Art Market Monitor

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The 19th Century (Where Have All the Paintings Gone?)

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Over the past 4 years I have been stressing the need for the auction rooms to scale back the size of their sales and be very selective with the quality and condition of the works they offer.  The recent round of sales in NY was among the thinnest I have seen in my 30 plus years in the business and while I would like to claim that they finally did it … small, strong, sales … the reality is that while the sales were small, the overall quality of the offerings were hit and miss.  My question is: where have all the really good 19th century paintings gone?  Now do not get me wrong, the sales did have some very nice paintings, but overall they truly illustrated the difficulty the salerooms are having sourcing fresh/quality material.

Christie’s

I spent a fair bit of time viewing the offerings at Christie’s (all 82 of them) and found the sale was made up of the usual suspects: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.  To begin with, estimates for the works offered ranged from $5-$7K to $400-$600K – 20 of which had a low estimate of $15,000 or less (almost 25% of the sale) … this alone should illustrate the lack of good material coming to the market.  In addition, there were a number of works up for their second or third time and none of the offerings had an estimate in the 7 figures … remember, this was one of their two main 19th century sales in NYC!

The first part of this review was written on the Sunday before the sale.  The 5 paintings with the highest estimates were two by Bouguereau (an interesting early work titled Idylle: famille antique at $400-$600K & one of the more mundane works title Pifferaro at $250-$350K); another version of Alma-Tadema’s The Education of the Children of Clotide and Clovis ($400-$600K); a nice, but very small, Jean Beraud at $300-$500K and de Schryver’s Rue Royale, Paris at $250-$450K … a work that, from the photo, looked like it was going to be a killer.  The question was: would they all meet their expectations? We shall see!

The first 17 paintings fell into the Barbizon/Realist periods … of those I liked one of the Corots, the Diaz de la Pena and a work by Japy; and I did not care for the Troyon, Knight and Delacroix.

Then there was a group of 11 Dutch & Polish paintings.  Of those I liked the Leickert (huge estimate of $100-$150K) and thought the Ronner-Knip was ok ($120-$180K) … had Ronner included a few more kittens this could have been a real special work.

Next was a small selection of French figure paintings – 9 in all.  These included the two Bouguereaus, a Seignac (which had a serious condition problem – in my opinion), a rather boring portrait by Tissot ($60-$100K) and interesting works by Schram ($20-$30K) and Ribot ($40-$60K).

These were followed by a small group of British Victorian works by Sandys ($80-$120K), Lidderdale ($15-$20K), Godward, Grimshaw and Tadema … none of which really stood out as a blockbuster.

The middle of the sale included a cross-section of French, Spanish, Italian, Austrian and Belgian works. Among the Good were a fabulous Unterberger (but it had a big estimate of $200-$250K) and the small Beraud ($300-$500K). Among the Bad were a Poilpot ($70-$100 … serious over-cleaning in my opinion) and the Ugly included a von Blaas at $140-$180K (they tried selling this last year at $250-$350K and it failed) … I still cannot believe this artist could paint faces so poorly.

The last 9 works included a selection of British Sporting and Marine works – these included a nice farmyard by Herring Jr. ($30-$50K .. it last sold at auction in 1997 for $69K) and a Doncaster Racecourse Herring Sr. ($80-$120K … this same work was offered at auction in 2004 with a $600-$800K estimate and again in 2010 with a $250-$350K estimate … both times it went unsold – will the third time be a charm? And what a drop in the estimate since 2004) and only 1 Montague Dawson ($50-$70K) … I say one 1 because in a few of the previous sales there have been quite a number of them.

So I am sure you want to know how the sale did …  and now that it is over I can tell you.  Figuring an 82 lot sale would be fast and furious I went … well, it took 2 hours!  When I arrived (5 minutes before sale time) there are about 12 people in the room … a stark contrast to what the salerooms look like during a Contemporary sale.  By the time the sale started there were about 45 people seated.  You should know that this is typical for a 19th century sale – we really get no respect.

Taking the top slot was Bouguereau’s Idylle: famille antique which beat its $400-$600K estimate when it sold for $782,500.  In second was de Schryver’s Rue Royale, Paris which made $662,500 (easily beating its $250-$450K est.) and coming in third was Beraud’s Boulevard Poissonnière en automne at $506,500 (exceeding its $350-$500K estimate with the buyer’s premium added in).  Rounding out the top five was Bouguereau’sPifferaro at $458,500 – wow! (est. $250-$350K) and Grimshaw’s Reekie, Glasgow at $314,500 (est. $160-$200K) … as you will note, one way or another, all of these lots beat their estimates.

Now for some of the other offerings.  Among my favorites were a beautiful early Corot that last sold at auction in 1994 for $409,000 … this time around it made a bargain basement price of $182,500 – we bought that one; Alois Schram’s Making Music was a lovely work and it sold for $40,000 (est. $20-$30K); a nice Reggianini titled The Recital made $218,500 ($150-$250K est.); an interesting Ziem of Istanbul crushed its $15-$20K est. … selling for $170,500; the Ribot made $56,250; the wonderful Unterberger failed to find a buyer as its estimate was just too high ($200-$250K) as did a very nice Leickert that carried a $100-$150K est.; the nice Herring, Jr. (mentioned earlier) brought $37,500 and the Herring, Sr. made just $86,500 … the sporting market still has a long way to go.

Among the works I personally did not like (for one reason or another): the Delacroix portrait sold for $218,500 (est. $60-$80K) – guess a few people liked that one; the large Seignac which had heavy, and I mean heavy, cracking made $86,500; and the Tissot, Sandys, Lidderdale, Alma-Tadema, Zandomeneghi and van Blaas all failed to sell … and too be honest, they really should not have sold.

When the two hour sale was finally finished, of the 82 lots offered 58 sold (about 70%) and the total take was $6.28M … the low end of their presale estimate was about $5.7M and the high end was a little over $8M, so they made it with the buyer’s commissions added in.  Overall, for what was being offered, the sale did pretty well … better than I would have thought.  What kept the sale from doing better were the big estimates placed on many of the works that failed to find buyers (they were just out of line with the current market) and a couple of works that should never have been offered.

Now, to be fair, we must remember that this is only the second 19th Century standalone sale Christie’s has had in a number of years … a few years ago they figured it would be smart to merge the 19th Century Old Master departments and they were wrong; so it will take time to rebuild. The only recent sale I can compare this to is their November 2011 sale which has a sell-through rate of just 44% (selling 47 of the 107 offered)… so 70% this time is a huge improvement; and while the total take was a little less $6.28M (2012) vs. $6.6M (2011) one must remember that the 2011 sale included a Boldini that made $1.87M … about 28% of the final number … and there were no million dollar lots this time.

Bonhams

 Later that week Bonham’s presented their 19th century sale … which featured a good deal of lower and middle market material; material that, unless it is in outstanding condition and a great example, has seen difficult times since late 2008.  Well, there is change in the wind … buyer’s are definitely starved for material and works that just a year or two ago would not have sold, are now finding buyers.

There were 185 lots in this sale and the first 27 fell into their ‘Old Master’ category. Of those, only 9 sold (a dismal 33.3%) and the top seller was a Circle of Pietro Paolini titled A Young Man Holding a Butterfly which made $43,750 (est. $4-$6K … the fourth most expensive lot in the sale) …  not a very good beginning, but things were about to change.

This was followed by series of 19th century paintings from one estate … many of which were very recently purchased at various auctions/dealers, including Bonhams.  Of the 49 works 40 sold (81.6% — far better than the first 27 lots).  Top seller in this group was F.H. Kaemmerer’s The Boating Party which made $40,000 (it was last sold on May 4, 2011 for $24,400 … so that was a pretty good return in less than 1 year – far better than leaving your money in the bank).

The balance of the sale was comprised of a variety of European paintings … 108 in all and of those 88 sold (81.5% — another strong showing).  This section also held their top 3 works:  O. Toscani’s A Busy Street Outside of a Mosque which made $134,500 (est. $6-$8K); F. Ziem’s Le Bucentaure, Venise at $122,500 (est. $70-$90K – even its cracked panel did not deter buyers); and F. Soulacroix’s Tea Time at $104,500 (est. $30-$50K) … so all of their top lots beat or crushed their estimates.

Bonham’s rarely releases their presale estimates and they do not provide post sale press releases (at least they are not featured on their web site) so I figured out most of the numbers the old fashion way – with a calculator!  Of the 185 lots offered 138 sold (74.6% … to try and keep them honest, it appears that they sold a few works after the sale and then posted those results in the sale record on their web site … so the real number of works sold during the sale was 133 or 71.9% … still not bad) and the total take — $2.13M (presale estimate range was $1.8 – $2.6M) … also not too bad.

To give you a slightly better picture of what was offered here, the following is a breakdown by price levels: 72 lots sold for $10K or less; 40 sold between $10.1-$20K; 12 sold between $20.1-$30K and the last 14 were between $30.1 -$134.5K.  In other words, 81% of the sold works were under $20K — a level of the market that was all but dead just a few short months ago.  I do not know about you, but I am impressed.

What the results from these two sales show is that the 19th century market is starved for good quality material and when properly priced, it will sell … even if the condition/quality is less than stellar.  In addition, the higher sell-through rates in the lower price ranges indicates that more people are coming to the market; believing that art can be a safe and enjoyable place to park some of their money – and it can be.  What everyone must remember is that you need to be careful what you buy.  As the market continues to improve, prices will continue to rise — even for the poorer quality works — and as we have all seen in the past, one day the market will take a hit and those people who own the difficult works will either take a big loss if they need to sell, or will have to be patient and wait until the good times roll back around.

Howard L. Rehs

© Rehs Galleries, Inc., New York –May 2012

A Vetting (Or Should I Say Vexing) Problem

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This past month we participated in the American International Fine Art Fair; one of the best in the U.S. Setup was a rather long, tedious and an almost deadly endeavor – I added deadly because at one point the workers were installing a ceiling in our booth and dropped a 10 foot long 2 x 4 that grazed my wife’s back … another inch or two and it would have been all over! Thankfully she was only a little shaken up.

On Friday morning we finally finished hanging the paintings and posted the cataloging cards on the walls … then along came the vetting committee which was comprised of three museum curators – I will not reveal their names here, but you can always click on the following link – The Vetting Committee. I never had the “pleasure” of meeting them before so I introduced myself and let them go about their business.

The three spent about 10 minutes going over the works in our booth, thanked us and walked away; this was what I had expected since I knew that the condition of all the works was outstanding and there would be no issues regarding authenticity. A few minutes later a woman came back into our booth with a sheet of paper from the committee and I expected it to say “Passed” – was I wrong. Written on the paper were the instructions that I remove Mark Lovett’s paintings … the reason: they were not “show worthy”.   I was shocked, to say the least. I stood in front of Mark’s paintings (which were hanging next to paintings by Holly Banks, Sally Swatland, Ben Bauer and Gregory Harris, and I just could not figure out: why on earth they were not show worthy? I started getting aggravated and wrote across the paper – APPEAL. I then found a member of the show promoter’s staff and handed it to them and said: “this is a bunch of Bull…!”

A short while later the woman who originally handed me the paper walked back into my booth and stated that the vetting committee would like to see me. I was asked to follow her to a meeting room at the front of the show. I walked in and seated around the table were the three committee members. I sat across from them and they asked: you are appealing? I stated I was and asked: what made the works not ‘show worthy’? The three seemed perplexed by this question and began by telling me that the work was decorative and somewhat commercial. In addition, it brought down the other works in the room where it was hanging. I was shocked and continued to press the issue. They then went on to tell me (in a somewhat annoyed tone) that one particular painting Spring into Fall was salacious, bordered on child pornography and brought down the look of our entire booth. In addition, it was their job to make sure that works like those are not displayed since many visitors would see them, be offended and complain to the owners of the show. I must tell you I was more than shocked … I was actually disgusted and sickened by this.

I left the room in total amazement and wondering how anyone could look at Mark’s paintings that way – the only thought racing through my mind was: what sort of people were these vetters? After returning to my booth I took the paintings off the wall and placed them in the closet as the opening was fast approaching. Throughout the opening event all I could think about was the vetting issue and by the end my blood was boiling.

The next morning I composed and sent the following email to the promoter:Continue Reading

A Picky Old Master Market

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Another report from our friend, Howard Rehs, art dealer and market observer:

January is a fairly quiet month for the art auction market. Much of the action can be found in the Fine Art exhibitions taking place around the country. We spent that latter part of January in Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Fine Art Show where over 100 dealers came to exhibit their wares. I can tell you that the crowds were pretty good … thousands upon thousands of art lovers came; and many left with a new work to add to their collection. In addition, from the dealers I spoke with, there was a resurgence of activity in the lower price levels — a segment of the market that has been very quiet over the past few years. Buyers and collectors had been focusing on the ‘blue chip’ names and leaving the ‘new chips’ on the sidelines. This resurgence of activity in the ‘new chip’ market is a very good sign since I believe that once the lower/entry levels of the art market become robust, we will see far more strength in the overall market and higher prices in all schools and levels.

Now I do not want you to think that there was NO activity in the public forums, but much of it was in areas of the art and antiques market I do not follow; however, during the last week of January the New York salerooms offered their Old Master painting sales and the results showed that the market for Old Masters is still a bit picky.

First up were two sales at Christie’s: Old Master Paintings Part I and The Art of France. In the Part I sale the top position was taken by Tiepolo’s The Arrival of Henry III… which made $5.9M (est. $4-$6M), in second place we found Dou’s A Young Lade Playing the Clavichord at $3.33M (est. $1-$2M) and in third was Van Dyck’s A Rearing Stallion at $2.54M (est. $2.5-$3.5M). Now from just those first three results you might say … not too bad! Two out of three met or beat their estimates … but hang on. Of the top three works with the highest estimates only one sold, the Tiepolo; the Memling ($6-$8M) and the Arcimboldo ($3-$5M) passed. And if we look at the top ten works with the highest estimates, only five sold. Since I am not an Old Master dealer, and I was unable to view the sale since I was away during the viewing, I really cannot give you my personal opinion as to why the big lots had trouble; but what is obvious is that really good Old Master paintings are getting harder and harder to find and just because a work carries a very high estimate, does not mean it is worth it.

When this session ended, the results were very telling. Of the 59 works offered 42 sold (71% sell-through rate) and the total take was $34.3M, which was well short of their expected $38.8M (low end of the presale estimate range — also keep in mind, that the final total includes the buyer’s premium while the presale estimate does not). In addition, the total take for the top 5 sold lots was $16.3M, almost half of the total sale’s gross. Oh, here are two additional (interesting) results … this sale included a painting recently attributed to Frans Hals that belonged to Elizabeth Taylor. The portrait was estimated at $700-$1M and sold for $2.1M … the question is, was the high price a result of the painting’s quality, its new attribution or its previous celebrity owner? And, a portrait by Thomas de Keyser blew past its $300-$500K estimate to sell for $1.5M … the buyer, the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Then we had The Art of France and here the top slot was captured by Fragonard whose Le Jour brought $3.67M (est. $2-$3M). Coming in a distant second was Watteau’s The Union of Comedy and Music at $903K (est. $800-$1.2M) and in third was a Boilly still life at $843K (est. $150-$250K). In fact, all of the top 10 lots either met, or beat, their estimates … sounds pretty good so far. Well, hold on for the final numbers … of the 44 works offered, only 25 sold (57% sell-through rate) and the total take was $10M and they were expecting at least $14.9M. In addition, the top 10 lots brought in $8.44M, almost 85% of the sales total.Continue Reading

Victorian, American & Old Master Sales

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American Art

When we last left off, we were heading into American Painting week and the overall results were rather interesting … with both main salerooms coming in at a photo finish.

Top lot from for the week was Oscar Bluemner’s Illusion of a Prairie which made $5.35M (est. $2-$3M) and there was a tie for second place between a Marsden Hartley still life (est. $700-$900K) and a F.E. Church landscape (est. $1-$1.5M) at $3.22M.  Rounding out the top five were Georgia O’Keeffe at $2.77M (est. $2-$3M), a Heade at $1.99M (est. $500-$700K) and a John La Farge (est. $500-$700K) and another Hartley (est. $1-$1.5M) at $1.87M.  You may have noticed a recurring theme here … almost all of these works crushed their estimates.

Now for the numbers:  Sotheby’s offered 111 works, of which 79 sold and 32 were not leaving them with a sell-through rate of 71.2% and a total take of $24.5M; the average price per sold lot was $310K.  Christie’s offered 136 works, sold 87 and ended with a sell-through rate of 64%, but the total take was a little higher — $25.8M; the average price per sold lot was $297K.  So the two rooms were pretty close in this race.

The combined results were in line with the last few years:

2008: 370 lots offered, 218 sold (59%), total take $46.1M – top lot -$2.66M (Silva)

2009: 239 lots offered, 166 sold (69%), total take $57.4M – top lot -$6.9M (Wyeth)

2010: 281 lots offered, 185 sold (65.8%), total take $48.2M – top lot -$4.2M (Tarbell)

2011: 247 lots offered, 166 sold (67.2%), total take $50.4M – top lot – $5.3M (Bluemner)

The overall trend shows that less might just be more.

Old Masters

From here we moved across the pond to London for the Old Master paintings and these sales really illustrated the difficulty the Old Master market is having … very few really good works are coming to the market.

Both rooms had their evening sales and they were both rather slim. Taking the pole position here was Brueghel’s The Battle between Carnival and Lent which made £6.9M ($10.7M – est. £3.5-£4.5M) – an auction record for the artist.  In a close second was Zoffany’s pair of Garrick portraits at £6.8M ($10.6M – est. £6-£8M) – but let’s be fair, this was a pair of paintings.  In third came Van de Velde’s Dutch men-o’-war… at £5.9M ($9.2M – est. £1.5-£2.5M) – another auction record; and rounding out the top 5 were a Flinck portrait at £2.3M ($3.6M – est. £700K-£1M) – another auction record – and a Gainsborough at £2.2M ($3.4M – est. £2.5-£3.5M).  Of the top 20 works sold, 16 left their estimates in the dust.

Christie’s offer just 36 lots and sold 26 (72%) for a total take of £24.1M ($37.6M).  Sotheby’s offered 38 works and also sold 26 (68.4%) for a total take of £20.1M ($31.4M).  I will say that it was nice to see their sales were smaller than usual, something I have been stressing; but I do not know if that was a factor of the market not giving up its works, or being selective.  I would like to believe the latter, but the quality level of some of the works makes me wonder.

Both rooms also had their corresponding day sales which were far less impressive.  Christie’s offered 98 works and sold 59 (60%) and totaled £2.4M ($3.8M); top lot here was a Gainsborough portrait that brought £205K ($320K – est. £100-£150K).  Sotheby’s presented 195 works, sold just 100 (51.3%) and took in £5.4M ($8.4M) – top lot here was a Jan van Kessel still life at £385K ($605K – est. £60-£80K).  Now, before you say, well Christie’s offered far fewer works, you need to remember that they also have their ‘lower end’ Old master sales that same week … and those sales really added to the number of works offered.  Their Drawings and Watercolors sale had 256 works in which 182 sold (71%) and the take was 779K ($1.2M) – top lot here was an impressive £253K ($397K – est, £3-£5K) for a work by van Bloemen.  This one work took in about 1/3 of their total!  Then the painting session added another 155 offerings of which 88 sold (57%) and the take was 638K ($995K).  Top lot here was a circle of Anthony van Dyck portrait at £40K ($62K – est. £15-£20K).

If we add up all the works offered for the week, we find that of the 778 items, 481 found new owners (61.8%) and the total take was £53.7M ($83.4M).  Now, in order to make a fair comparison to past years, we need to subtract Christie’s ‘lower end’ sales … since they were not in the mix a few years ago.

2008 – 447 offered, 286 sold, 64% sell-through rate, total take £35.9M ($53.3M)

2009 – 407 offered, 254 sold, 62.4% sell-through rate, total take £90.7M ($148.7M)

2010 – 513 offered, 290 sold, 56.5% sell-through rate, total take £58.4M ($91.8M)

2011 – 367 offered, 211 sold, 57.5% sell-through rate, total take £52.3M ($81.2M)

While the total dollar amount for 2011 was less than 2010, the number of works offered was far less and in fact, the price per sold lot number was stronger: £247.8K for 2011 vs. £201.4K for 2010.  Of course, both of these numbers pale in comparison to 2009’s £357K … and let’s not even discuss the dismal 2008 numbers!  Ok, I couldn’t help myself – it was £125.5K.

Victorian & British Impressionist

The next week Christie’s offered their British Victorian & Impressionist sale which was rather disappointing.  When the catalog arrived I was wondering who would buy some of the works offered — a number of the highly estimated paintings fell on the wrong side of pretty; and in the end, nobody took them home.

Among the nicer pieces were: W.P. Frith’s Study for The Derby Day that made £505K ($780K – est. £300-£500K); Cowper’s Our Lady of the Fruits of the Earth at £469K ($725K – est. £150-£250K); a beautiful Dame Laura Knight watercolor titled A Girl Reading at £181K ($280K – est. £100-£150K) and a lovely drawing by Rossetti that brought £157K ($243K – est. £80-£120K). Among the dogs were works by Burne-Jones, Eastlake, Millais, Grimshaw and La Thangue.

When the session ended, of the 89 works offered 58 sold and 31 were returned to their owners; this left a sell-through rate of 65% and a total take of £2.94M ($4.54M) … the lower end of the estimate was £3.5M, so they fell far short.  Oh well, better luck next time.

19th Century – No Magic Hats Here

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Howard L. Rehs is a dealer in 19th Century art at Rehs Gallery in New York. He pays close attention to the auction market and offers his commentary to clients and subscribers to his company newsletter. He shares his point of view on recent auctions with us from time to time:

Once again, Sotheby’s placed its 19th century sale at the end of their Impressionist and Modern sales … hoping to capitalize on all the activity.  It is still hard for me to believe that someone who buys Picasso, Klimt, Magritte, Matisse, etc. would really be interested in the standard 19th century works.  I can see that there might be some crossover from the Impressionist buyers, but after 3 days of over $400 million being sold in those periods, are the same people ready to look at what can only be classified as the ‘more affordable works”?  I have my doubts.  In order for the 19th century works to gain momentum, we need a 19th century sales week … like they had in the past; and if they really believe that their big players in other markets are interested in our market, just send them a catalog.  Anyway, on with the show:

When the catalog arrived, it appeared that Sotheby’s had a much better sale than the competition … covered in last month’s newsletter.  And after viewing the works, I was pretty sure their results would be far better than Christie’s … which, in the end, they were.

Now I must admit that I was more than surprised at the top lot: a masterful Herring Sr. titled Preparing to Start for the Doncaster Gold Cup which carried an estimate of $400-$600K and sold for $2.1M … and we all thought the British Sporting market was dead! Go figure.  Taking second place was our old friend Bouguereau whose 1897 At the Fountain made $1.98M (est. $1-$1.5M) – this work last sold in 1999 for $900K; and in third was Charles Herman’s Bal Masque at $1M (est. $1-$1.5M) … an extremely large work (126 x 158 inches) that was bought in 1992 for $650K.  Rounding out the top five were Corot’s Ronde d’Amours at $963K (est. $900-$1.2M) and a wonderful Munnings – Crossing the Ford – that made $915K (crushing its $250-$350K estimate)… yes, another Sporting painting … could this be a trend?  Probably not, but who knows.Continue Reading

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