Tobias Meyer Takes Over as Newhouse Collection Advisor: Si Newhouse was one of the great collectors of the late 20th Century. With his recent death, there has been a great deal interest in the disbursal of his collection as well as its context. At one time or another, Newhouse owned classic works by Jasper Johns, Willem de Kooning, Andy Warhol, Mondrian and others. His buying marked major inflection points in the Contemporary art market. This week, Robin Pogrebin announced that Tobias Meyer will act as an advisor to the Newhouse family. No doubt they were getting too many calls from dealers and collectors and the family wanted the art world to know whom to contact. …
Not All Auction Numbers Are Significant: A common theme in the press is how much the art auction business is changing, ostensibly under the impact of the internet. But a story that will appear in the International New York Times’s print edition on Monday tells us that Sotheby’s is only bringing in new clients through the internet on less than 3% of its sales volume. …
Bonhams Africa Now = £1.46m: Value in African art is concentrated in the work of a small number of artists like Benedict Enwonwu, Yusuf Adebayo Cameron Grillo, El Anatsui and Demas Nwoko who are Nigerian or currently life in Nigeria. …
Asian Bidding in London: Colin Gleadell made this observation about Asian buyers in last week’s Frieze fair auction cycle: “As at Sotheby’s the previous night, there was much less Asian bidding, particularly at the higher level, than expected. In the mid-to-lower levels there was Asian bidding [at Christie’s] for works by Baselitz, Halley, Ghenie, Oehlen, and Tàpies—but it was tentative.” …
Speaking of Asian Bidders, The Hurun Report is Out: Every new Chinese billionaire is an opportunity for the birth of another art collector. Hurun Report’s new list came out this week. There’s at least on significant auction buyer on the list that we know of. Surely, there will soon be more. …
Final Frieze Fair Sales Report: It takes a while for all of the sales to filter in. But we’ve updated our comprehensive Frieze Fair Sales Report for 2017. It’s available to AMMpro subscribers but the first month is free for anyone curious to see who is selling and what.
