A Small Selection of Vintage Photography School Era (1947-1950) Philip Hyde Original Black and White Prints Now Available

The black and white vintage prints available so far are 4X5 and 5X7 contact prints, some 8X10s and a few 11X14s. Some of the Philip Hyde original black and white vintage prints are from "Photography's Golden Era," 1947-1950, during Philip Hyde's three plus years in photography school at the California School of Fine Arts now the San Francisco Art Institute. Other vintage black and white prints are from the 1950s and 1960s and as late as 1971 for Philip Hyde original black and white prints of Alaskan subjects.

To learn more about the black and white vintage prints produced during the first 10 years of Ansel Adams' photography department at the California School of Fine Arts, now the San Francisco Art Institute, when Minor White was lead instructor and Group f64 members Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange and Edward Weston also taught see "The Golden Decade: Photography at the California School of Fine Arts, 1945-55."

Philip Hyde original black and white vintage prints NOW AVAILABLE....

By Inquiry Through The Contact Page.

Or contact the following galleries:

SCOTT NICHOLS GALLERY in San Francisco

THE WESTON GALLERY in Carmel, California

SMITH ANDERSEN NORTH in San Anselmo, California

LUMIERE GALLERY in Atlanta, Georgia

PETER FETTERMAN GALLERY in Santa Monica, California

What Does Vintage Mean? Black and White Vintage Print Pricing.

The black and white prints we refer to here as "vintage prints" are vintage in two ways, as we understand the term's application to black and white photography. These black and white prints are both made within a year or two of the negative AND more than 40 years old. This double criteria of course applies to any black and white prints Philip Hyde printed before 1970.

Galleries, dealers, collectors and museum curators use the term "vintage prints" in two ways. It can refer to any print regardless of age that was printed within a year or two of the making of the photograph. A wider definition of "vintage prints" is simply that the prints are over 40 years old. Philip Hyde only made vintage prints within a year or two of the negative, except for a small number of exceptions in the late 1990s. He had planned to make many more newer black and white prints of his vintage black and white photographs, but he began to lose his eyesight which made darkroom printing impossible. Regardless, nearly all Philip Hyde original black and white prints fit the first definition of "vintage prints" and any prints Philip Hyde made before 1970 also fit the second definition.

The black and white vintage prints Philip Hyde made during photography school at the California School of Fine Arts under Ansel Adams, Minor White, and Edward Weston are increasingly sought after by collectors and are in limited supply. Philip Hyde original vintage prints are extremely RARE. Philip Hyde never printed more than eight prints of a given image and in most cases he printed only two to four. In the rare instance that an image was selected as an exchange print for the informal print exchanges between classmates, Philip Hyde made 19 vintage prints for classmates and a few extra vintage prints for the instructors who attended the print exchanges. Besides the exchange prints, today there are usually only one or two vintage prints left of each photograph.

Variations in value are due to several factors, but are primarily based on the photograph's subsequent significance, exhibition history, publishing history, etc. There is generally little variation in condition, with a few exceptions. Scott Nichols Gallery, Lumiere Gallery, The Weston Gallery and Smith Andersen North are now selling 4X5 and 5X7 contact vintage prints hinge mounted with hand-made paper corners on Rising Board for $900 to $1800 depending on the image. Vintage black and white 8X10s are also now officially available in the above locations in a range between $1800 and $4500 depending on the photograph, print date and other variables.

Some Philip Hyde vintage prints are not signed. In the 1940s and 1950s, the practice of signing prints had not yet become widely accepted. Many photographers did not sign all or even any of their small prints during that era. Edward Steichen for example, when printing made at least two prints of each image. One would go to the press unsigned and one would go to the galleries signed. Signed vintage prints by Philip Hyde are priced $500-$1,000 higher. The unsigned contact vintage prints are identified with Philip Hyde's stamp and printing notes, while the 8X10s are sometimes signed as exhibition prints and sometimes not signed but identified with Philip Hyde's press print stamp. The 4X5 and 5X7 contact vintage prints are particularly of interest because they were made in the same contact printing style of Edward Weston, who also printed many 4X5 and 5X7 black and white contact prints around the same time period and earlier.

COMING SOON to Landscape Photography Blogger will be a description of Philip Hyde's black and white silver gelatin printing process for black and white prints, with variations as originally taught by Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and Minor White at the California School of Fine Arts, now the San Francisco Art Institute.