The Master, Judd Tully, looks at the Cohen collection on view at Sotheby’s and gives the billionaire hedgie with a pre-eminent reputation for knowing when to buy or sell a low grade on his art market acumen. Scoring the 3 of the 5 works discussed as “Overvalued,” Tully points only to a Matisse bronze and the Munch Madonna as works where Cohen timed the market well.
Does the man with the private museum care? Probably not. For all the talk of how hedge fund buyers were going to transform the art market with their fast money ways, few have been in a hurry to sell. And the overall quality of Cohen’s holdings should mean the works will eventually gain value from having been in his collection (as well as on display at Sotheby’s in this unusual exhibition.)
Should is the most important word in that sentence because Tully doesn’t think wizard of Greenwich has quite made it there: “Even with his billions, Cohen doesn’t have the platinum brand allure of someone like Yves Saint Laurent. Not yet, anyway.”
Steven Cohen’s Women (ArtInfo)–Click on the slide show.