Ah, Ravels in Review

My fingers are relieved to take a bit of a break this week (perhaps you're relieved not to be presented with a long, involved post ; ) . I've gotten into some topics I find super interesting.

We kicked off the week with a proposal against taking photographs of artwork in museums, which got some agreement, certainly some disagreement, and a lot of mixed feelings. It stuck in my mind, and I revised my opinion to allow that instead of being evil and stupid is was perhaps a sign of engagement with an artwork.

We played a game matching the artwork to its auction house estimate. Nobody won, so I'm keeping the $1M prize. In fact, even the auction houses didn't win; they still have their two biggest works by Picasso and Giacometti.

I had the pleasure of seeing the musical South Pacific at Lincoln Center, and then having the song Honey Bun in my head for the whole week.

In fact, that annoying song is probably why I got a little contentious in my post on the Affordable Art Fair, contributing to my backhanded praise of the store Urban Outfitters for so cleverly following the pluralistic trends evident at the fair.



And my personal pick of the week was on the use of writing in painting, especially as it evolved during Modernism. Anyways, thanks for a fun week guys, and have a good weekend!

Addendum: On Sale this Spring For What?

Well, dear reader, the auction results from our little game of match the estimate to the artwork are in. Sotheby's had a terrible night on Tuesday, not selling some of its bigger works. To add insult to injury, Christies had a pretty good night on Wednesday selling the same artists.

Sotheby’s couldn't sell its Picasso (estimated at $16-24M) or its Giacometti at the Impressionist and Modern auction. Giacommetti's The Cat ($16-24M) at Sotheby's went nowhere, even though the next night at Christies Giacometti's “Bust of Diego (Stele III)” sold for more than its high estimate of $6.5 million.

On the other hand, Sotehby's Monet sold for well over its estimate. Six bidders fought for "Sailboat on the River Seine, Argenteuil" that was originally estimated to fetch $1.2-1.8M. It was purchased for $3.4M.

On sale this Spring for what?

Let's play a game, shall we? The New York Times highlighted some quality works coming up for auction that have a newly-lowered price tag. I thought we'd play a little game to see how our own values line up with art world estimates.

Here's the game: match the artwork with its estimate.

The Prices, in no particular order:
1. 1.2 to 1.8 M; 2. 3.5 to 4.5 M; 3. 16 to 24 M; 4. 1.2 to 1.8 M; 5. 6 to 8 M; 6. 6 to 8 M

The Artworks:

A. Giacommetti's The Cat

B. Monet's Sailboat on the River Seine, Argenteuil

C. Martin Kippenberger's Untitled Self-Portrait

D. Jeff Koon's Baroque Egg With Bow (Turquoise/Magenta)

E. Tamara de Lempicka's Portrait of Madame M.

F. Alexander Calder's Untitled Wall Relief


The answers are listed below. Auction houses consider Impressionist and Modern works to be the most stable purchases. These choices certainly cover many tastes. Does a Monet now cost more than a Jeff Koons? Are any of these estimates more than guesses (16 to 24M is a wide range...)?

These sales begin today at the big auction houses, so if you have disposable income in the range of 1M plus, maybe you should check out these newly-minted bargains. For the rest of us, I've got my thinking cap on for how we might get a little art on the walls. Cheers!

Answers: 1 & 4 at 1.2 to 1.8M are B and F, 2 at 3.5 to 4.5M is C, 3 at 16 to 24M is A, 5 & 6 at 6 to 8M are D and E.

*See the addendum for auction results. (May 7)

Love and Auctions: Midday Links!

My excellent taste was confirmed by the Yves Saint Laurent auction results. Check out the fabulous chair and the price of desire.

Also, check out a beautiful auction catalogue that tells a different kind of story, of love and its personal effects.

If you haven't yet planned your New York art fair visits, start here. Should be a busy few days!

Yves Saint Laurent Collection at Auction

Legendary clothes designer Yves Saint Laurent died last June at his residence in Paris, where he and his partner Pierre Bergé had created a house of style in bricks and mortar. Their art collection is now hitting the auction block at Christies this February. The collection is a testament to Saint Laurent's style in its wide-ranging combination of mediums, time periods and styles.

Quite conveniently, just as this collection comes to auction another style maven, moi, is moving to a new apartment and is in serious need of furnishings. Thus I did some online shopping at Christie's.

First there are practical matters to consider: how to sit, how to drink martinis, and how to eat cereal. My solutions:

Reading Chair

Amazing Silver and Coral Spoons

YSL bar: now that's a beautiful thing.

But what shall I contemplate, not that I'm set up in that luxurious chair, enjoying a martini and cereal? Leger's Profile and Hooch's Parrot, I think. Then for sheer exuberance I'll add Calder's Dancers and Sphere. But I'll have to find a table on which to display it.

Fernand Leger, The Black Profile

Pieter de Hooch, A Young Woman Feeding A Parrot Alexander Calder, Dancers and Sphere

This style, as I like to call it, is 'Manhattan Spartan-Chic,' combining essential luxuries in limited space. My new apartment will be a joy once I purchase these lovelies. There were many other temptations, but a blogger can only afford so much. As it is, I won't have any funds leftover for Vermouth.

News Alert! Obama Cannot Save Art

Yesterday the stock market dropped 486 points, despite the fact that most of the world is excited to have a new president coming into office. The economy seems to be entering the big "R" (recession) despite all that hope and change rigmarole. Let's relate this to the art market.

Without actually reading any of the articles below, what can we surmise from their headlines?

New York Times:
Bleak Night at Christie’s, in Both Sales and Prices

BBC:
Top art fails to sell at auction

Yesterday's headlines from The Art Newspaper:
Auction houses embark on damage limitation exercise as market slumps
After years of growth, a long way to fall?
“Hot” categories cool rapidly as crisis bites

Anyone have an idea what this means? Any wild guesses? No...well, let's look at this chart from The Art Newspaper's "After Years of Growth" article, which ends in September 2008:

Note how the lines, representing different prices points, went way up. Now see my graph, using advanced scientific formulas and graphing software, to irrefutably predict the future:

Countless people, like your prudent parents, and articles will be telling you how to save money in the upcoming recession, stretch your dollar, etc. Well, I won't tell you that. I'm telling you

BUY BUY BUY!

Buy what you love. Do it now if you are at all in a position to do so. Snatch up that cheap Chinese masterpiece or contemporary cutting edge foot statue you've been eyeing. This is your chance.

I would if I could.

Change Comes in November

The American presidential elections are coming up, and both candidates have promised change. However, I've been sniffing out more change in the air, and I think it's going to make itself clear when people begin voting with their dollars at the auction houses Christie's and Sotheby's this month.

November is typically a month of big auctions for these two art houses. Look at Christie's calendar, and in upcoming days they are covering Impressionism, Modernism, Post-War and Contemporary Art. These are some big guns, and the Old Masters are still to come. Sotheby's in New York is also covering Impressionist, Modern, and Contemporary art. The high expectations that have usually been blown through the roof will be harder to fulfil this year.

Why? Aside from people having less discretionary capital, art itself isn't the stable investment it once was. As I pointed out in a previous post, art and housing prices might prove to be quite similar. Growth in art prices has beat the S&P for the past few years, and prices have skyrocketed. This kind of growth would be hard to support at any time, and prices are no longer buoyed by a growing economy. While prices going down might seem like bad news to the artists and galleries, it's an opportunity for people who collect because of passion. So as other people are watching the polls, I'm going to be watching the auction sale results in the upcoming days. I feel confident promising you citizens that change is coming.