Messages are mixed this autumn on the state of the Art Market; some of us see the glass as half full (especially if there is an umbrella an fruit artfully perched on the rim) and things seem better than in housing and a whole lot more stable than stocks, bonds and futures!
· "The market is down but not out. Volumes and values are down, but there is a renewed confidence and a renewed spirit," Georgina Adam; The Art Newspaper
· After months of trauma that saw auctions shrivel, fairs cancelled and prices nosedive, Zurich- and London-based gallery Hauser & Wirth sold a Louise Bourgeois sculpture at Frieze for EUR 2.4 million (CHF 3.6 million, USD 3.5 million), while New York's David Zwirner earned EUR 680,000 for a Neo Rauch.
· After months of trauma that saw auctions shrivel, fairs cancelled and prices nosedive, Zurich- and London-based gallery Hauser & Wirth sold a Louise Bourgeois sculpture at Frieze for EUR 2.4 million (CHF 3.6 million, USD 3.5 million), while New York's David Zwirner earned EUR 680,000 for a Neo Rauch.
· Street and Graffiti seems to continue its mainstream success; the anniversary of the coming down of the Berlin Wall celebrated two decades’ of creativity recently, and Berlin continues to capitalise on its former communism – how ironic.
· Sotheby’s, the world’s largest publically traded auction house has lauded the end of the recession and the art market lull with sales totalling USD $181-million this past week. Lots at the highest end of the price scale exceeded low estimates at auction this last week, and the auction house’s PR machine has lauded these numbers as sign of market renewal, although these numbers only apply to the highest price art and the highest bidders with the solvent cash to pay for it.
· The vestiges of the Lehman Brothers art collection also pleasantly surprised auctioneers and speculation as many of the lots greatly exceeded high estimates. The Financial Times reports that the first sale of art from the 650-strong collection belonging to Lehman Brothers on Monday in Philadelphia was an outright success. Local auctioneer Freemans knocked down 283 lots (they all sold) for $1.35m, twice pre-sale expectations. The top price was for a Lichtenstein print, “I Love Liberty” (1982), which sold for $49,000. More Lehman art comes under the hammer in December and February next year. Meanwhile, Bonhams and Butterfields sells art from the bankrupt Californian law firm Heller Ehrman this Tuesday in New York, with more to come in San Francisco in February next year. And on December 8 the Italian auction house Finarte is selling about 200 lots of modern Italian art from the Italian carrier Alitalia SpA. The highlight is a vast canvas, “Zeus gave birth to the sun”, by the Futurist Gino Severini, commissioned for Alitalia’s Paris office in 1954 and now estimated at €300,000- €500,000. Other works are in the low thousands, among them Osvaldo Peruzzi’s “Flight above the clouds” (1997) estimated at €2,000-€3,000.
· "The market is very much alive ... after a year of abstinence," said auctioneer Tobias Meyer.
Works by Pissarro and Leger also achieved twice their estimated prices, while Salvador Dali's Girafe en Feu reached $1,874,500 (£1,130,000) - a record for a work on paper by the surrealist artist.
Adam, Georgina. "The art market: ‘When you have the right property ... you get fireworks’." FT; The Financial Times 06 11 2009.
British Broadcasting Corporation. BBC News 5 11 2009.
Expatica.com. Expatica.com - News and information for the International Community. 09 11 2009. 09 11 2009
Gunn, Molly. "Art and the Kiss of Life." The National; a Publication of the Abu Dhabi Media Company 08 11 2009.
Hauser & Wirth. Hauser & Wirth. 09 11 2009
