think photography will continue to grow in popularity and we have not seen the peak yet. The fact that photography is now considered to be an art form in the same league as painting and sculpture has only been a fairly recent development in art history. It slowly evolved from documentary photography and journalism to one of the most important mediums in art. Maybe that’s why photography is more accessible to new collectors than other, more established art forms. At least, that’s our experience and it has shaped our understanding of art, which was a key factor when LUMAS was founded.
