The Second Annual "Photo-London" Show

Edward Weston Peter Beard Desiree Dolron Helmut Newton Mario Testino Shadi Ghadirian Gift Helps LACMA Acquire Groundbreaking Photo Collection NY Collectors Donate 125 Photographs to Israel Museum

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It's an "extraordinary opportunity to see the entire spectrum of the history of this medium," comments Daniel Newburn, founder of Photo-London. "Within a few moments of entering the space you'll be able to compare work from the 19th Century masters, to contemporary stars, back to post-war modernism, and 70s topographers."

Works range in price from £500 to about £500,000, according to the fair organizers. Visitors can also buy photography books from magazine and book publishers like Phaidon and Taschen. Estimated total sales at last year's inaugural fair were between £2.5 million to £3 million.

The value of photographic art is on the up. Camerawork AG, a seller of vintage prints and photography books, says its shares listed on the stock exchanges of Berlin and Stuttgart gained 2.5 percent between the years 2001 and 2005.

Among the classic black and white prints in the Camerwork display are Helmut Newton's 1982 Arielle after Haircut, selling for 145,000, and Dorothea Lang's Migrant Mother for 55,500.

Among other black and white photography, on sale by US Morehouse Gallery, is a delightful picture from the 1950s of a group of Manchester youngsters clutching pigeons. Jules Aaron, a street photographer and career physicist, took the picture.

Morehouse Gallery also has one of the fair's most expensive prints for sale. It's Edward Weston's Nude on Sand, priced at $400,000.

There are gems from far-flung places like Iran, by contemporary photographers, several of them women, represented by Silk Road Gallery of Tehran. Shadi Ghadirian has put together a series showing women in chador with kitchen items, like gloves and pots, in front of their faces.

Another set of compelling photographs is by Mehraneh Atashi. She has photographed the Zourkhaneh, a place only men are allowed to enter to practice a traditional ritual, a mixture of physical exercise and religion. Atashi has positioned herself so that she is seen, reflected in mirrors, in each of the photographs.

Another intriguing photograph is for sale by London-based Michael Hoppen Gallery. The Desiree Dolron portrait from the Dutch artist's Xteriors series is a mesmerizing piece of work. Although it originally started out as a more traditional photograph, it has, through years of manipulation by the artist, morphed into a more dreamlike figure of a woman.

"As with the early Flemish painters she most admires, layer upon layer of work goes into each piece of the puzzle she constructs, fine-tuning every aspect until the last element is in it's correct place." Michael Hoppen Gallery said in conjunction with an earlier exhibition of Dolron's work. The piece sells for £20,000.

A newly made Peter Beard creation also hangs in the Michael Hoppen space. It's an African photo collage with scribbles, encircled by what looks like animal blood smears, for which he is known. The work, which measures 2 x 2 meters, is priced at £65,000.

In addition to gallery stands, Photo-London features a special exhibition of "new photography" selected by photographer Mario Testino. Throughout the fair, numerous books signings and talks are planned. Today, there will be a presentation of eight emerging artists.