Chicago Board of Trade, also known as Chicago Board of Trade I, is a colour photograph made by German artist Andreas Gursky in 1997. It is the original picture that he took of the Chicago Board of Trade, of which he would make new versions in 1999 and in 2009. The photograph had six editions, one of which is at The Broad Museum, in Los Angeles. [1] It is also a part of a series that the artist made on the subject of stock exchanges and board of trades across the world, since 1990. [2]
The picture has a large, variable, format. Similarly to others of his pictures, this one was taken from a high point of view, allowing a broader vision of the board of trade. In this original version, the space depicted is larger, showing the surrounding area, including the balconies and some of the walls, of the Chicago Board of Trade, while its center, famously named "the pit", bursts with a colourful number of people, who are the stockbrokers, apparently in a typical business day. The balconies area would be cropped in the two following versions. [3] Gursky explains that for this kind of photographs “The camera’s enormous distance from these figures means they become de-individualized”, “... So I am never interested in the individual but in the human species and its environment”. [4] The Christie's website stated:" As in all of Gursky's greatest works, Chicago Board of Trade creates an intriguing synthesis between the macro and the micro scales: we can see each face, each movement, each moment preserved in this photograph, order seemingly emerging from chaos. Gursky, watching over this scene from an almost scientific perspective, (...) has immortalized and even celebrated the people and the mass to which they belong, capturing fleeting beauty as glimpsed at the heart of the hustle and bustle of contemporary, capitalist life." [5]
This first version was sold by $2,507,755 at Sotheby's, London, on 24 June 2013, making it one of the most expensive photographs ever sold. [6] Prints of the same photograph also sold by $902,500 on 12 May 2010, and by $756,000, on 17 May 2023, both at Christie's. [7] [8]
Sotheby's is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and maintains a significant presence in the UK.
Gerhard Richter is a German visual artist. Richter has produced abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, and also photographs and glass pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary German artists and several of his works have set record prices at auction, with him being the most expensive living painter at one time.
Edwin Parker "Cy" Twombly Jr. was an American painter, sculptor and photographer.
Andreas Gursky is a German photographer and professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany.
Thomas Ruff is a German photographer who lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany. He has been described as "a master of edited and reimagined images".
An art auction or fine art auction is the sale of art works, in most cases in an auction house.
99 Cent II Diptychon is a two-part colour photograph made by Andreas Gursky in 2001. It was based on an original photograph called 99 Cent, from 1999, sometimes called "99 cent.1999".
Rhein II is a colour photograph made by German visual artist Andreas Gursky in 1999. In the image, a river flows horizontally across the field of view, between flat green fields, under an overcast sky. Extraneous details such as dog walkers and a factory building were removed by the artist using digital editing.
Chicago Board of Trade II is a colour photograph by German artist Andreas Gursky made in 1999. It was created following his usual process of taking several pictures of the same subject and then manipulating and merging the scanned results by computer.
Chicago Board of Trade III is a color photograph made by German artist Andreas Gursky in 1999–2009. It is the third version of the original picture, previously titled Chicago Board of Trade (1997) and Chicago Board of Trade II (1999). The artist used the same previous process of manipulating the images by computer before achieving the final result. These three pictures were part of a series dedicated to the worldwide "Stock Exchanges".
Los Angeles is a colour photograph made by German visual artist Andreas Gursky in 1998. It is an edition of six. The image was manipulated by computer, following the artist usual process. Its one of the largest examples of the artist's work.
Paris, Montparnasse is a colour photograph created by German photographer Andreas Gursky in 1993. The large photograph has the overall dimensions of 210 by 395 cm, and had a five copies edition.
Salerno, also known as Salerno I, is a colour photograph created by German photographer Andreas Gursky in 1990. The picture marked a turning point in the artist's work.
Rhein, also known as Rhein I, is a colour photograph created by the German photographer Andreas Gursky in 1996. The photograph had a six copies edition. This was the first version of a photograph that become better known with his second version, Rhein II, in 1999.
Shanghai is a color photograph by German photographer Andreas Gursky created in 2000. The photograph has variable large dimensions, with the one held at the Art Institute of Chicago having 306 by 206 cm, and has a six prints edition.
Pyongyang IV is a color photograph created by German photographer Andreas Gursky in 2007. It is part of the series Pyongyang, consisting of seven photographs, digitally conceived, after his attendance at the Arirang Mass Games, that used to be held every year at the Rungrado May Day Stadium, in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, in tribute to the late Communist ruler Kim Il Sung.
Frankfurt is a colour photograph created by German photographer Andreas Gursky in 2007. It was created by his usual method of digital manipulation. It has a six copies edition. It depicts a scene taking place at the boarding lounge of the Frankfurt Airport, in Germany.
99 Cent is a colour photograph by German photographer Andreas Gursky, created in 1999. It depicts a view of the interior of a 99 cent store in Los Angeles. It was created with the use of digital manipulation, like the artist has done for his work since 1990. The photograph was included in Time magazine's 1999 list of the 100 most important photographs ever taken. Gursky made a new version of this photograph, 99 Cent II Diptychon, in 2001, which would be one of the most expensive ever sold.
Untitled V is a color photograph made by German photographer Andreas Gursky, in 1997. It had an edition of six prints. The picture follows the usual method of digital manipulation used by Gursky since 1990.