W tries to coin a term—Art Bro—around the recent spate of famous young women dating and marrying men in the art trade. This week’s report is based upon Sotheby’s Caspar Jopling having gotten engaged to singer Ellie Goulding but there’s Jennifer Lawrence’s supposed relationship with Cooke Maroney and the heat-seeking missile otherwise known as Vito Schnabel to round out the troika needed for any trend piece. Here’s W:

a new type of boy toy: the Art Bro, which officially emerged triumphant on Tuesday when news broke of Ellie Goulding’s engagement to one Caspar Jopling, a 26-year-old who hails from the contemporary art department of the auction house Sotheby’s. […]  An Art Bro is well-connected and wealthy—or at least used to the trappings of wealth—but discreet, thereby less likely to attract headlines and paparazzi than his A-list bro competition.

There’s only one problem. Art Bros already exist; but the only one of the three aforementioned men who might qualify for the term is Schnabel. That’s not a comment on Jopling or Maroney. Several years ago, one art world participant with well-tuned cultural antennae was the first to remark upon the existence of Art Bros. When queried today, she replied with this description of a real Art Bro:

You can tell them by the beaded bracelets they get on some idiotic faux-spiritual trip they took on a friend’s father’s private plane; the hair long enough to be combed behind their ears; the well-cut suit that can’t quite hide a growing paunch; the bravado about deal-making and the desperation to ensure that they’re not spending any of their own money; the girlfriends found “by chance” from a tiny group of family friends and distant cousins; the beach house in LA they don’t actually own; the Porsche that they do; the stainless steel GMT Master II they wear except at night when they take out the Patek Philippe they were given when they (finally) graduated from a second tier school with a degree in economics; the Instagram stories that mostly involve them jumping off of things into water; the sincerity with which they talk about building a “great” collection, matched only by how swiftly they disavow a market that’s tanking.

Art Bros are better represented by characters like Leonardo DiCaprio, an avid seeker of art deals and active trader in art.

Art Bros aren’t ladies’ men; they are aggressive art buyers and traders. They have seen and admired the trading of some prominent—all male—providers of liquidity, in the form of cash and art works, to the art market. They want to be like those out-sized figures some day.

An older generation kept a certain profile as a collector often going in with others to buy works to be stored away in handshake deals.

Since the financial crash the art world has seen the influx of a group of young men who buy in depth from particular artists with the hopes of making a killing all by themselves. For these young men, who either inherited money or made it in another industry, art is like real estate. Everyone is looking for a big score that they can brag about.

If the Art Bros have a role model, it’s Peter Brant, the polo playing swashbuckler married to a former supermodel who the Art Bros admire more for his savvy trading in Warhol and other artists.

If the Art Bros have a voice, it’s Kenny Schachter, the constantly on the move art-addict with a bit of a chip on his shoulder endlessly seeking the next opportunity.

If the Art Bros have a cautionary tale, it’s Stefan Simchowitz, the publicity-seeking omnivore whose big bets on emerging artists have caused conflicts and lawsuits.

If the Art Bros have a patron saint, it’s probably Adam Lindemann who made the echt Art Bro trade when he sold Jeff Koons’s Hanging Heart (Magenta) for $23m a year after acquiring it for $4m.

Finally, W may have gotten its trend timing on the Art Bros all wrong. Today the Art Bros are mostly in hibernation but four years ago they were actively acquiring anything they could. Does that mean they’ve gone away? Don’t bet on it.

Jennifer Lawrence and Cooke Maroney, and the Rise of the Art Bro as Celebrity Boy Toy (W Magazine)

Christie’s released its sales figures for the first half of 2018 today. The company sold £3bn in sterling terms, up 26% over the previous year; in dollar terms the gain was higher, a 35% increase to $4bn.

Those headline figures were positively affected by the presence of the $835m Rockefeller estate, which sold every lot, in the beginning of the year. The nearly 2000 items selling also added to the company’s overall rise in its sell-through rate from a very strong 81% last year to 84% this year.  Increasing the sell-through rate across the company has been a corporate strategic goal under Guillaume Cerutti.

“Once we set that the sell-through rate was a priority and was the best way to invest in the future because you build confidence with your clients,” Cerutti said in a phone conversation yesterday, “I tried to deploy this priority in every category and in every format.’

For many, the first thought upon hearing that the sell-through rate is a strategic goal will be that guarantees are somehow the tool being deployed. Cerutti differs, “It is not a reflection of the guarantee activity. The guarantee activity is in total in terms of number of lots is only a handful. I don’t think the explanation lies in this factor. It is more in the way that we curate our sales, the way that we estimate, in the way that we build our online sales.” Christie’s adds that only 1% of the lots sold are guaranteed. Cerutti also added that decision to shutter Christie’s South Kensington sale rooms was part of this strategy to move toward higher sell-through rates.

The final significant number, somewhat underplayed in Christie’s release is that private sales climbed 135% to £287m (or 151% to $390.3m in dollar terms) putting the firm back on pace with its crosstown rival which posted $750m in private sales last year.

Christie’s suffered in 2017 from the effects of a 2016 change in incentive structure for private sales. But Cerutti also pointed to the rise in auction sales benefitting private sales especially within the context of a substantial number of new buyers entering the market.

“When you have so many new buyers, 27% of clients were new at Christie’s in the first half, you also multiply potential opportunities to transact privately,” the CEO said. “Meaning that, if in a sale a client is an underbidder and wants a painting or piece by one artist, it is good for private sale. Because very often we are able to propose an object, not a similar one because we are dealing with unique objects only, but another piece that could please him. In a way, strong auction sales and new buyers help to drive better private sales. It goes together.”

These top line numbers were supported with a variety of other statistics meant to bolster Christie’s market position. Sotheby’s, which is publicly listed company, is required to publish its earnings. That will happen on August 6th. Recently, Christie’s has taken to selectively releasing its own operating figures in an effort to counteract its rival’s PR advantage. Christie’s release is selective because they do not reveal any operating numbers that might allow the public to get a better sense of the firm’s profitability.

There is a common view in the art market, repeated here in some of our previous analysis, that says Christie’s is managed to produce market share, not profits. Christie’s management, not just Cerutti but his predecessor Edward Dolman, insist this isn’t true. Although the company is privately held, they say, there is an emphasis from their shareholder and focus on generating profits. Taking them at their word, we’re left with the conclusion that Christie’s shareholder is simply more comfortable with and encouraging of the firm taking on risk that might not be as welcome in a publicly traded company.

In this particular season where the Rockefeller estate was acquired for a price above $700m, that appetite for risk has paid off handsomely. Even while sweating through the details on covering that gargantuan risk, Christie’s pressed ahead with a number of other deals that added to May’s risk profile. In many cases those bets paid off leaving Christie’s in a remarkably strong position.

According to the release, Christie’s “sold 80% of the highest selling lots in the first half of 2018.” Although Christie’s didn’t explain where it considered the cut-off level for “highest selling.” The company sold 55 works at prices above $10m, a 20% increase over the previous year. Again, Rockefeller obviously played an important role in reaching those figures.

The Rockefeller sale may or may not have contributed to the continuing in-rush of new buyers. This first semester, that figure was at 27%. A slightly higher percentage, 29%, were attracted to the luxury category. Online sales brought in the highest portion of new buyers at 40% even if those are relatively low value events.

Total online sales were £88m or $119m with a substantial portion of that figure, £60m or $82m, coming from Christie’s LIVE platform which allows bidders to participate in live auctions from their computer, phone or tablet screen. It’s worth pausing here to point out that the vast bulk of the company’s revenue comes from traditional auction or private sales conducted by specialists with the slight added leverage of allowing more bidders to have access to the room via the internet. Only £28m or $38m was spent in the 47 online only sales the company conducted.

Christie’s tells us the value of these sales comes not in the commissions but in the client development. The online only sales increased by 40% year over year matching the 40% new buyers figure online mentioned above. In addition, the sell-through rates were significantly higher online at 87% with the average lot price coming in at $8,500.

Of the 27% of the buyers in the first half who were new to Christie’s, 43% were from the  Americas, 35% from Europe, the Middle East and India, and 22% from Asia. Asian bidders were under-represented in the Rockefeller sale, much to everyone’s surprise. This had a broader effect on the market share that went to Asian clients. As the chart at the top of the post shows, only 24% of the value sold at Christie’s in the first half of the year, a decline from last year went to Asian clients. That’s primarily because of the Rockefeller sale.

Only 12% of the sales volume took place in Asia, that’s partly because there was only one sales cycle in Hong Kong in the first semester against two in London and one in New York plus Rockefeller. But the differential between the 12% sold in the region and buyers from the region accounting for 24% of the sales value is a measure of Asian buying in London and New York.

Simply put, Asian buyers are the swing money in Western art, especially in the Impressionist and Modern category. “In certain categories like Impressionist and Modern, the level and regularity of activity of the Asian buyers has been absolutely key to confirm the strength of these categories,” Cerutti said. “And without the Asian spend, we would not have the same success and the same confidence in these categories. There is absolutely no doubt. Of course, for us one of the main priorities is to extend this outside the Impressionist and Modern category to as many categories as possible.”

Christie’s says their Asian buyers spent 60% of their money, the majority of their buying, on non-Asian art. This remains a key feature of today’s art market where bidding on a day sale lot of a small late Phillip Guston work can soar when Chinese buyers show up.

Bloomberg reported that banks are expecting the population of millionaires in the Philippines to grow at an annual rate of 10% over the next few years. One estimate has the population of High Net Worth Individuals, those with more than $5m, will grow by 80% over the next five years:

While still in its infancy, the Philippines’ luxury goods market is tipped to grow more than a third to almost $2 billion in the five years through 2022, according to Euromonitor International Plc.

Among the luxury goods are wares sold by auction houses like Salcedo which held its first sale under a tent in 2010 and now has five times the attendees at Manila’s Peninsula Hotel:

“We expect prices to go up as they do every auction,” Salcedo’s Lerma said. “The rich will spend to make every part of their life filled with joy.”

Asia’s Newest Millionaires Swap Basket-Case Economy for Fine Art (Bloomberg)

Otto Naumann Joins Sotheby’s:  Otto Naumann sold the last of his dealer’s stock through Sotheby’s recently. Now he’s joining the firm as a Senior Vice President and Client Development Director in its Old Master Paintings Division. Here’s Sotheby’s take on his career:

• Dealing in fine art for over 30 years, Otto Naumann is regarded as one of the most respected figures in the international art scene.  A celebrated scholar, earning his master’s degree from Columbia University and a doctorate in Art History from Yale, Mr. Naumann is renowned for his exceptional eye for quality and for determining difficult attributions.  In 1981, he wrote the authoritative monograph on Frans van Mieris (1635 – 1681) and helped organize the 2005 exhibition on the artist at the Mauritshuis, The Hague and in the National Gallery of Art, Washington.  Having made a name for himself specializing in Dutch and Flemish art, Mr. Naumann expanded the breadth of his trade in 2007 to include Italian, French, Spanish and British works as well as 19th century painting.  He continues to pursue his academic work, currently working on a book on Rembrandt’s sketches. …

The Met Museum in New York Continues to Grow Attendance: The New York Times has the Metropolitan Museum of New York’s 2018 attendance figures which are up more than 4% over the previous year:

• “Due in part to the blockbuster exhibition on Michelangelo’s drawings, and despite a new mandatory admission fee for non-New Yorkers effective in March, the Metropolitan Museum of Art set yet another attendance record for the fiscal year that ended on June 30, attracting more than 7.35 million visitors to its three locations — at Fifth Avenue, the Cloisters and the Met Breuer — compared to 7 million last year. […] Since the 2015-16 fiscal year, when Met attendance rose 6.35 percent over 2014-15, the rate of increase has slowed a bit each year. This year’s attendance was up 4.29 percent over the previous period.” …

Banksy Gets an Exhibition of Works That Are Not For Sale (Although They Might Be): The art market has a long tradition of works being exhibited that are not for sale but the owner might entertain an offer. The Financial Times touts Steve Lazarides Summer show of Banksy’s work at his London gallery. Lazarides has the inside track on Banksy’s market having been a close friend and dealer to the mystery street artist. Once an advocate for Banksy, Lazarides is not a claque for his collectors:

• “The London works have come from a dozen collectors, with many for sale, from £250,000 to £1.75m for the haunting “Guantanamo Bay” (2006) painting. Works that aren’t officially for sale are open to offers, according to Lazarides, but, he says, ‘it would take several million pounds to lever them out of people’s hands’.” …

The Hunt for Vivian Maier’s Heirs: This Chicago Tribune story from late last month about the long-running search for photographer Vivian Maier’s heirs. Maier, who worked as a nanny, died without exhibiting—or even printing much—of her work. Since the discovery of her negatives in two different caches, there has been a search for her heirs:

• “Now, after an exhaustive genealogical investigation, lawyers representing potential heirs have filed a lengthy report in Cook County Probate Court that for the first time puts the entire Maier family tree into focus. The 300-page filing made public this week identifies 10 cousins of Maier who were still living at the time of her death in 2009, possibly putting them in line under Illinois probate law to inherit a portion of an estate believed to be worth millions of dollars. A team of genealogists pored over Maier’s complicated lineage for more than three years, traveling to France, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria and elsewhere to research old church records, baptisms, marriage certificates, census information, and birth and death records involving scores of family members.” …

Michael Govan Warns on LACMA Fundraising, Get to $600m by December or Expansion Is “Not Gonna Work:”The LA Times has an update on LACMA’s expansion which faces a major milestone this Fall when the project’s environmental impact report is due:

• “The Zumthor project is about six months behind schedule. The process, including building permits and entitlements, is taking longer than expected, Govan says. And the museum’s $650-million fundraising campaign, he adds, is “in pace with the project.” Which is to say: going slowly. LACMA’s latest fundraising total is about $550 million, Govan says. Can he meet a self-imposed goal of $600 million before the end of December, even as new challenges emerge?” …

Asher Edelman Gets a Few Things Off His Chest:When you are in the art finance business you run across a lot of characters pretending to be rich persons buying and selling art. Asher Edelman does a lot of art financing. He also writes a column for Avenue magazine. The current column tells some tales of art miscreants:

• “In 2016, Tolstoy seeks to refinance a work of art, claiming to have purchased it from Minskov two years earlier, and producing an invoice. He gets funds from a finance company and then, in 2017, Minskov claims co-ownership and places a lien on the work. The financier investigates and discovers that Minskov always co-owned the art and that the copy of the invoice given for financing had been tampered with, predated to 2014—by Minskov.” …

The National Gallery Gets a Gentileschi Self Portrait: The Evening Standard isn’t clear whether the Artemisia Gentileschi self portrait that the National Gallery in London just bought for £3.6m would be the 24th or 25th work by a woman artist out of the gallery’s 2300 paintings. Either way, trustee Hannah Rothschild is very happy:

• “The acquisition of this great painting by Artemisia Gentileschi realises a long-held dream of increasing the National Gallery’s collection of paintings by important women artists. Gentileschi was a pioneer, a master storyteller and one of the most progressive and expressive painters of the period. One of a handful of women who was able to shatter the confines of her time, she overcame extreme personal difficulties to succeed in the art of painting. This picture will help us transform how we collect, exhibit and tell the story of women artists throughout history.” …