Art Market Monitor

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Why Are the Qataris So Discreet? Ask David Frum

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The New York Times has an odd little story on the Qatari National Museums Authority, Sheika al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and the Gulf States nation’s ambitions to be cultural entrepot through its acquisition of a world class art collection. The story is odd only in the fact that all of this has been known for some time.

The interesting wrinkle in the story comes from dealer David Nash who asks this question about why the al-Thanis are so important to the market but also remain so invisible:

“They are very secretive about their purchases and activities in the art market and I am not quite sure why,” Mr. Nash said.

The answer came this morning conveniently from pundit David Frum, son of noted Canadian collector Murray Frum, who wasted no time demeaning the art collecting royals:

Frum on al-Thanis (1) Screen Shot 2013-07-23 at 8.06.53 AM

Frum’s snobbery is unwarranted. It isn’t news that the al-Thanis are major buyers of art. They’ve had a huge presence in the market for several years and their museum-building program is well-known and well covered in the press.

They’re savvy enough to know that sellers (and other buyers) will try to take advantage of their ambitions by either bidding up works they’re interested in buying or dealers raising prices with the knowledge that the buyer has deep pockets and high ambitions. A big buyer who is smart knows the first danger is that they become the market itself.

And that is probably one of the reasons they tried to buy Christie’s from Francois Pinault. Failing that, they’ve hired a number of former Christie’s executives to execute their art program.

The grand ambition to transmogrify energy profits into cultural capital may be a brilliant, bet-the-nation scheme. It may also be a pipe dream. Only time will tell whether Qatar or its neighbors can pull it off. But in the meantime, the al-Thanis have done a great deal to avoid the knee-jerk put-downs like Frum’s.

But Nash raises what may be an even better reason for discretion. The al-Thanis may be fore-sighted enough to recognize the potential for a major backlash once they begin tapering their purchases.

“When they finish their buying program and withdraw from the market,” said David Nash, a New York dealer who spent 35 years as a top executive with Sotheby’s, “they will leave a big hole which I don’t see anyone else ready to fill at their level.”

Qatari Riches Are Buying Art World Influence (New York Times)

Art Dubai Reboots

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TEFAF opens at the end of the week but it’s not the only important art fair taking place. In the Gulf States, Dubai continues to use some of the opportunity of the economic downturn—lower rents and the city-state’s role as a shopping mecca for wealthy Indians and Pakistanis—to solidify the city’s art market presence. The Financial Times describes what’s going on in the region:

A repackaged Art Dubai is now the central strand of an ambitious umbrella initiative called Art Week, which encompasses a broad programme of cultural events taking place across the Gulf this month. It ranges from lavish new museum projects in Doha, Qatar, to the fifth annual meeting (March 17-19) organised by the Sharjah Art Foundation, an influential annual gathering of artists, art professionals and institutions. The joined-up marketing strategy makes sense, especially as Qatar is now a powerful force in the contemporary and blue-chip modern art worlds.

Other events point to a fairly robust art ecosystem: Art Week includes Sikka, a fair devoted to new commissions from UAE-based artists (March 15-25 in Al Bastakiya). The management team of Art Dubai, keen to tap into new Middle Eastern tastes for limited-edition furniture, has launched a new fair, Design Days Dubai (see below). Crucially, a commissioned projects programme, on a scale not seen at European art fairs, features more than 40 artists who will cheekily explore “the fabric and economy of an art fair”.

What Does Qatar Want?

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Georgina Adam sums up the actions and ambitions of Qatar in the field of Contemporary Art with a story in the Financial Times. She speculates on the role Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) plays in the international art market as top bidder and also as third-party guarantor. Then there’s the question of the Mathaf, Qatar’s museum of modern Arab art that is hosting a massive Murakami show. But the most import issue seems unresolved, where is Qatar going with all this art buying and exhibition sponsoring?

Mathaf’s director, Wassan Al-Khudhairi, admits that: “We’re sort of learning as we go along, since this is the first modern contemporary art museum in Doha.

“We’re using the first years to try out different types of programming and events that can engage, to see what works and doesn’t work.” Certainly, the Murakami show has been a smash hit, and is packed with visitors.

“Qatar wants to be a cultural hub, and perhaps we should just judge it by what it is doing,” says Dr Venetia Porter, assistant keeper, department of the Middle East, at the British Museum: “It is taking fantastic initiatives in this field.” As for the perceived secrecy about its art purchases, she says: “This is the way in much of the Middle East. You don’t explain, you just wait until you are ready before revealing your hand.”

Qatari Complaints

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With every public relations initiative comes a backlash. In this case, the New York Times is now bearing down on Qatar’s efforts to use art as fulcrum for greater stature in the world. The story ultimately validates the success of Qatar’s efforts but also raises questions about the disconnect between the art market and Qatar’s lack of free speech:

There appears to be a high demand for the type of art scene that Qatar is developing. The West is in financial decline and opportunities for artists like those offered in the Gulf are scarce. Arts organizations and artists across the West are struggling because of cuts in arts funding. In this context, Qatar has taken up a key role in shaping the world of art.

Takashi Murakami, the Japanese artist, said in an interview that doing an exhibition in Doha was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to realize a large-scale project that he could not have done anywhere else due to the lack of investment. Continue Reading

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