Art Market Monitor

The Australian feels that Sotheby’s is moving into new territory:

Sotheby’s Australia has entered the primary art market with the sale of 54 artworks by Albert Tucker, most of which have not previously been offered for sale. Sotheby’s has turned its showroom in Woollahra, in Sydney’s east, over to the paintings, which are owned by the late artist’s estate. Many have been painted on paper and are quite small. Read the rest of this entry ›

Katya Kazakina speaks on Bloomberg to Richard Nanula, the former Disney executive and Starwood CFO who is a partner at Colony Capital in LA. Nanula explains how their investment in Leibovitz came about. The firm previously bought Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch when it was sold as a distressed asset:

“I said, ‘We helped Michael Jackson. We’d be happy to explore something with you. We are OK with complicated stuff,’” Nanula said in a telephone interview. [...] The Colony contract, like her old loan, will be collateralized by Leibovitz’s archive of about 100,000 images and 1 million negatives as well as her three brownstones in Manhattan. Unlike the old loan, it doesn’t include her 228-acre Rhinebeck, New York, estate [...] “We think it’s an opportunity for her and, to some extent, for us,” Nanula said. Read the rest of this entry ›

Carol Vogel’s report from TEFAF asks and answers an interesting question about the art trade. Even though Dickinson has a Gauguin, Boticelli and a van Gogh on the stand, there’s lots of talk about the dearth of big ticket items:

“There are no blockbusters, no $30 million Rembrandts of years past, but is that what these fairs are all about?” Mr. Fisch asked. “Is it really relevant to anyone’s collecting experience? There are so many wonderful things to see.” Read the rest of this entry ›

Three Russian brothers are the leading lights of the legal forgery business. Monsters and Critics explains why buyers use their services:

Their customers are diverse. ‘Some just want a famous masterpiece for their apartment, or want to surprise their wife,’ Yevgeny said. ‘Recently, an ambassador bought a Mona Lisa copy for his embassy. Some collectors also order a copy of an original they own. They then put the original in a safe and hang the copy on the wall,’ he added.

The Posin brothers have sold their copies as far away as Australia and Japan. Over the years, they say they have painted more than 500 pictures.

A growing trend is for customers to ask for modified copies of famous paintings. ’Customers ask to for their wife and child to be included in a Rembrandt,’ Mikhail explained. ‘We do this but, frankly speaking, we are not thrilled. It adds something strange to the picture,’ he said.

Being Van Gogh (Monsters&Critics)

Georgina Adam is worried that some new art funds emerging from the wreckage of the art investment industry are going to all chase the same works:

Zurich-based Anthea Fund, run by former structured finance specialist Massimiliano Subba in association with the Swiss contemporary art adviser Nicolai Frahm [...] is looking to raise €80m to buy contemporary art for an eight-year, closed-end fund, due to launch in May.  [...] Also entering the market is the Cayman Islands-based Artemundi Global Fund, the brainchild of Spanish collector Javier Lumbreras. This is a five-year, closed-end fund that hopes to raise up to $225m to buy 150-200 works of art across the board, from Old Masters to contemporary art. Read the rest of this entry ›

Collector Adam Lindemann published in the New York Observer last week a defense of the New Museum show curated by Jeff Koons that features works from the collection of Dakis Joannou. It is not worth reading for that defense–who cares anymore?–but for the interesting points he makes about the art world, like this provocative one:

Additional thunder has been drained from the museums, with the galleries increasingly doing many of the best shows in town. Shows of Picasso and Piero Manzoni (Acquavella, Gagosian), as well as those of Koons, Alighiero e Boetti and Cindy Sherman (L+M, Gladstone, Skarstedt), have put gallery shows in direct competition with museums. Gallerists know the material and can act quickly; they are committed and don’t need to pander to broad and politically correct guidelines.

Art Critics: Get Real! (NY Observer)

Bloomberg carried this brief report on Sotheby’s debt rating from Standard & Poor’s. The ratings agency gave the firm a positive outlook even if its holding off on raising the company’s ratings:

S&P cited Sotheby’s “recent substantial improvement in operating performance” and expectations “for near-term sales and profit growth.” Sotheby’s BB- (“junk”) rating remained unchanged and is below investment-grade.

S&P Raises Sotheby’s Outlook to Positive, Junk Rating Unchanged (Bloomberg)

The New York Times publishes a short piece expanding upon a New Orleans Times-Picayune story on the postponement of Prospect 2, the New Orleans biennial. Both items focus on Dan Cameron’s management of the event:

The Times-Picayune reported that several directors who joined the biennial’s board in 2009 to help shore up the finances and raise money for Prospect.2, stepped down in February because of differences with Mr. Cameron over how the project should be managed. Two people with knowledge of the board resignations, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, confirmed the basic account of the problems to The New York Times. The Times-Picayune reported that the biennial’s executive director, Barbara Motley, a theater owner who was hired last year to oversee the administrative side of the event so that Mr. Cameron could focus on selecting artists and helping them to realize their works, had also resigned. Read the rest of this entry ›