By Ctein
I was not expecting to be doing a holiday sale. But, while cleaning out a closet this weekend, I discovered five framed dye transfer prints that I didn't even remember I had! Which I decided to offer up for sale, through Christmas Eve, at the extreme discounted price of $950 (plus shipping).
Two [Four] have already sold. The remaining three [one] photographs are is:
Acacia and Streetlamp, Campbell CA ~ 1975 [SOLD]
Overcast Cornfield, Lakeland MN ~ 1978 [SOLD]
[If Yr. Hmbl. Ed. may be excused for jumping in here, I can add a fourth—I have a 16 x 20" Ctein dye transfer of this 2003 picture of Niagara Falls for $500. Ctein is sold out of it as a dye. You can email me at [email protected] if you're interested. Note: that's "Johnston" with a T.] [SOLD]
The first is entirely out-of-print, as indicated on my website—there are no other copies in my inventory.
OK, you ask, why these and why so inexpensive? As you might expect, there is a backstory.
Almost 40 years ago, way back in 1983 (a.k.a. The Dark Ages) Kodak chose me to be their featured Photographer of the Year. They mounted a modest exhibit of my dye transfer work at trade shows. This was pretty cool. Even cooler—they paid me for the photographs to be included in the exhibit and then sent me back the dry-mounted-and-framed prints!
So, how come these didn't end up in my normal inventory? Because they hadn't been framed to what I considered archival standards (Kodak also trimmed the borders a little tight for my taste—about half an inch of white paper around the image area). I didn't feel comfortable selling them to anyone, not knowing how well they would hold up, so they got shoved in the back of the closet. I think over the first few years years, I gave a couple away as gifts. Then I forgot about them.
Here's what one of them looks like.
They're all framed in the same manner: A thin white-painted aluminum sectional frame with acrylic glazing, titled, signed and dated on the front margin. The prints themselves are dry-mounted (very professionally—it was Kodak, after all) to non-museum mat board and there is no spacer mat between the print and the acrylic. As I said, not what I would call archival framing.
Except...here we are 40 years later and the prints looked exactly as good as when they were made, no discoloration or fading, no glaze spots from contact with the acrylic. They are fine! Maybe, just maybe, the folks at Kodak knew what they were doing?
Anyway, so...wotdahell, I'm offering them up for sale, through Christmas Eve. No promises about how they'll hold up for the next 40 years, but...not dead yet! And—of course—if you're dissatisfied with what you get, my 100%-guaranteed return policy still applies.
A small caveat—on some of these you may want to replace the acrylic with fresh plastic. Some of the acrylics are scratched, enough to be annoying to me. They might not be annoying to you. In any case, acrylic sheets of the right size are inexpensive and replacing them is a cake-walk. All you need is a screwdriver: These are sectional frames, and the print is held in the spring clips. Pop the clips, unscrew the frame, lift out the mounted print, replace the acrylic, put the print back, put the frame back together, put the spring clips back in. Really, it's super-easy-peasy.
Other than the glazing, they look great.
This is obviously a first-come, first-served deal. If you're interested, get in your request fast.
To repeat, these are $950 apiece (plus shipping). I'll tell you what—if you want to create an instant Ctein collection for yourself for less than the price of one of my dye transfer prints, framed, today...
Buy all three and you can have them for $2,400 total. (That's assuming you get in before anyone grabs any one of these, so if that's your druthers jump fast.)
Email me: [email protected].
Ctein
Book o' the Week:
Vivian Maier Developed: The Untold Story of the Photographer Nanny, by Ann Marks, is the most complete picture of the mysterious governess-photographer yet—and the picture is more surprising than we thought.
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