Pawning art
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
That Old Master? It’s at the Pawnshop
Last fall, Annie Leibovitz, the photographer, borrowed $5 million from a company called Art Capital Group. In December, she borrowed $10.5 million more from the same firm. As collateral, among other items, she used town houses she owns in Greenwich Village, a country house, and something else: the rights to all of her photographs.
In other words, according to loan documents filed with the city, one of the world’s most successful photographers essentially pawned every snap of the shutter she had made or will make until the loans are paid off.
Wow. I think their business is going to go through the roof in the next few years.
[via Dale Allyn]
how very bizarre…to be so wealthy in material goods and artistic rights, but so poor you have to pawn it all. It’s going to take me a minute to digest this one…
Sheryl: Exactly why I posted it (not to give you indigestion).
I find it an interesting irony when juxtaposed with an historical view of “classic artists” and their various stages of poverty. It’s quite fascinating to me actually (though not particularly surprising in this place in time).
Dale: Right, exactly. My guess is that between virtual money (credit cards) and automobiles which make it possible to own more than one house (Leibovitz) things have changed somewhat. Still, in any time it’s odd that people who are at the top of their game are broke (relatively).