Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

Everybody Hates the Art Market

June 12, 2015 by Marion Maneker

Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_127

One of the more curious aspects of today’s art market is the way so many long-time art dealers seem to have a high level of disdain for buyers in the market. Is this merely a way to flatter their own customers by rubbishing other buyers or is it a sign of growing frustration and disenchantment? Here’s an example of Scott Reyburn’s latest column:

“In the old days you had a small market. Now globalization is a huge factor,” said James Roundell, a director at the London and New York dealer and adviser Dickinson, who, while working at Christie’s in 1987, represented the winning Japanese telephone bidder for Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers.” That $39.9 million was the first of the modern “art boom“ prices.

“There’s a lot of fashion involved, and people are buying for show,” Mr. Roundell said. “I’m not sure that many of them are buying for the love of the object. For some, particularly wealthy Americans, it’s all about playing the market. Back in the early 20th century, collectors would buy a painting, live with it in their own home and leave it to a museum. Now it’s about acquisition, not collecting.”

Roundell doesn’t tell us whether his client who bought the van Gogh was a collector or merely an acquirer.

Who’s Rich Enough for a Picasso?  (NYTimes.com)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Sotheby’s Expects a ‘Great Deal of Excitement’ for Long Lost CanovaSotheby’s Expects a ‘Great Deal of Excitement’ for Long Lost Canova
  • Vernissage TV: Nancy SperoVernissage TV: Nancy Spero
  • The Most Expensive Art Is Rarely the ‘Best’ ArtThe Most Expensive Art Is Rarely the ‘Best’ Art
  • Christie's First Open=$7.5mChristie's First Open=$7.5m
  • Sotheby’s Announces Private Sale of Rare DC Comics from the Collection of UK Music Producer Ian LevineSotheby’s Announces Private Sale of Rare DC Comics from the Collection of UK Music Producer Ian Levine
  • British Museum Gets £1m Suite of EtchingsBritish Museum Gets £1m Suite of Etchings

Filed Under: General

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • After Pandemic’s Rapid Change, Sotheby’s Has 8 Predictions for 2021
  • For 2020, Phillips Brought in Total of $760.4 million, Down 16 Percent from 2019; Asia Sales Up 24 Percent
  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • A Season of Resilience: Fall 2020 Hong Kong Auction Analysis
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Soulages First Owned by Senegalese Poet-Politician Léopold Sédar Senghor Sells in France
  • A Season of Improvisation: Fall 2020 New York Modern and Contemporary Art Auction Analysis
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • Christie's Announces $70m Picasso Self Portrait
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor