Every collection involves two basic factors: the object love and passion for purchase. In the case of institutions, the focus is on preserving historically speaking, the collection and access to the public takes a more cultural and less personal. The photography in recent decades, became one of the objects, which in the international market is able to move millions of dollars. With that, comes the media exposure of large sales, celebrities, and also the great scandals involving purchase and sale of false images, taking the limelight names of known dealers and large intitutions.

In Brazil, the collections of photography - except for the "historical" as the National Library in Rio de Janeiro, whose main interest is the memory - both public institutions and individuals, are relatively recent, not exceeding 50 years and, unlike European and American collections, are of a more modest, not with numbers millions.

Only an auction held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, by Sotheby's in January 2005, was raised close to $ 1.5 million only with photographs (many of them obscure Dutch photographers). Images of photographers such as Sebastião Salgado of Brazil reached U.S. $ 20 000, and as French photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), even without the signature of the author, came to almost $ 160,000.

In some ways it is still little, if we think of the millions hoarded by Andreas Gursky in 2007 with his diptych "99 Cent II" auctioned at Sotheby's, no less than U.S. $ 3,346,456.00. More interestingly, the third copy was sold. In May 2006 the same Sotheby's went to work for $ 2.25 million and in November, at Philips de Pury & Company, New York, reached U.S. $ 2.48 million. And what of Richard Prince and his picture that plays a billboard advertising, has taken U.S. $ 1,248 million at Christie's.

Works of other Brazilians, like Vik Muniz, Mario Cravo Neto and Miguel Rio Branco, are well accepted in the auctions, but the volume is still small compared to the international volume explains Katia Leite Barbosa, representative of Sotheby's, in Rio de Janeiro . In this role, you must register that Muniz has a wide range of values ​​with respect to the others, work that are around U.S. $ 300,000 or more, when it comes to polyptychs.

It should be noted, however, as these auctions suffer interference from galleries interested in inflating their prices. Peter Macgill, Pace Macgill Gallery, one of them was when he began to pay close to a million numbers. "White Angel Breadline," the photographer Dorothea Lange, was purchased by him at Sotheby's for U.S. $ 822.400 in 2007. Some photographers that he sells in his gallery today: Dieter Appelt, Richard Avedon, Harry Callahan, Walker Evans, Robert Frank. Josef Koudelka, Richard Misrach, Irving Penn, the crème de la crème of photography.

Many private collectors keep a well defined focus in their collections. Sao Paulo is the case of Cliff Li, who was gallery owner Paul Mitchell and a partner in the Leica Gallery in Sao Paulo, which lasted only three years, unfortunately. Most of its collection (over 400 images) has as its theme the glamor, despite confessing to the same "drop by photographer Mario Cravo Neto," who has eight images. Have names like Cesar Barreto, Cassio Vasconcellos. Marcel Gautherot, Bob Gruen and Peter Beard among others important.

Li began buying pictures for 20 years, because of the first gallery, attached to his restaurant Tomato, but its main thrust is the image that moves. Includes international auctions and maintains close contact with national and international markets. The entrepreneur's passion for photography is such that he became an amateur photographer, and is still able to get excited about buying a photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt, the archives of LIFE magazine , for only $ 50. Copies of famous images from the file of the magazine are available on the Internet at inexpensive prices.

The collection of the banker Edemar Cid Ferreira reported having more than 3,000 images, mostly of foreign authors, among them world-famous as Robert Mapplethorpe, Man Ray, Julia Margaret Cameron and Helmut Newton, acquired at auction houses Sotheby's and Christie's, whose values ​​ranged from $ 15,000 to $ 300,000 on average, according to the date and rarity of the picture.

An intervention in your bank made part of his collection was transferred in November 2005, by court order, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum Paulista USP - both retain custody and provisional administration still undefined. According to curator Helouise Costa, the photographic collection at MAC today, coming from this collection has about 1450 images, a significant overview of photography from the second half of the 19th century until today. The images were divided to two museums according to their specificities.

Unlike in the subject and especially in the values, the collection of Professor Rubens Fernandes Junior, Dean of the School of Communication at FAAP - who became a consultant to Cid Ferreira - is focused on photographic postcards, produced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth , whose costs range 50-300 compositions, according to the rarity of each.

The collection of Fernandes Junior, started because of a master's thesis and its affinity with the exercise of critic and curator, who also reached impressive numbers: About more than 8000 cards, photographers such as Marc Ferrez to William Gaensly between other giants of the early days of photography, which divide the collection of images related to the railroads. He still maintains a collection of over 200 photographs, important names, such as Cravo Neto, Eustaquio Neves, Geraldo de Barros, Alair Gomes and German Lorca, among others. Most of them, through an exchange with the author.

"Photography is a good investment," says Fernandes Junior. He cites the case of Blind Spot magazine - which features a limited edition cover image. "Years ago, one of these images, the Brazilian Vik Muniz, was sold to 600 reais, now increased by at least 10 times more," adds Fernandes Junior.

Joaquim Paiva, a Brazilian diplomat who, along with photographer, and maintains a collection that has become known book "Visions and Alumbramentos" (Brazil Connects edition, 2002), with part of his Brazilian contemporary collection, which includes artists from various eras.

In 1978, while working in Venezuela, Paiva bought a picture of the American Diane Arbus and began the collection that has more than 2500 images from photographers around the world, among them Carlos Moreira, Sebastiao Salgado, Iatã Canabrava and Claudio Edinger. Paiva, does not follow the auctions, or the international market. Prefer personally know the photographer, through exhibitions and events, and if not possible, the books.

The diplomat, who is also an essayist and translator - it is your first Portuguese version of "On Photography" by Susan Sontag (1933-2004) - states that "the photograph suggests the fantasy of an ideal world. The illusion that you can save time and retain memories. " So, also purchased by the impulse of what thrills.

Publicist Mario Cohen, who is also a dealer of photographs, did not disclose the amount of images it has. It is a collector who has not identified the reason for their purchases, but finds it "simplistic" to say only buy what they like. "If I had to choose a photographer to justify, it would be the Frenchman Jacques-Henri Lartigue (1894-1986), particularly his photographs made on the French Riviera in the 1920s and 30". Contemporaries, his preference is for the Japanese Daido Moriyama.

Cohen got his first picture in the interior of Mexico in the late 1970s, not a gallery, but a dealer in dry goods. "Neither he knew they were selling photographs, or that I bought. I bought an object that delighted me, "he says. Basically buying abroad, he said that five years ago the domestic market was still dull but promising: "The buyers are maturing quickly." Its collection, there are even gems like Gautherot Marcel and Pierre Verger. The increase of the galleries that sell photographs seem to confirm his prognosis.

Many Brazilian collectors, as Paiva, auctions do not follow. However, they become a good source for acquisition, but also author numbers and even numbers and cramped in relation to the outside as well as its frequency. No they do not try, for example the Stock Art held a with great results in August 2008. However, exclusivity, and this was passed to add photos on other auctions that sell other works of art and design all together. But Bergamin gallery in Sao Paulo, the same owner, is exhibiting and selling images, like the beautiful showcase of this year Alair Gomes.

Another facet of collecting is practiced by museums, foundations and even government. Although in some cases, fall short of many private collectors in the number of works and financial investment, but has the major role of encouragement, either when creating collections, providing access for future generations, and when they do the same for excursionarem out of your seat, making the best-known photographers.

The collection of the Pinacoteca do Estado de Sao Paulo has big names like Cristiano Mascaro and Mario Cravo Neto. With insignificant numbers, despite constantly harboring exhibitions of photography, hardly promotes acquisitions. Open last month, the show "Roots" Photographer Paraná Valdir Cruz, is an exception. The thirty large format images were acquired by the State Government, and became part of the collection of the Palace of Government, in addition to sponsoring a beautiful book (already mentioned here on this blog).

One of the most important is the collection of the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo, which focuses on contemporary Brazilian art from the second half of the twentieth century. The collection had in 2005 with just over 700 photographs, from authors like Thomaz Farkas, Ding Musa, Geraldo de Barros, Carlos and Magdalena Schwartz Goldbgrub among others. Many can be seen by the collection online .

Rejane Cintrão, former executive curator, said the MAM has made photographs in the collection, from the First Triennial of Photography, 1980, and I Quadrennial Photography, 1985, both held by the museum and had only one edition . After these events, several photographers have donated images. After the show "identity / no identity: the current Brazilian photography" in 1997, many works have joined the collection.

A big boost was the Collectors Club Photography created in 2000. A copy of the draft is for the museum. MAM maintains its collection through projects, agreements and partnerships that provide resources for conservation of the collection and assembly of exhibits. To Rejane Cintrão "museums should acquire collections, but with a curatorial eye, to avoid distracting collections."

The last inventory of MAM was the 2001-2007 and 1636 reported that only works became part of its collection since 2000, number consisting of paintings, sculptures, engravings and photographs. All photos and collages were Otto Stupakoff 73, donated by the artist himself to the institution. Other photos of the 52 Para Luiz Braga were donated by Banco Itaú. The 40 Series Images Cityscapes of the Rio Claudio Edinger were acquired through a fund for the acquisition of works to the collection via Stefanini Consulting in IT.

In 2009, the queue to enter the Photography Collectors Club of MAM São Paulo was enormous, and this is due to expansion of the photographic image in different media and the rise of important exhibitions. The club's current curator, photographer Chiodetto Eder, was responsible for photographic exhibitions of great impact, not only in MAM but in other institutions. This attracts collectors and new initiatives.

One of the newest is the creation of a similar club at the Museum of Modern Art Aloisio Magalhães (suck) from Recife, organized by photographer and anthropologist Alexander Bethlehem Georgia Farms. In the 2010 edition, in progress, names like Claudia Jaguaribe, Rodrigo Braga and James Santana among others. The first edition will be just 30 members, the registration form and list of names and price is the site of the institution .

Equally important, the Pirelli-MASP collection, the Art Museum of Sao Paulo, which has on its board with Fernandes Junior and Cohen, is sponsored by the Italian company Pirelli. Opens acquisitions annually. However, like other institutions, the amount paid by the images come to be symbolic, barely giving, in some cases, pay for the copies made by photographers.

In 2009 MASP reported to have 280 authors with works in 1042 the total collection, which is in its 17th edition, since it began in 1990. For each batch of acquisitions is like a catalog. The teacher and researcher Boris Kossoy, one of the most respected researchers of photography - and also a board member of the same - wrote that "the set has consistency and identity." In 2006 the collection was published in consultation with the Internet, " eColeção . "

Although the MASP museum is a world-renowned for the quality of its art gallery, financially there is light years ahead of its partners in the First World: Back in 1984, for example, the J.Paul Getty Museum , the United States, bought at once through various dealers and in secret, 18,000 photographs of important authors, spending nearly $ 40 million, which represented less than 25% of its total budget for acquisitions.

The Getty Museum takes too seriously his collection he published the book "A Guide to Preventive Conservation of Photograph" (Getty Conservation Institute, 2003), written by Frenchman Bertrand Lavéndrine. More than 30 years of continuous research in the preservation of images, which summarizes all that is in the genre internationally. The author works in CRCDG (Centre de Recherches sur la Conservation des Documents graphiques, Paris, one of the world's most important.

It is undeniable that have images in the collection of a major museum also gives recognition to the photographer. Therefore, in Brazil, this relationship persists in a context almost amateur, with payments mostly symbolic. Companies in Brazil has a very small part in the dissemination of photographic collections, while abroad, this culture is more widespread in both the institutional and the private sector which allows good remuneration to the artist than the inherent prestige.

Cases such as The Gilman Paper Company Collection, Ford Motor Company and The Chase Collection Manhanttan Collection, ratify the substantial involvement with the visual arts by the businesses in the United States, and that without such a tax incentive law, which was in Brazil and is responsible for much good, but also by much of the rubbish published or expostoem galleries and museums.

One of the attempts to "professionalize" the question of the acquisition was made by the Cultural Foundation of Curitiba, which through the Biennial of Photography in 1996, 1998 and 2000, organized by photographer Orlando Azevedo, set up the Museum of Photography City of Curitiba, with a collection of over 2000 images of Brazilians.

However, "The initial effort was diluted and abandoned" reveals Azevedo, and the Biennial of Photography which had a budget of 350 thousand dollars, became the Imagetics Show (held by Ricardo and Eduardo Brandão Ribenboim), and then once desaparaceu . "Despite having a budget four times larger, Imagetics not advanced in the acquisition, and did not give greater visibility to the collection, making the provincial event, no qualitative or numeric expression," adds Azevedo.

Outside, the private collectors not far behind. One of the expressions is the singer Elton John. His collection of figures millionaire, has become a luxurious book, published by Rizzoli. In 2004 he put 79 images for sale at auction at Christie's in New York and managed to sell 73, putting in his pocket about $ 900,000. Many years before, in 1990, also a singer Graham Nash, had placed his whole collection for sale in most European contemporaries, at Sotheby's by no less than $ 10 million.

Some collectors leave the private sphere and create foundations. If the German entrepreneur Ydessa Hendeles, who began his collection with only 60 pictures of his countryman August Sander (1876-1964), who were part of his famous book "The Face of our time", 1929, condemned and censored by the Nazis. In 2005 this set was priced just above $ 3 million. Figures that surely rose in the last five years. In the case of Hendeles, acquire photographs involves more than buying a beauty. For her, "the images tell stories, explore ideas." Jewish, born in Germany in 1948, but raised in Canada, was there, which in 1988 raised the Ydessa Hendeles Art Foundation several years ago in Toronto.

In Brazil, some banks such as Itaú and Unibanco, (who got together and formed a single group in 2009) are also involved, maintaining the cultural institutions that have interest as part of the picture. Itaú Cultural also holds a collection online, with contemporary photographers, which can be viewed at any time in the Encyclopedia of Visual Arts , with pictures and biography of the photographer.

The Itau also invested in 2007 in the formatting of an international cultural event, the Latin American Photography Forum of Sao Paulo, which this year will make its second version. There are regular exhibitions of the collection, as well as a stimulus program for young photographers who are coordinated by major critics and curators.

The Instituto Moreira Salles, an institution that was connected to the ancient Unibanco is one of the most investment in photography. With astronomical numbers, about more than 300,000 images, is the largest collection of photography in Brazil in the nineteenth century, says Sergio Burgi, coordinator of the Institute of Photography. IMS has a team of eleven people, tending directly from the collection, and a technical reserve the envy of much national and international museum.

The large collection, which also includes images of the first half of the twentieth century, photographers and other more contemporary, is made up of donations and acquisitions. Among the highlights is the photographer Marc Ferrez (which the Institute has acquired the complete collection of his grandson Gilberto Ferrez), Claude Levi-Strauss, with its images of 1935-1937, when teaching at USP, and the complete works of masters like Gautherot Hildegard Rosenthal, Alice Brill and Henri Ballot, Stupakoff Otto, Joseph Medeiros and Maureen Bisiliat among others.

It is possible, in their stores, buy pictures of some authors, augmented with museum standards, with prices around just 500 reais for unlimited runs for current and small formats, or to be more modest in the purchase of books that bring part of this collection. The institute also sells larger sizes with limited runs, but at prices far less accessible.

The scandals Man Ray and Lewis Hine!
Like everything that involves high numbers, the international market is subject to their ills, which occasionally reaching a millionaire, casting doubt on experts and renowned institutions. In 1998, the German collector and dealer Werner Bokelberg, would give his collection to a large exhibition of photographer Man Ray (1890-1976), and then sell a number of copies considered vintage (extensions of time) of the 1940s, for Metropolitan Museum in New York, when the curator suspected the same. An examination by Agfa, the German company, brand of paper used for copies, dated the same between 1992-1993. Result: the Museum canceled shows and buying.

The case of the photographer Lewis Hine (1874-1940) involved the photographer Walter Rosemblum, then president of the Photo League, a cooperative that was responsible for the Hine's images, since his death. The questions came in 1999 when a collector, physicist Michael Mattis had to experiment with their copies and found that the expansions, signed papers were only made after the death of the photographer.

With extensions and forged signatures, possibly Rosemblum, for it was he who testified to the authenticity of the same, many dealers and auction houses have made arrangements to return the amounts paid by customers, and a confidential settlement out of justice led to establish the Photo League a fund of over $ 2 million to reimburse the buyers. The FBI, involved in the dispute, estimates that the copies of the famous shows the Brooklyn Museum in 1977, also are not vintage.

Some dealers Brazilians learned a lot from these events and have become cautious. Looking to sell their works with certifcados the authors, and attempt to relate the images to the sale of these references-books. This all helps, but to say that authentic images that have nothing of it, or runs handled by the artists themselves, or even simpler, the work of photographers who are not their limitations runs?

For example, the United States in galleries such as Gallery 10 G, the art consultant and dealer Jill Fortunoff Gerstenblatt sell works by Vik Muniz in formats 8X10 "but their catalog raisonée launched in Brazil last year (with the first touted a raisonée Brazilian artist alive) only brings references to some of them in larger sizes if some images Clayton Days series. We still have far to walk, however, walked to the front!

Juan Esteves, photographer, has been writing his articles since 1988 in the Folha de S. Paul. It was Iris Photo Magazine columnist and editor and columnist for the Fotosite. You Better Shoot magazine columnist and contributor to text and images for magazines such as Mitsubishi, Living Alone, Travel and More Cosac Naify. Now, the blog of Paraty in Focus, Juan put unpublished or published - the last, to update and reissue made ​​especially for this blog.