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Professional Chronology:

  • Appraiser, Free-lance Curator, Lecturer, Author, 1984 – present. Certified AAA & USPAP since 2003. 
  • Expert Witness, 2007 – present
  • Member of the Board, Jean-Pascal Imsand Foundation, Zürich, 2002-2018
  • Director, Vintage and Contemporary Photography, Heritage Auction Galleries, Dallas, 2008 – 2009
  • Curator, Pfeifer Collection of American Classical Photography, Zürich, 1991 – 2003
  • Curator, Galerie Zur Stockeregg, Zürich, 1987 – 1991
  • Assistant Director, Paul Strand Archive, Millerton, New York, 1983 – 1987
  • Master Printer, Chicago Albumen Works, Housatonic, Massachusetts, 1979, 1983 – 1984
  • Printer/Archivist, Berenice Abbott, Abbot Village, Maine, 1980-1981
  • Commercial and Fine Art Photographer, 1970 – 1987

Academic Chronology:

  • Master of Fine Arts – Photography, Typography, Artist Photo-Books, University of Wisconsin, 1983
  • Master of Arts – Fine Art Photography, University of Wisconsin, 1982
  • Bachelor of Science – Liberal Arts, University of Wisconsin, 1980
  • Graduate Coursework – University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, 1979

Supplemental Academics:

  • USPAP – Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, certificated every year since 2003
  • Continuing Education Credits: as required by AAA, exceeded every year
  • Appraisal Studies: George Washington University, Washington, D.C., PPI – IV, 2002-2003
  • Independent Graduate Seminars: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque: 19th Century Photographic Techniques, Joel Snyder, PhD, Univ. of Chicago and Doug Munson, Chicago Albumen Works; History of Photography, Amy Conger, PhD University of New Mexico; Contemporary Ideas in Photography, Peter Bunnell, Princeton University; Eileen Cowin, Photographer, California State University; Barbara Kasten, Photographer, UCLA, Harold Jones, Center for Creative Photography, Image Permanence Institute Graphics Atlas at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin.

Professional Summary

  • Appraiser
    • Ms. Davis has been appraising the work of Fine Art photographers, Commercial photographers, and Journalists since 1984. She has appraised numerous photographers’ estates and large commercial archives. Her experience in the technical, historical and cultural aspects of photography has made her a connoisseur of the media. She has worked with the Museum of Fine Arts Boston; San Francisco Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Kunsthaus Zürich, Christie’s, Zürich; the Palm Springs Art Museum; the Library of Congress; the Smithsonian; the Museum of Art at the University of New Mexico; J. Paul Getty Museum; Yale; RISD; the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona; Museum of Film, Television and Photography, Bradford, UK; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; and many other public and private photography collections world-wide.
    • She has been a fully accredited specialist in photography with the Appraisers Association of America since 2003 and abides by the Ethics Rule of the Appraisal Standards Board which states, “An appraiser must promote and preserve the public trust inherent in appraisal practice by observing the highest standards of professional ethics.”
  • Expert Witness
    • Ms. Davis has been deposed and has appeared in court and as an expert witness in litigation for: insurance companies; commercial and fine art photographers; galleries -in damage and loss cases; and in divorce proceedings. Ms. Davis has testified in international federal court.
  • Connoisseurship
    • As a connoisseur in the field, Ms. Davis conducts seminars and workshops, and lectures on the identification of photographic processes and appraising photographs. Her life-long involvement in the photographic media, first as a photographer and then as an archivist and curator, has honed her skills as an expert in the field. Ms. Davis commissioned “Name That Process” -a set of identical 8×10 images, printed in a variety of processes: silver-gelatin, van dyke, cyanotype, ink-jet, laser, Azo, etc…which is regularly loaned to museums internationally to teach the identification of photographic processes.
  • Writer
    • Ms. Davis’s writings have been published in The Encyclopedia of 20th Century Photography, Routledge, 2006; the History of Photography, Oxford, England, Autumn 1998, Photographie, Germany, all catalogues issued by Galerie Stockeregg between 1987-1991 including a double volume on Paul Strand containing interviews with Richard Benson, Naomi Rosenblum, John Szarkowski, Michael Hoffman; Pioneers of American Photography: Masterworks of the Pfeifer Collection; and the Academic Journal for the American Academy in Munich, Economics of Culture / Culture of Economics, 2001.
    • Ms. Davis has published over one-hundred articles on appraising photographs and copyright issues in the international print magazine Black & White Magazine for Collectors of Fine Photography. She has published in-depth features on photographers for the magazine, including Graciela Iturbide, Mark Ruwedel, Ursula Schulz-Dornburg, Alison Rossiter, Chris McCaw and Vivian Maier, among others. She is currently updating Lee Witkin’s seminal The Photograph Collector’s Guide and is writing A Guide to Appraising Photographs for Appraisers, Dealers, Collectors, Insurers and Lenders
  • Lecturer
    • Ms. Davis regularly gives talks at museums, universities, photography institutions, schools and galleries on the history of photography, identification of photographic processes, and the history of portraiture in photography. Her talk: The Famous, The Infamous, The Anonymous: A History of Portraiture in Photography, has been presented at The Center for Creative Photography, The College of Santa Fe, and the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque; Fotographie Forum International, Frankfurt; Amerika Haus, Munchen, Germany; and others. Photography at the Movies, The Life and Photography of Paul Strand, the History of Women in Photography, et al.
  • Member of the Board
    • 2002 – 2018 The Jean-Pascal Imsand Foundation was formed in Switzerland to promote and protect the photographic legacy left by the photographer Jean Pascal Imsand who died in 1994. The board met twice a year. Ms. Davis assisted in the promotion and protection of Jean-Pascal’s work. The Foundation was dissolved in December 2018, and his archive is now housed at the FotoMuseum, Winterthur, CH.

Professional Experience

  • Appraiser
    • While at the Paul Strand Archive, Ms. Davis was called upon to value the work of Paul Strand that was being deaccessioned by the archive. She then moved to Zürich and ran Gallery zur Stockeregg, valuing, buying and selling photographs. As the curator of the Pfeifer Collection from 1991-2003, she purchased, sold and valued the collection. In 2003, she returned to the United Stated, received her certification in appraising as a photography specialist and has maintained her specialist accreditation and her USPAP accreditation ever since. She has completed “mass appraisals” of major newspaper and magazine archives, commercial photography archives, artists’ archives, has valued copyright for photographers and magazine archives, valued small and large collections for donation, insurance and estates for assessment management.
  • Expert Witness
    • Ms. Davis has served as an expert witness at the State and International Federal Court levels, for title claims, valuation assertions, insurance, estate claims and dissolution of marriage asset division.
  • Curator of the Pfeifer Collection of American Classical Photography 
    • As Curator for the Pfeifer Collection Ms. Davis sought acquisitions, fully documented each piece and over-saw the archival preservation and presentation of the collection. The Collection of Masterworks of American Classical Photography toured Germany to excellent reviews and high attendance. She authored the catalogue that accompanied the exhibition, entitled Pioneers of American Photography. Each venue was curated by her and an accompanying lecture was given.
  • Curator, Galerie Zur Stockeregg
    • As Curator at Galerie zur Stockeregg, Ms. Davis’s responsibilities included all aspects of exhibition preparation from concept to final print preparation. After print selection, she ordered supplies, matted, framed, sequenced, hung and lit the exhibitions. She wrote all press releases and introductions as well as designed the invitations and over-saw the printing and production of press packets. She was solely responsible for the contemporary section of the gallery, selecting exhibitions, procuring the work, matting, framing, sequencing, hanging and lighting. She worked with the artists to promote their work during and after their exhibitions and actively supported emerging photographers, keeping them informed of opportunities with other galleries and showing their work outside the gallery.
    • She was in charge of the archival storage and maintenance of the photographs in the gallery; proper and accurate cataloguing, provenance information and historical and technical background records, up-to-date stock inventories and insurance and catalogue information, answering all historical and technical questions and conducting the necessary research.  
    • Overseeing successful “events” in the gallery, in particular organizing AIPAD galleries at Basel Art Fair for the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Photography; she initiated the ‘Avedon Project – Avedon at Basel Art’, with a lecture tour by Richard Avedon in Switzerland and the placement of his ‘In The American West’ exhibition at the Fotomuseum Winterthur; the ‘Paul Strand Symposium’ with guests Sarah Greenough and David Travis;  and the placement of The Marc Rich Collection in the Kunsthaus Zürich. Ms. Davis originated the projects, made the initial contacts and worked fully on all aspects of the events.
  • Assistant Director: Paul Strand Archive
    • At the Paul Strand Archive Ms. Davis was responsible for the functioning of the archive in the Director’s absence, archival maintenance of the Strand Collection including proper storage, restoration and conservation. She co-curated with the director all travelling exhibitions, overseeing the matting, framing, designing of crates and organizing transport and up-dating condition reports and follow-through on all venues. 
    • As administrator in the Director’s absence, Ms. Davis conducted the daily business and took responsibility for the on-going projects. She was responsible for ordering all supplies and solely responsible for training work-scholars. With the Director she kept up-dated inventories and values for the insurance policies, worked out the yearly budgets and was solely responsible for the rights and permissions department which included furnishing research and press materials for scholars and journalists. Ms. Davis worked closely with the Aperture Foundation and the Burden Gallery preparing exhibitions, valuing original photographs for deaccession and insurance and doing technical camera work for publications, in particular making the 4” x 5” transparencies for The Shakers – Hands to Work, Hearts to God, Aperture 1987. In addition, she initiated and maintained a complete slide library for the archive.
  • Master Printer, Chicago Albumen Works
    • During her apprenticeship and subsequent employment with the Chicago Albumen Works Ms. Davis worked with most of the major photographic processes of the 19th century including albumen and other latent image salt print processes. She printed the work of Eugene Atget from his original negatives for the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the original negatives of Matthew Brady, Francis Frith, Timothy O’Sullivan and Edward Muybridge on hand-coated albumen paper. In order to preserve the deteriorating 8″ x 10″ nitrate negatives of Francis Benjamin Johnson with a minimum of information loss for the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the Albumen Works developed a pin-light-source system of making both 8″ x 10″ film positives and from them, printable negatives. She oversaw much of this work for the Library of Congress.
  • Printer/Archivist, Berenice Abbott
    • In the summer of 1980, under her own volition, she travelled to Abbott Village, Maine to meet Berenice Abbott and to show her the contemporary albumen prints of Atget’s photographs that she had been printing from his original negatives at the Chicago Albumen Works. From this auspicious meeting Abbott asked Lorraine to return as her printer and to help her to organize her print archive. Maintaining her full-time status in Graduate School, Lorraine lived in Berenice Abbott’s second home in Maine where Abbott’s darkroom was, printed her work and documented her archive for seven months during the 1980-1981 semester. While there, she wrote a graduate paper on Women in Photography for the Women’s Studies Department at the University of Wisconsin.

Degrees:

  • Master of Fine Arts: Typography and Artist
    • Incorporating her work in photography into both the fine art and commercial aspects of graphic design, she produced nine limited edition books, a series of one-of-a-kind books, posters, invitations, and catalogues.
  • Master of Arts: Photography
    • Her graduate work in photography prepared her to teach the historic, commercial and fine art aspects of the medium. The history of photography was emphasized and thoroughly augmented in her studio work for Berenice Abbott, the Chicago Albumen Works, and at the University of New Mexico, as well as her early professional career at the Paul Strand Archive, and working on the Ken Burns book about the Shakers, based upon his 1985 film, Hands to Work. Hearts to God.
  • Bachelor of Science Liberal Arts 
    • Emphasis in Photography, Music, Art History and Writing.

Hobbies:

  • Bell Ringing
    • Lorraine learned change-ringing while living in England. Since then, she has been an active Member of the North American Guild of Change Ringers and has rung in towers throughout England and North America.
  • Choral singer
    • Lorraine has been a choral singer since 1984. She has sung in Italy, Switzerland and Germany with the Bach Kantori, Zurich. She was a member of the Nottingham Harmonic Society and sang at Lincoln Cathedral, Southwell Cathedral and Albert Hall. She is now a member of the Houston Masterworks and in 2019 sang under the baton of John Rutter at Carnegie Hall.
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