There is another great portfolio of images by Platon in this week’s New Yorker (publication date, 2/15/10.) Titled, The Promise, it captures portraits of the leaders of the civil rights movement.
I think The Promise and Platon’s other recent series (Service and First Dance) establish him as the heir to Avedon’s Portraits of Power.
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Polaroid, once a cultural touchstone, enhanced its aura through the use of its Artist Support Program. It allowed Polaroid to get direct feedback from artists on their products, it helped the artists, and it enabled Polaroid to build one of the most unique, diverse, and enduring collections of art.
Now the collection is being sold off to pay the debts of a Ponzi scheme, a result of one of the companies which owned Polaroid in 2008. While only a fraction of the collection is being auctioned, it will most likely be the last time any significant grouping of the images will be seen together in public.
This spring Sotheby’s will have a public six-day viewing of the work prior to the two-day auction on June 21 and 22.
New York Times article – From That Instant Thrill, Enduring Art, Now for Sale.