(BILLBOARD ADVERTISING) Foster and Kleiser of

Sale 2135 - Lot 57

Price Realized: $ 12,000

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,500

(BILLBOARD ADVERTISING)
Foster and Kleiser of Portland, Oregon catalogue, with 57 photographs of billboards in locations throughout Portland, which are highlighted with orange paint. Silver prints with overpainted areas, 7 1/2x9 1/2 inches (19.0x24.1 cm.), mounted on one side only, with a calligraphic caption on print recto or below the photograph itself. Oblong 4to, gilt-lettered leathertte. 1926-27

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Additional Details

"Vernacular photography" is a generic term encompassing snapshots and commercial images that reference high art concerns. The historic pictures in this album demonstrate a post-modern photographic sensibility in which the contemporary German School of photographers (Gursky, Ruff, Struth) as well as conceptual artist John Baldessari's work immediately comes to mind. The relationship between Baldessari's early use of overlaid bands of color as well as his interest in employing a lifeless pictorial style may be seen in many of the photographs presented here.

Yet, Foster and Kleiser's chronicle of their multiple billboard sites not only serves commercial purposes but has a documentary aspect as well, recording the growth of the city as an urban center and the social habits of its citizens. In addition to the wide array of photographs of "bulletins" on busy streets and along major thoroughfares, several pages of typewritten text note why a corner or street is a particularly good location. Lengthy explanations refer to traffic patterns, the construction of new bridges or buildings, and cite the number of daily commuters.

JPGs are available upon request.