The Discreet Charms of the Russian Bourgeoisie

A good reminder of the effect Russian commodities wealth is having on the luxury market comes from the Daily Mail:

Seven of the world’s 25 richest people. Some 87 billionaires. The highest concentration of billionaires in its capital city. ( . . . ) Its new uber-rich aristocracy has been carving out its own dynasties, buying up multi-million pound properties (a mystery Russian buyer reportedly stumped up £397 million for a Cote d’Azur castle this month) football clubs and priceless art masterpieces. Read the rest of this entry »

Art + Auction’s Critic Doesn’t Think Much of the Record-Setting Art Buyers Snapped Up in June

Souren Melikian is a smart man with a very good eye. But his approach to the art market can be so Olympian as to beg the question. High prices are adduced as signs of a buyer’s taste and discernment when he approves of a work, but a sign of cynical marketing or collector ignorance when he does not. In this Art + Auction report Melikian is at pains to explain why the art he considers great is not the art valued by the market: Read the rest of this entry »

Interview with Guy Bennett

In our continuing effort to de-mystify the art market and make the auction houses more accessible, we bring you this interview with Christie’s Guy Bennett (along with some video excerpts.)

First, a little background. Guy Bennett is Senior Vice President, International Co-Head of Impressionist and Modern Art. In addition to overseeing the day to day running of the department worldwide, he is responsible for the daily management, marketing and promotion of Christie’s sales of Impressionist and Modern Art in New York. And, of course, it’s his job to find the right properties to sell at the right time. He headed the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale in November 2006 which totaled $491.5 million, making it the most valuable auction ever. The next year, he organized the second most valuable sale totaling $396 million in November 2007.

In 2008, Bennett landed the Miller Collection, which included Monet’s spectacular “Le bassin aux nymphéas” which sold for $80.4 million in London in June, doubling the artist’s previous record set a month earlier when Bennett had orchestrated the sale of Monet’s “Le Pont du chemin de fer à Argenteuil” in New York which sold for $41.5 million. (The interview, with video, after the jump.) Read the rest of this entry »

Dara Zhukova profiled in the New York Times

Carol Vogel’s examination of Dara Zhukova (left, in a photo by Jonathan Worth) and her role in the Contemporary art market does a nice job of capturing the young diletante’s appeal. That’s why we call her The Face (of the art market.) The Garage opening party is only part of the equation but an important part:

“It took chutzpah for Dasha to put on an event and attract so many people,” said Oliver Barker, head of contemporary art at Sotheby’s in London. “It shows how seriously they’re taking her.” Read the rest of this entry »

Was Sotheby’s the Favorite to Win the YSL Collection?

Pinault Steps In and Wins the Contest for Christie’s.

What Will This Do for the Paris Auction Market?

London’s First Post gives us the back story on Christie’s not-so-surprising success in getting the YSL art collection to sell in Paris in the Winter of 2009. The Independent confirms that Sotheby’s was close to a deal and values the collection at more than $500 million, making it the largest single owner sale ever. Those who have seen the collection describe it as “a room full of masterpieces.”

Reuters adds this quote from YSL’s dealer:

Antique dealer Alexis Kugel, who told Le Figaro his relation with the collectors was the closest a dealer could have with his clients, said: “For Yves Saint Laurent art was a vital need, indispensable for his inspiration, like water to survive. It soothed his depressive character.”

The Times tries to pour cold water over the whole affair by turning it into an important market test–which it will be–and using a bitchy quote from Godfrey Barker: “We now learn that Saint Laurent moved stealthily to become one of the biggest buyers in the most overpriced sector of the art market - paintings from 1900-25, which cost £5m to £25m each,” said Godfrey Barker, an art-market expert. Read the rest of this entry »

More Questions About the Meaning of the London Sales

As promoters of the idea that the rapid rise of value in the art market over the 2006-2007 period was not a bubble, we find ourselves in the interesting position of wondering whether there isn’t a bubble forming now. (Our case after the jump.) Read the rest of this entry »

Sotheby’s $18.2 million Impressionist and Modern Sale in Paris

. . . Carries the Momentum from London

The small Parisian sale pulled in serious interest. 51 lots were offered; 35 of them sold. 20 of those lots sold for prices above the high estimate.

The Press is Taking Stock of the Contemporary Sales

Sotheby’s

From the report of the Master, Judd Tully:

“I think the market is continuing its onward march, blissfully ignorant of all the turmoil in the financial markets,” said New York private dealer Christopher Eykyn. “It certainly hasn’t been a bad investment so far.” Read the rest of this entry »

Following Up on London’s Impressionist and Modern Sales

Russian bidding is thought to have played its part in both sales [the Monet and Degas], as well as in the record prices paid for three early-20th-century Russian modernist paintings by Natalia Goncharova (£5.5 million), Vladimir Baranoff Rossine (£2.7 million) and Vera Rockline (£2 million) - all artists who have really prospered only since the Russian art buying spree began five years ago. Read the rest of this entry »

Severini Leads 102 million Pound Sale of Hand-Picked Winners with an Impressive 90% of Lots Sold

Read the rest of this entry »