The Dark Side of Criticism: The New Republic has a review by Rachel Wetzler of Georgina Adam’s latest book called The Dark Side of the Boom. Unfortunately, Wetzler’s idea of a critique is to somehow fault Adam for not belaboring the obvious context surrounding her book:
- But while Adams paints a detailed and convincingly dire picture of the art world’s excesses, she never fully probes its implications. Perhaps ironically, its central weakness is her narrow focus on the activities of the art market itself: Her book largely brackets an exploration of the art market from the broader context of rising income inequality, economic exploitation, and staggering concentrations of wealth in the hands of the very few, all of which have enabled activity at the its upper reaches to continue unabated despite global downturns in other financial sectors. According to the sociologist Olav Velthuis, the art market ultimately benefits from an unequal distribution of wealth, as newly minted billionaires turn to blockbuster art purchases as a means of announcing their arrival.
This is both obvious and silly. The rich have many ways to announce their arrival. Art was not pre-ordained to become one of them or, more precisely, an outsized arena for social proof. Indeed, to follow Wetzler’s own logic—her review opens with the hoary anecdote of the Scull sale—one would have to ask why it took more than 30 years for art to become an asset if it was solely driven by social climbing. …
The WSJ Declares Its Confidence in Art: Kelly Crow tells us in her pre-London sales round-up that “Art collectors appear to be entering their Confident Period.” That’s cute. After all of the talk about the art market having been in a slump in 2015-16, however, the recovery of 2017 may not be the harbinger of higher prices: “Overall, the three houses expect to sell at least $772 million worth of impressionist, modern and contemporary art combined, roughly on par with a similar, $786 million series held a year ago but up 25% from a $620 million series held in 2016.” …
The Daily Mail Has Nicolai Frahm’s Wedding Pics: If you missed out on the festivities in Mexico when Mariana Herrera married Nicolai Frahm, you can catch up on the action here:
- “The couple exchanged vows in the awe-inspiring surroundings of the Church of Santo Domingo de Guzman, watched by guests including the hotel heiress Lydia Forte, Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei, British entrepreneur and collector Frank Cohen, and a former Miss Mexico, Ana Girault.” …
Aseph Hyman Is Now Global Head of Bonhams Chinese Ceramics: He joined the company in 2007, the Antiques Trade Gazette explains, now he’ll be an International Board Director of the company. Here’s CEO Matthew Girling on the move:
- “Asaph has played a key part in the huge growth of the Bonhams Chinese art department since 2007, and his new role and responsibilities are a reflection of that achievement.” …
Stolen Degas Stumbled Upon in Random Luggage Search: Late last week, there was a flurry of news reports about the discovery of a lost Degas monotype stolen from a French museum a few years earlier. The Washington Post put together a good report on how it was discovered:
- Customs officials were performing a random search of the bus luggage compartment when they found a suitcase containing the work, bursting with vivid pastel hues of orange, yellow and red, depicting chorus singers in the opera “Don Juan.” The bus was parked near Ferrières-en-Brie, a verdant area about 18 miles east of Paris. None of the passengers claimed the suitcase as their own, according to France’s Ministry of Culture.
Arco Sales Report: The Art Newspaper has a few sales from Arco in Madrid last week: “a work by Venezuelan Op artist Jesús Rafael Soto sold for €800,000 at Leon Tovar Gallery of New York.”
