Impressionists & Collectors, An Incestuous Relationship
A Berthe Morisot exhibition in Paris gives Bloomberg the opportunity to rehash the Guy Wildenstein vault scandal. But the interesting part of the story is this schematic of the relationships between Impressionist painters, their collectors and the intermingling of their families:
For Rouart, finding the missing art is a way to preserve the legacy of his great-grandmother, the first woman to join the Impressionist movement. After her training under Corot, Morisot was invited by Degas to join the budding Impressionist group, where she painted with Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir. She was a longtime friend of Manet and married his brother, Eugene. Their daughter, Julie Manet, married the son of painter- collector Henri Rouart.
The Wildensteins were intimately connected with the Rouart family, Rouart said. Georges Wildenstein worked with Julie Manet-Rouart on the catalogue raisonne, or decisive listing, of Morisot’s works, and Denis Rouart worked with Daniel on the Manet catalogue raisonne. Daulte edited the books.
Wildenstein Vault Holds Key to Feud Over Missing Art (Bloomberg)
Milan Hosts Impressionist Exhibition
Art Market Research on Impressionism
The Financial Times offers this chart from Art Market Research tracking their European Impressionists Index which focuses on the central 80% of prices in the category (meaning they strip outlier prices though not works that fail to sell). It’s unfortunate that the FT hasn’t explained fully what the chart shows.
One conclusion that can be easily drawn, however, is that prices remain elevated from pre-2007 levels.
Art Market Research (Financial Times)