Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

Australian Art Dealer’s Stock Sees Record Sales

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The Australian is keeping tabs on the sale at Mosgreen’s that has set a record for Australian painter Fred Williams:

A FINE Fred Williams landscape was sold for $1.25 million and 10 registered bidders resulted in an intricate Robert Klippel metal sculpture fetching $73,200, five times its estimate, at an auction in Sydney last night.

Both works were among the 590 items from the estate of Ann Lewis auctioned by Mossgreen at the Art Gallery of NSW last night, where attractive prices and a 1500-strong crowd saw bidding open at 6pm and set to continue until well after midnight.

Fred Williams landscape sells for $1.25m from the estate of Ann Lewis (The Australian)

Aussie High Net Worth Individuals Not Spending on Art … Yet

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The Wall Street Journal’s Scene Asia blog got excited about today’s auction of Aboriginal Art at Bonhams (turns out the optimism was premature–only four lots reached meaningful prices) because Australia’s High Net Worth population is sitting on a strong currency:

“Bonhams has taken the decision to really go for it and to move into the Australian market very, very actively,” said Mark Fraser, Bonhams chairman in Australia. “It’s a great time to be selling.”

The auction house says it has received approaches in recent weeks by at least three owners of museum-quality Australian paintings in London and New York who are considering selling because of the appreciation of the Aussie dollar.Continue Reading

Sotheby's Australia = $5.95m

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Australia’s auction season opened with Sotheby’s sale in Melbourne.

The 97-lot sale in Melbourne was standing-room only for the first hour and 71 per cent of works sold at a total of $4.95 million, $5.95m including premium — a result that pleased Sotheby’s new chairman, Geoffrey Smith.

“It was a good sale,” he said.

Most buyers appeared to be private collectors. High-profile art dealer Denis Savill attended, but for the first time in many years did not make a bid.

“It’s my protest against the resale royalty,” Mr Savill said.

Sotheby’s Art Buyers Chase the Rare and New (The Australian)

Art, Business & Life

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Australia’s John Kaldor has donated a substantial collection to the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Australia. Collecting was more than a pastime for Kaldor, it was an integral part of his life and business:

Right from the start, working and collecting were entwined. He was not a banker dabbling on the side. Kaldor commissioned fabric designs and bought revolutionary international art with the same eye. “I don’t think I am that talented as a businessman,” he says in the considered Hungarian accent a few years at Riverview failed to beat out of him. “I think my strength was in design and also in colour.” […]

“As I was building my business, I didn’t buy real estate besides my home or invest in shares,” he says. “I put everything into art or art projects. I never collected because I thought it was a good investment. So in effect the collection is a big part of my assets.”

He bought energetically for 20 years through a dozen dealers in Europe and New York. “I sold when I got divorced. I sold a couple of pieces to help my children get their homes. But I never traded in art. I didn’t buy to trade and I never traded. There was a lot in storage. There were a number of works that were too big to get into my house.”

A Life’s Works (Sydney Morning Herald)

Goodman's Exit from Sotheby's Aus Explained

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The Australian Financial Review finally gives a reasonable explanation for the sudden exit of Tim Goodman from Sotheby’s Australia only a year after he abruptly switched his First East auction holding company from Bonhams Australia to Sotheby’s Australia by acquiring the license to use Sotheby’s name as the firm exited the Australian market:

Goodman told AFR last week that the mix of high debt, greater than anticipated costs, a bad year for the art auction market, and far tougher banking conditions had underpinned his decision to bring forward his three- to four-year exit strategy in favor of Geoffrey Smith — and get out of Sotheby’s now. “In view of the current market and the performance of the top end, First East’s debt levels were too high,” Goodman said. “And this gave me some discomfort. And the reason for this is the Sotheby’s acquisition was done mostly with debt rather than equity.”

Goodman also says that the strains with Bonhams (still a 9.2 per cent shareholder in the Goodman-controlled First East) complicated the situation.

“I didn’t recapitalise because there were obstacles in the First East shareholders agreement, particularly in relation to Bonhams stake,” he says.

In other words, Goodman got jammed up in the bottom of the auction market cycle with a cranky minority shareholder and–we’re guessing here–some equally fed up equity partners who all helped him decide it was a good time to retire.

(With thanks to TK for the tip)

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