| In This Issue |
| Polaroid Collection |
Many of you already know of the sorry state of the Polaroid film company and its being abused by a Ponzi schemer (no it was not Madoff) and its recent liquidation auction, ordered by the Bankruptcy Court in Minnesota, at Sotheby’s. The 2-day sale commanded an impressive $12.5M, including magnificent works by Warhol, Lucas Samaras, Ansel Adams and a host of other important photographers.
| Obama and Cameron |
Britian’s Prime Minister David Cameron paid a visit to the White House in late July and in addition to talking policy the two heads of state exchanged artwork. Obama provided Cameron with a beautiful Ruscha print, but Cameron may have one upped the President by giving him an original work by British street artist Ben Eine.
| Rare Ansel Adams Find |
A rare find has resulted in an artist gaining a roughly $200M windfall. Around ten years ago, Rick Norsigian, bought 65 glass negatives at a garage sale. He negotiated the price down from $70 to $45. As it turns out the 65 glass negatives were by the artist Ansel Adams and thought to have been lost.
| Controversial New Yorker article making a splash on Art Authentication |
In the double issue of July 12 and July 19, David Grann wrote an article on the problem of the authenticity and attribution in the art world. Overall the article is quite entertaining, but not short. Mr. Grann takes more than his fair share of pot shots at lots of different parties in the art world. From the art gallery owners and directors to the authenticators, experts and academics. But Mr. Grann misses the real problem with art authentication, that money still runs the art market, just like it runs all the other markets. The art market is not immune to capitalism.
| August, 2010 |
Dear Friends,
What used to be the normally quiet month of June and July, turned out to be filled with events and auctions around the art world.
Everywhere you look the high end market seems to get stronger. In the Spring this year first a Giacometti sculpture became the highest price ever paid for any work of art at auction. Only months later the Picasso painting surpassed the Giacometti and became the most expensive piece at auction ever. For those keeping score at home, the Giacometti is still the highest price sculpture. In an article on Art Basel, mega-collector Adam Lindemann emphasized this point as well.
We hope everyone is having a relaxing August and do not get too sunburned at the beach.
Long live the art market!
Yours,
David Benrimon
Sotheby’s and Christie’s both had Old Master auctions during the Master Painter’s Week of July 3rd in London. The highlight of the week was the JMW Turner, oil on canvas, “Modern Rome-Campo Vaccino”. The Getty purchased the Turner for a tad under £30M, including premiums and conditions. Now comes the real test, which requires the J. Paul Getty Museum trying to get the painting out of the United Kingdom. This is an extremely important Turner and the condition is immaculate. We would be shocked if public funds or a private individual with residence in the UK did not stop it from being exported to the West Coast of America.
Sotheby’s did everything in its power to garner attention on this artwork. They created two separate videos, one on the condition of the work and a second as a general overview of the work. From our perspective the videos served two purposes, one to highlight how important this Turner is and its impeccable condition. Secondly, for a “Master Paintings Week” there were very weak offerings, none that commanded even a percentage of the attention that this Turner received. In the New York Times, the always astute Souren Melikian observed, “Even so, Sotheby’s “Old Master & British Paintings” was astonishingly short on works of reasonably good quality. Dealers fought tooth and nail over the very few paintings that deserved serious consideration.”
Christie’s and Sotheby’s seized on collectors' willingness to part with real treasures in their Modern and Impressionist Evening Sales in London, and were able to offer very important artworks. There were important Picassos to be had, a Monet “Nymphaes” and even a Manet self-portrait (courtesy of Steven Cohen). But the only problem with high hopes comes greater disappointment.
The Manet brought in £22.4 million ($33.2 million) and was the highest selling piece of the Sotheby’s £112.1M evening sale, but the low estimate on the artwork was £20M. Sotheby’s also had 15 works pass in the evening sale out of 50.
Christie’s prized lot was a Picasso portrait of the artist Fernandez de Soto from the Andrew Lloyd Weber Foundation which, after settling with potential Holocaust claimants for the restitution of the piece, was sold for a cool £34.7 million ($51.2 million), a nice sum but hardly a fantastic return considering the almost $30M that he paid for it at auction in 1995 and he settled with the Holocaust heirs which definitely resulted in a payout. Christie’s had 16 lots passed, including the Monet (which managed a £29M bid but not the £30M required to sell it), and works by Chagall, Klee and a host of others. Strong Magritte paintings continue to attract strong bidding attention with “The Mysterious Barricades” selling for over £5M. Overall between the two auction houses, the 31 lots that passed were a combination of high estimates and lack of discernment. We tend to agree with Souren Melikian when he wrote, “But auction professionals would do well to heed the warning. Keep the lid on crazy estimates. Or else there might be serious trouble ahead.”
The auctions were a mixed bag overall and despite the immense pressure the auction houses put on themselves to perform, there were some successes like the $3.2M+ Alon Zakaim paid for the Monet La Maison dans les Roses, despite the estimate of just $1.5-2.2M.
Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Sale on Monday June 28, 2010 was hardly a rousing success but it was not as bleak as Souren Melikan thought. The 44 lots netted Sotheby’s £41.1 ($62M) which included 9 unsold lots. So that means 35 lots sold for an average of over £1M each—hardly an insignificant sum. The Klein “MG 42” that opened the auction was sold for £481,250 including commissions. The biggest surprise of the night had to be the Doig’s passing. While they were not nearly as well-painted or aesthetically pleasing as previously auctioned paintings, they had much more modest estimates.
The Economist thought the mood in the room was much more optismitic during the Christie’s sale, which posted totals just under £46M ($69M) and an almost identical 84% of its lots sold. The difference to them was the discerning eye of Mr. Francis Outred. While Mr. Outred is talented, both sales had important contemporary art including the magnificent Ofili “Orgena” that commanded almost £2M ($2.8M) (a new record for the artist). Maurizio Cattelan continues to attract buyers and his sculpture “Frank and Jamie” sold for over £1M ($1.5M).
Phillips du Pury had less luck in their 45 lot evening sale, with 47% of the lots passing and a grand total including commissions of £6M, or just below the £6.2M garnered by RE49 by Yves Klein at Sotheby’s evening sale. Scott Reyburn may have been right that it was simply “buyer’s fatigue”.
David Benrimon Fine Art
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