Ask A Curator

How to Start Buying and Investing in Art: Part 6

Photography is a great medium for first-time buyers to focus on. The prices are typically lower than for painting or sculpture, and often it is a particularly arresting medium that is very easy to fall in love with and live with.

But, there are a few additional elements that need to be considered and understood, as opposed to painting or drawing:

Do you love the photograph?
Your first criteria before making a purchase should be that you love the work.

What kind of photograph is it? What is the medium?
Find out if the photograph you are interested in is a C-print or digital or a nearly extinct Polaroid. Learning about these different processes will expand your knowledge about the medium of photography.

Is it a limited edition?
This means that the photographer will only make a certain number of prints, unlike an open edition where the work can be printed endlessly. As a result, limited editions have greater value and are more expensive.

Typically, a photograph which is large scale in terms of its dimensions will usually exist in a small edition, and will be more expensive. A work which has more prints available in the edition will usually be cheaper.

Is it unique?
Is the photograph unique? Some artists do make unique, one-off photographs. This is especially the case if the artist has started with a photograph and then added to it with perhaps collaged elements.

What’s an AP?
If you see this after a photograph, it means that the photographer will be able to reserve a certain number of artist’s proofs of the work in addition to the number of prints available. The number of APs is usually 1 or 2.

Ready to start building your own collection? Read Saatchi Art’s complimentary ebook 7 Essential Steps to Collecting Emerging Art, written by our Chief Curator Rebecca Wilson.