With the Broad opening, Scott Reyburn crafts a clever column about the growing interest in creating private museums from personal collections. He speaks to German art advisor Marta Gnyp who has just written a book on the subject.
Ms. Gnyp writes that no fewer than 125 museums were created worldwide from 2006 to 2013, as opposed to just 25 in the 1990s.
“Private collectors have a lot of money and buying power that has driven growth in the art market,” the Berlin art adviser and writer Marta Gnyp said in a phone interview. Her book on the subject, “The Shift: Art and the Rise to Power of Contemporary Collectors,” was published on Aug. 4.
“Public museums have financial restraints,” she added. “But they are still attractive to private collectors. Public institutions give a quality stamp and visibility to collections.”
Reyburn makes another interesting point. Art critics, especially in the case of the Broad, complain about the museum being dominated by artists who are also sought after on the market. But a private collector like Damien Hirst is presenting an artist like John Hoyland who has no visibility on the international art market.
What Reyburn is perhaps too polite to say is that Hirst’s interest in Hoyland has been reported as a potential market manipulation. So no matter which way a private collector goes, the market follows.
Private Collectors Get Into the Museum Business (The New York Times)
