The New York Times recently published research about what could be the most valuable photograph ever.
It’s called Girls in the Windows and was shot by Ormond Gigli, a freelance American photojournalist.
Gigli’s photo is for sale in galleries from the American states like New York, Los Angeles, Boston and worldwide in London, Paris and Moscow.
Some buyers buy the photo cheaper straight from the photojournalist’s estate.
During the last 30 years, over 600 copies were sold between $15,000 and $30,000.
It is also a favourite at auction houses with over 150 copies offered by Phillips, Sotheby’s and others.
The record sum was in 2017 where one was sold for $56,906.
This year saw seven copies of the photo sold at auction houses.
One was sold last Tuesday at Phillips in London for £30,500.
The published article in The New York Times stated that a ridiculous amount of $12,000,000 was collected for the photos sold.
What led to the creation of this image?
It was summer 1960, and Ormond was not hired by anyone.
He wanted to commemorate East 58th Street’s brownstone buildings on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in NYC that were going to be destroyed.
The buildings also stood across the street from his home.
Ormond called out instructions through a ballhorn at a fire escape on the second floor.
The models posed in the windows of the buildings and wore colourful gowns.
Two women stood next to a silver Rolls-Royce on the sidewalk.
The supervisor that demolished the building let Gigli use the building for two hours as long as his wife was in it.
She can be seen on the building’s third floor at the third left window.
After shooting the photo, Ormond produced and printed several copies.
From 2010 till his death nine years later, he signed copies in multiple sizes and photographic papers.
He did all this to honor his son Ogden.
Ogden, now 63 followed in his father’s footsteps to become a photographer and currently owns his father’s estate.
The New York Times reported that Ogden was the mastermind behind the sale strategy that made the photo the value it is today.
Fine art photographers sell around six copies of a single image in two sizes.
Its limited availability is key to the image’s popularity and the reason for maintaining its prices.
Gigli’s photo has been printed in 12 different sizes.
To take an example, the 50 inch edition has 75 copies whilst the 27 inch edition has around 44.
Ogden has said that he has 100 left including black and white and summarizes them as simply stunning.
He also said auction houses contact him regularly to ask about the photograph as such hefty prices are hard to negotiate.
You can see Ormond’s other work here.
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