Scott Reyburn reveals the darker side of the influx of new buyers. Traditional gallery relationships are suffering. Reyburn begins with the big news that Gerard Faggionato is hitching his wagon to David Zwirner’s star. The column then goes deeper to look at the paradox of London’s peerless position as touchstone to the world’s wealthy. Even with a huge population of non-domiciled Ultra High Net Worth Individuals, London dealers are having trouble selling with the same effectiveness as they do in New York:
Mr. Zwirner also wants to increase his behind-the-scenes “secondary” market sales in London. “That’s what we’re hoping Gérard will expand,” he said. “He knows the Impressionist and Modern market well and we’re also moving in that direction. Our clients are looking at all areas of the 20th century. It’s logical to grow the gallery in a way that gives more options for both buying and selling.” […]
Without the sense of competition they experience at auctions — or even art fairs — wealthy individuals have been slower to spend their millions in London’s commercial galleries. […]
“The problem is we don’t have ‘collectors’ in the old sense of the word; we have buyers,” said Ms. Ordovas, who, like many of today’s gallerists, finds herself tailoring gallery hours to the schedules of individual clients. “In the old days, you couldn’t imagine Castelli or Marlborough having to stay open for all hours just for a Hong Kong collector to say hello.”
Gérard Faggionato Moves to David Zwirner as London Galleries Feel the Pinch (NYTimes.com)
