Bendor Grosvenor suggested in this Artelligence podcast that the success of the Leonardo da Vinci sale in a Contemporary art auction might serve as a wake-up call to the insular world of Old Master dealers and collectors that a change of attitude might help the category appeal to more collectors.
The Art Newspaper echoed this in a story about the reception of the record-setting auction when they spoke to a doyen of the market, Johnny van Haeften:
“It has propelled Old Masters into the limelight again, as valuable as Modern and contemporary works. Putting it in a contemporary sale was an act of genius—buyers are much more used to that sort of price level.”
But not everyone seems to have gotten the memo. The usual sniffy comments abound:
- Harry Smith of the art advisers Gurr Johns thinks it was a freak occurrence: “Its presentation was driven more by brand appeal than connoisseurship, and aimed more at trophy hunters than traditional collectors.”
Smith better hope those traditional collectors come through having just bought the failing auction house Dreweatts and Bloomsbury. Meanwhile, the tart tongues seem determined to perpetuate the backbiting:
- Andreas Pampoulides, the co-founder of the London gallery Lullo Pampoulides, agrees: “Part of me is delighted that an Old Master painting should be considered by the market as being more valuable than, say, a Basquiat or a Warhol. But part of me also feels this is the most obscene display of conspicuous consumption.” […] Pampoulides thinks “the fact that Christie’s placed the painting in a contemporary sale rather than the Old Master one makes me think that even they don’t have the greatest of confidence in the Old Master market. How ironic.”
- “Today’s mercurial, butterfly-like collector, who buys whatever catches their eye in different fields, means that it’s futile trying to identify trends,”Anthony Crichton-Stuart, the director of London gallery Agnew’s, says. “Few people are putting together comprehensive academic collections in one field.”
What does a $450m Leonardo mean for the Old Master market? (The Art Newspaper)
