Cathy's Art Diary

Fascinating online discussion from London Art Week bringing together a panel of younger dealers to talk about how the idea of ‘sleepers’ in the art market is changing. The speakers talked about how it is becoming harder to find traditional ‘sleepers’ ie unrecognised Old Masters with better promotion of auctions online making it easier for more people to see what is available which can push prices up on potential finds. They then each introduced works they had acquired recently by artists they felt should be better known and explained how it was more about discovering stories that particular works. They also discussed issues you can face when researching such as women who change their name when they marry. Will Elliot of Elliott Fine Art mentioned a selection of artists but I loved the picture I use here by Lily Steiner who worked in Vienna and Paris. He talked about how you can also add value by identifying a sitter which he has not yet done in this case. Ellie Smith of Philip...

Excellent online symposium from London Art Week looking at the role of Jewish dealers in the late 19th and early 20th century art market. Over three one hour sessions and with an array of good speakers we were guided through aspects of the subject. Day one looked at how Jews influenced the growth of Modernism in this period. Charles Denhiem who has written a book on the topic said that, with the growth in interest in Nazi stolen art, he didn’t want to see Jews as victims but wanted to know how they played a part in the art market in the first place. Why did they have the art that was taken? Day two looked specifically at the dealer Asher Wertheimer and how he commissioned portraits of his whole family from John Singer Sargent which he then left to the National Gallery. They are currently on display at Tate Britain and I blogged the display recently. Speakers discussed the reasons both for their commissioning and donation as well as talking us through some of the works and the cont...

Intriguing online talk from The Art Newspaper looking at whether the art market can be manipulated by gaming type behaviour. Anna Brady, Anny Shaw and Georgina Adam from the journal discussed whether manipulation of the art market could occur in the same way that buyers influenced the stock price of Gamestop recently. Adam carefully laid out how the art market was different and this probably wouldn’t happen but they went on to discuss ways people do try to manipulate the market. They discussed some interesting recent cases such as the Zombie Formalists which gave me lots to look up and learn more about. They then talked about Non Fundable Tokens (NFTs) in light of the recent sale of a digital only art work by Christie’s Beeple’s “Everydays: The first 5,000 days”, the first work of this type to be sold by an auction house. The discussed the possible benefits to the market of applying NFTs to physical works as well as digital only ones. They ended by looking at how art fairs had c...

Fascinating online talk from the Woolwich Contemporary Print fair looking at art crime and what to be aware of when buying.   Will Korner of the Art Loss Register and Fred Clark from law firm Boodle Hatfield talked us through the different types of art crime pointing out it is not just the high profile thefts that might affect buyers but also fraud in the market and copyright issues. Clark told some interesting stories of cases that have dealt with for the street artists Stik around works which he had done for community projects turning up on the art market.   They outlined things to consider when buying art including using reputable sources such as art fairs which have been vetted, not to feel the pressure to by as it is a buyer’s market, to keep records of what you own and to ask questions, and as with many things in life if it looks to good to be true it probably is too good to be true.  

Fascinating online interview from the Art Newspaper with Clare McAndrew of Arts Economics analysing how the art market has been affected by the Covid crisis. This was the last session in a series on the art market "New Models for New Times: Rethinking the Art Market in a Changing World" in which McAndrew was interviewed by Georgina Adam, editor-at-large of the Arts Newspaper. McAndrew took us through various charts and graphs of how the marker has reacted to the crisis. She felt the worse performers were the mid-range galleries selling at $250-500K with all galleries sales being down an average of 30%. Auction sales were down 50% in value compared to the previous year but partly because the number of lots were down. She compared the real and online markets, with online obviously increasing with online sales making up 37% of sales this year as opposed to 10% the year before. They then discussed how the galleries and auction houses had adapted to the issues and reflected ...

Enlightening online discussion from the Art Newspaper looking at how the Covid crisis has affected commercial galleries and asking if it has made them turn to their local markets more. This was the second session in a series on the art market "New Models for New Times: Rethinking the Art Market in a Changing World" chaired by Anny Shaw from the Art Newspaper including Rachel Lehmann, from Lehmann Maupin in New York; Sundaram Tagore, from Sundaram Tangore Gallery in Hong Kong, Singapore and New York; Rakeb Sile from Addis Fine Art in Ethiopia and Ayo Adeyinka, from Tafeta in London and Nigeria. All of them described things they had done locally during Covid from reconnecting with artists they represent to moving their galleries to more conducive spaces however they also stressed that they had continued to operate globally, albeit in different ways such as via online fairs. They all felt the art market would not return to the travelling frenzy it had been before the pandem...

Interesting online discussion from the Art Newspaper looking at how the art market reacted to the Covid crisis and the increased collaboration in the industry. This was the first session in a series on the art market "New Models for New Times: Rethinking the Art Market in a Changing World" well chaired by Anna Brady from the Art newspaper and included Pilar Corrias, Pilar Corria Gallery; Caroline Douglas, Contemporary Art Society; Sunny Rahbar, Third Line and Neil Weman, Hauser and Wirth. They highlighted some interesting initiatives from an initial Whats App Group for commercial galleries in London, though online art fairs and changes to the Contemporary Art Society’s purchase award at Frieze to benefit more artists rather than one large purchase. They all highlighted some changes which they think will be permanent as they have brought sustainability benefits and increased engagement. They did however also acknowledge than not all art is online friendly so we might see ...

Useful online discussion as part of London Art Week Digital about the definitions and use of terms around attribution of old master pictures. Megan Locke from Art Tactic from Art Tactic excellently quizzed the participants, David Pollock from Sotherby’s, Molly Dorkin of Simon Dickinson Gallery and solo dealer Will Elliott of Elliott Fine Art. Pollock took us through the various attribution definitions from artist and studio through “Circle of” and “Manner of”. All the speakers agreed that this was commonly used vocabulary as so many dealers had some through the auction house training. They also pointed out that these were increasingly being used like legal terms and were defined in good Old Master sale catalogues. The panelists then discussed the effect of attribution on valuations with Elliott pointing out that this was partly due to the age of a painting. Earlier works are harder to attribute and attaching an artist’s name is less important however as Dorkin said “You don’t g...

Fascinating talk at Charleston Farmhouse as part of the Charleston Festival by Philip Hook from Sotheby’s talking about the role of dealers in art. He admitted himself that despite the title of the talk and his book that not all dealers have been rogues. He talked about how dealers can influence taste either by trading and creating a demand or by championing particular artists and establishing them. He talked about how Joseph Duveen has influenced the art in American galleries as he bought from impoverished European aristocrats and sold to American moguls who later bequeathed them to the galleries. He was known for using “below stairs intelligence” ie bribing the servants to get information on the families involved. He quoted Paul Durand- Ruel as an example of a dealer who championed artists and a style. He spotted that the new Impressionist work was not getting into the Saloons and selling so he acted for the artists and organised shows of their work. As ever wi...

Fantastic exhibition at the National Gallery looking at the life, work and collections of Paul Durand-Ruel, the art dealer who championed the Impressionists. From the first room which is laid out to represent Durand-Ruel’s grand salon, complete with arm chairs, doors painted by Monet and a selection of painting which were known to have hung in that room including two Renoirs of dancers. Durand-Ruel developed a new way of dealing in and showing art. He introduced the idea of exclusivity deals with artists and showed off the work of his artists at exhibitions and in in publications. Prior to this the main place to display art was the jury-selected salon. One room was devoted to two exhibitions by Monet in 1883 and 1892, the first time a retrospective had been held of a living artists work. The second exhibition had featured 15 of the poplar series and five of them were displayed here again brought together from all over the world. I loved the final room which brought to...