Genocchio Returns to Art World: In a report that is as telling for where it comes from as for what it says, Louise Blouin’s ArtInfo confirms the much discussed appearance of Ben Genocchio at Galerie Gmurzynska during TEFAF Spring in New York:
- In case you missed it, Benjamin Genocchio — who was replaced as director of the Armory Show after being accused of sexual harassment — is back in the art world as a partner of Gmurzynska Gallery. A call to the gallery’s headquarters at Paradeplatz, Zurich, confirmed that Genocchio is working for the company. The company provided his email and described him as vice president at the company’s New York branch.
The report goes on to recap much of the story that appeared in the New York Times about Genocchio’s behavior towards employees and a meeting at Artnet where more complaints were aired. But it fails to address Genocchio’s tenure at Blouin’s shop aside from quoting Robin Pogrebin’s original story which identifies one of Genocchio’s accusers as a former Louise Blouin Media employee. …
Jewelers Take to Art Fairs for New Clients But …: The Financial Times has a trend story on jewelers increasingly looking to high end art fairs to acquire new clients. But the story only hints at one of the problems art fairs and dealers face when too many jewelers start showing up at an art fair:
- Cartier was associated with the Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris until 2016, when it withdrew because of art dealers’ complaints about the amount of space given to jewellers, and Hemmerle has been exhibiting at Tefaf since 1997 — but it was not until earlier this decade that the trend of exhibiting at art fairs took off in earnest. The emergence of more eclectic fairs such as PAD and Masterpiece, which include design and decorative arts, led to a rise in the number of jewellers attending. Just two exhibited at PAD London in 2013, for instance, whereas this October it is due to host eight. …
Is It Millenials or the Internet? The market for Native American works of art seems to be going through a sea change. Some say the collectors are aging out without having younger buyers fill in the ranks (they blame Millenials, of course, who are said to eschew luxury goods in favor of experiences.) That leaves a lot of supply putting pricing pressure on the market. But others claim the issue is intermediaries getting bypassed. Here’s the Albuquerque Journal with the story:
- “It’s flooding the supply end, and the demand end of it is not keeping up,” 47-year Albuquerque Native American art dealer Bob Gallegos said. “So the dealers are only buying the best things or they’re buying cheap, which is risky.” Gallegos says he receives calls weekly from people wanting to unload artwork their offspring reject. Others deny the trend, saying the internet transformation has eliminated the middleman. “We aren’t seeing a decline,” insisted Elizabeth Kirk, chairwoman of the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, sponsor of the Santa Fe Indian Market. “We haven’t had to lower our prices. The Internet has made it so much easier to deal directly with the artist.” …
About That Mid-Season Old Masters Sale at Sotheby’s: Last week, we asked what caused a dramatic performance of Old Master paintings at Sotheby’s mid-season sale. Colin Gleadell responds with an very good answer. A number of museums were deaccessioning works in the sale was one important driver of interest. The other was a comment on the way estimates have come to work against the market:
- “The other was 23 still life paintings by artists influenced by Caravaggio. A big draw here was that each lot was to be sold without a reserve minimum price, so that something with a $100,000 estimate could, in theory, be sold for $10,000. As a result, the bidders piled in. One of the longest bidding battles came for a still life of fruit by the early-17th-century Milanese artist Panfilo Nuvolone, which more than tripled estimates at a record $447,000 (£333,235) – a fourfold increase on the price the seller paid in 2004.”
