Sarah Douglas reports the latest inflection point in the Jacob Kassay sensation making. After dramatic day sale action last November and a strong first-lot punch up at Phillips de Pury in New York this May, the 26-year-old painter’s silver canvasses are being hawked for $400,000 at ArtBasel Unlimited (an eight-canvas installation that isn’t quite at the Unlimited scale) only to museums:

Mr. Kassay has become quite an art market darling in the past year, but he doesn’t yet figure in museum collections — a key element in building long-term support. So two of his dealers — Art:Concept Gallery of Paris and Xavier Hufkens of Brussels — have come up with a clever solution: the sprawling, brand new eight-panel piece on offer at Art Unlimited will only be sold to a museum. […]

Mr. Hufkens added that a museum, in this case, means “a real museum.” “We won’t sell to a private foundation open to the public.”

Want to Buy Jacob Kassay’s Piece at Art Basel? If You’re Not a Museum, Fuggedaboutit (Observer)