Kimmelman Finds Flaws in Paris Show; Estate Withdraws Sale

Picasso and the new realities of the global economy, is there a connection? Here’s how the New York Times’s Michael Kimmelman brings them together in his review of the “Picasso and the Masters” show in Paris:

“FIAC, the art fair that shared quarters in the Grand Palais these last several days, was populated by shell-shocked dealers murmuring worriedly amongst themselves about the bygone customers whom not so long ago they had blithely turned away or gave five minutes to decide whether to buy a picture. Picasso, in such straitened times, remains at least a reliable brand . . . ”

But how reliable? Kimmelman goes on to make this compelling point: “Picasso’s later career, you might say, was a one-man wrestling match with the limits of his own enormous genius in relation to history, and his failures were, humanly speaking, as compelling as his accomplishments, but that interpretation requires from an exhibition not blind hero worship but, as Delacroix had it, a little humility. The show here lacks this altogether, substituting swagger for judgment, bluster for nuance, and in art, as in politics and finance, we’ve had enough of that approach already.” [emphasis added] Read the rest of this entry »

NPR Says Russians May Save the Art Market

We’ve mentioned in the past the semi-serious concept of the magazine cover indicator. The thinking goes that once a trend or idea reaches the level of interest that makes it worthy of a magazine cover, it is already over, out-dated or obsolete. In investment terms this can mean that it is simply too late to get into a trend or it can be a bright flashing sign that there’s nowhere to go but down.

Abramovich and Zhukova

Today, NPR offers a report on the role of Russians in the art market. It trots out the Hirst sale, Abramovich, Zhukova and the Malevich coming up at Sotheby’s in New York. It quotes one auction house expert saying that Russians who got out of the market may still be interested in investing in high-quality art. It’s a nice thought but few of the wealthiest Russians have been like Mikhail Prokhorov: in cash.

A better thought may be that even though many of the wealthiest Russians have lost huge amounts nominal wealth that they still have enough free cash to buy the kind of art that will continue to place them within the forefront of global culture. Russian wealth may have been damaged by the collapse of credit–but their nationalistic pride and ambitions have not.

Russians Turning to Art Market as Recessions (NPR)

Bloomberg Worries About Russians and Guarantees

Here’s an awkward situation, this week’s Contemporary Auctions in London were assembled–and financial guarantees made–long before the acute events of September and October dramatically changed the world’s financial outlook. Nowhere is the turnabout more pronounced than Russia where the natural resource magnates are feeling the pinch of margin calls, capital flight and frozen credit. Bloomberg has two stories today that put the picture together. Read the rest of this entry »

Victor Pinchuk’s Museum Moves Closer to Becoming Reality

John Varoli reports in Bloomberg on the Ukrainian art magnate, Victor Pinchuk, and his announcement of the hiring of a new director for his museum with this Hirst-related tease:

“Over the past year, I’ve acquired works by my favorite artists,” said Pinchuk in his downtown Kiev home. “I bought Gursky, Koons, Murakami, Hirst, and Kiefer. Yes, I bought at the recent Hirst auction, but I won’t name works. You must wait until spring when I’ll display new acquisitions.” [ . . . ]

Pinchuk spoke in an interview as he named Eckhard Schneider director of his Kiev art center. The Ukrainian’s collection includes some of the most expensive living artists: Hirst, Jeff Koons and German photographer Andreas Gursky.

“Victor Pinchuk is having a great impact on the market,” said Simon de Pury, chairman of the auction house Phillips de Pury & Co., at the opening of a Gursky show at the center. “Ever since he opened the center, others in Ukraine and Russia have emulated him and taken an interest in contemporary art.” [ . . . ] “The contemporary art market in both Ukraine and Russia has really taken off in the past two years, and I expect this growth to continue,” De Pury of Phillips said.

London’s Evening Standard blog, This is London, cranks up the hype with its own version of this same story, complete with identical quotes.

Billionaire Pinchuk Buys Hirst Works; Names New Museum Director (Bloomberg)

Secret Hirst Buyer is Ukrainian Steel Tycoon (This is London)

The Times of London Profiles Dasha Zhukova and Dispels Some Myths About Her

As Vogue covers the opening of her new Moscow space, James Collard sat down with Dasha Zhukova and came away impressed:

For many young Russian women Zhukova represents a different kind of icon from a mere trophy beauty, because she’s savvy and professionally ambitious as well as attractive and chic, rather than bling, like an earlier wave of post-Soviet lovelies. And in common with her good friend Polina Deripaska – not just the wife of an oligarch, but also head of the publishing group FMG – Zhukova has always worked. She launched what she describes as a “small but successful” fashion label, Kova & T, with her old schoolfriend Christina Tang, and while by her own admission, she’s not “some art genius”, she has put all her energies and star power into getting the Garage off the ground.

[ . . . ]

She’s also looking for sponsorship – and given Zhukova’s own cachet in Russia, now arguably the luxury goods industry’s leading market, it’s not hard to imagine some fancy-schmancy brands being only too willing to be associated with such a high-profile project. Interestingly, the second show at the Garage will be of contemporary art from the large collection of luxury goods tycoon François Pinault. “A great show for us,” says Zhukova, “given that many Russians aren’t so familiar with a lot of contemporary art, and his collection includes the best of many different kinds of work.”

[ . . . ]

There’s something disturbing in the ease with which the contemporary art scene
– which surely prides itself on its wild, free-form creativity –
settles down to doing business in countries like Russia and China. For the
art world, there are profits to be made and new opportunities, while for a
modern, outward-looking woman like Zhukova, introducing Russians to contemporary
art via the Garage and the educational programmes she plans must seem
exciting, progressive – and also politically neutral. Perhaps Russians
might now almost be hard-wired to tread carefully when it comes to politics
– and while Zhukova seems likeable, smart and funny and remarkably
down-to-earth, like many of her generation of Russians she seems no more
given to questioning the status quo than a Romanov princess might have been.

The Moscow Mash (Style.com)

How Dasha Zhukova is Revolutionizing Russian the Russian Art World (Times of London)

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 »

Why Does this Ukrainian Strong Man Love Art So Much?

This is Victor Pinchuk looking sophisticated in a James Hill photograph taken for the New York Times. The picture comes from Landon Thomas Jr.’s profile of Pinchuk that runs in today’s business section. The art world tends to view the Oligarchs as simply rich men with money to spend on art. But Thomas shows how their new-found love of art is part of a larger campaign and strategy that seeks not only legitimacy for themselves and their fortunes but also for their own country’s cultural status in the globalized world. You can see in this one quote how the international art world is stand-in for global culture and significant enough to stand on an equal footing with Ukrainian political support and US backing: Read the rest of this entry »

Dasha Zhukova gets Nicholas Serota in Hot Water

Dasha Zhukova has quickly become the Face of the art market because she’s an attractive Russian with ambitions in the art world and a strong connection to Roman Abramovich. Whether the market is entirely in the thrall of Anglo-Russo expatriates or not, her every move has become the center of gravity for the market.

Into that vortex comes Nicholas Serota, artistic director of the Tate in London, who has begun to act as an adviser to Ms. Zhukova’s new Moscow gallery, the Center for Contemporary Culture. The measure of outrage in this Telegraph article suggests the issue is less Serota’s role than a growing unease among the British about the Russians and their influence. Read the rest of this entry »

Dasha Zhukov is making a bid for the Art/Fashion crown.

Is her appearance an indication of the top?

There is an old saw in the financial markets that when a trend is featured on a magazine cover, that’s an indication of a top. It’s all down hill from there. Well, Russians have become the media’s fixation when it comes to the art market. Look at this teaser. Could that mean Russians have already peaked in buying power and influence over the market? Or has Roman Abramovich’s very visible buying sent a signal to other Oligarch’s that it is open season on art? Read the rest of this entry »