ART AT ALL PRICES

THE MOST EXPENSIVE PAINTINGS FOR THE YEAR 2008

2009-09-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

According to ArtPrice, the 50 most expensive sales in public auctions in 2008 were :

1 BACON Francis $ 77,000,000: «Triptych» (1976) 14 May (Sotheby’s New York)
2 MONET Claude £ 36,500,000: Le bassin aux nymphéas (1919) 24 June (Christie’s London)
3 MALEVICH Kasimir Sevrinovitch $ 53,500,000: Suprematisch Composition (1919) 03 Nov. (Sotheby’s Ndew York)
4 BACON Francis £ 23,500,000: «Untitled» (1974/77) 06 Feb. (Christie’s London)
5 ROTHKO Mark $ 45,000,000: «No.15» (1952) 13 May (Christie’s New York)
6 MONET Claude $ 37,000,000: Le Pont du chemin de fer à Argenteuil (1873) 06 May (Christie’s New York)
7 BACON Francis £ 17,800,000: «Study of Nude with Figure in a Mirror» (1969) 27 Feb. (Sotheby’s London)
8 LÉGER Fernand $ 35,000,000: «La Femme en Bleu» (1912/13) 07 May (Sotheby’s New York)
9 MUNCH Edvard $ 34,000,000: Vampire (1894) 03 Nov. (Sotheby’s New York)
10 DEGAS Edgar $ 33,000,000: Danseuse au repos (c.1879) 03 Nov. (Sotheby’s New York)
11 BACON Francis £ 15,400,000: Studies for Self-Portrait (1975) 30 June (Christie’s London)

12 FREUD Lucian $ 30,000,000: Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (1995) 13 May (Christie’s New York)
13 WARHOL Andy $ 29,000,000: Double Marlon (1966) 13 May (Christie’s New York)
14 MUNCH Edvard $ 27,500,000: Girls on a Bridge (1902) 07 May (Sotheby’s New York)

15 SEVERINI Gino £ 13,420,000: «Danseuse» (1915) 25 June (Sotheby’s London)
16 BACON Francis $ 25,000,000: «Three Studies for Self-Portrait» (1976) 13 May (Christie’s New York)
17 GIACOMETTI Alberto $ 24,500,000: Grande femme debout II (1959/60) 06 May (Christie’s New York)
18 BACON Francis £ 12,270,000: «Head of George Dyer» 01 July (Sotheby’s London)
19 DEGAS Edgar £ 12,000,000: Danseuses à la barre (c.1880) 24 June (Christie’s London)
20 KOONS Jeff £ 11,500,000: Balloon Flower (Magenta) (1995/2000) 30 June (Christie’s London)
21 WATTEAU Jean Antoine £ 11,000,000: La surprise: A Couple embracing while a figure dressed as Mezzetin Tune 08 July (Christie’s London)
22 MARC Franz £ 11,000,000: Weidende Pferde III (1910) 05 Feb. (Sotheby’s London)
23 KLEIN Yves $ 21,000,000: MG 9 (c.1962) 14 May (Sotheby’s New York)
24 FREUD Lucian £ 10,500,000: Naked Portrait with Reflection (1980) 30 June (Christie’s London)
25 WARHOL Andy £ 10,200,000: Self-portraits (1986) 27 Feb. (Sotheby’s London)
26 MATISSE Henri $ 20,000,000: Portrait au manteau bleu (1935) 06 May (Christie’s New York)
27 KLEIN Yves $ 19,000,000: Archisponge (RE 11) (1960) 11 Nov. (Sotheby’s New York)
28 GRIS Juan $ 18,500,000: Livre, pipe et verres (1915) 06 Nov. (Christie’s New York)
29 FONTANA Lucio £ 9,200,000: «Concetto Spaziale, la fine di Dio» 27 Feb. (Sotheby’s London)
30 PICASSO Pablo $ 17,100,000: La grue (c.1951/52) 07 May (Sotheby’s New York)

31 RODIN Auguste $ 16,900,000: Eve, grand modèle-version sans rocher (1881) 06 May (Christie’s New York)
32 GIACOMETTI Alberto £ 8,420,000: Trois hommes qui marchent I (1948) 25 June (Sotheby’s London)
33 JAWLENSKY von Alexej £ 8,400,000: Schokko (c.1910) 05 Feb. (Sotheby’s London)
34 HIRST Damien £ 9,200,000: The Golden Calf (2008) 15 Sept. (Sotheby’s London)
35 PICASSO Pablo $ 16,000,000: Deux personnages (Marie-Thérèse et sa soeur lisant) (1934) 06 Nov. (Christie’s New York)
36 MORAN Thomas $ 15,800,000: Green River of Wyoming (1878) 21 May (Christie’s New York)
37 KLEIN Yves $ 15,500,000: IKB 1 (1960) 14 May (Sotheby’s New York) 38 PICASSO Pablo $ 15,500,000: Le baiser (1969) 07 May (Sotheby’s New York)
39 HIRST Damien £ 8,500,000: The Kingdom (2008) 15 Sept. (Sotheby’s London)
40 MIRO Joan $ 15,200,000: La caresse des étoiles (1938) 06 May (Christie’s New York)
41 KANDINSKY Wassily $ 15,000,000: Studie zu Improvisation 3 (1909) 06 Nov. (Christie’s New York)
42 RICHTER Gerhard £ 7,100,000: Kerze (1983) 27 Feb. (Sotheby’s London)
43 FONTANA Lucio £ 8,000,000: Concetto Spaziale, la fin di dio (1963) 19 Oct. (Christie’s London)
44 PICASSO Pablo £ 7,020,000: Tête de femme (1939) 25 June (Sotheby’s London)
45 RICHTER Gerhard $ 13,500,000: Abstraktes Bild (1990) 14 May (Sotheby’s New York)
46 MURAKAMI Takashi $ 13,500,000 : My Lonesome Cowboy (1998) 14 May (Sotheby’s New York)
47 MONET Claude £ 6,820,000: La plage à Trouville (1870) 25 June (Sotheby’s London)
48 RICHTER Gerhard $ 13,200,000: Abstraktes Bild (710) (1989) 12 Nov. (Christie’s New York)
49 PICASSO Pablo £ 6,600,000: Tête de femme (1938) 05 Feb. (Sotheby’s London)
50 RENOIR Auguste £ 6,600,000: La loge ou L’avant-scène (1874) 05 Feb. (Sotheby’s London)

THE ART MARKET LEADERS 2008

2009-09-30T05:33:00.000-07:00

According to Artprice, the Top 10 ranking art market heavyweights in 2008 were :
1 – Pablo PICASSO (1881-1973) with a total of sales of $262m for 1,764 Sold Lots at public auctions or an average value per sale of 148,000 dollars
2 – Francis BACON (1909-1992) with a total of sales of $256m for 100 Sold Lots or an average value per sale of $ 2.56 million
3 – Andy WARHOL (1928-1987) with a total of sales of $236m for 1,164 Sold Lots or an average value of $ 202,000

4 – Damien HIRST (1965) with a total of sales of $230m for 445 Sold Lots or an average value of $ 516,000
5 – Claude MONET (1840-1926) with global sales of $174m for 25 Sold Lots or an average value of $ 6.96 million
6 – Alberto GIACOMETTI (1901-1966) with global sales of $132m for 111 Sold Lots or an average value of $1.18 million
7 – Gerhard RICHTER (1932) with global sales of $122m for 166 Sold Lots with an average value of $ 734,000
8 – Edgar DEGAS (1834-1917) with global sales of $111m for 81 Sold Lots with an average value of $ 1.3 million
9 – Lucio FONTANA (1899-1968) with global sales of $95m for 227 Sold Lots with an average value of $ 418,000
10 – Yves KLEIN (1928-1962) wtih global sales of $91m for 59 Sold Lots with an average value of $ 1.54 million

RENE MAGRITTE : SOUVENIR DE VOYAGE

2009-02-04T20:23:00.001-08:00

René François Magritte (21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) painted this Souvenir de Voyage (actually the Leaning Tower in Pisa, Italy). It is an oil on canvas measuring 40 by 30cm and painted in 1958. Harry Torczyner, a native of Antwerp and a lawer in Belgium before fleeing the Nazis and coming to the United States, commissioned it from the artist and it was later acquired from the above in 1962 by the Bodely Gallery in New York.

Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist and became well-known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images.

In 1912, his mother committed suicide by drowning herself in the river Sambre. Magritte was present when her body was retrieved from the water. The image of his mother floating, her dress obscuring her face, influenced a series of paintings of people with cloth obscuring their faces, including Les Amants, but Magritte obviously disliked this explanation.

In 1926, Magritte produced his first surreal painting, The Lost Jockey (Le jockey perdu), and held his first exhibition in Brussels in 1927. Critics heaped abuse on the exhibition. Depressed by the failure, he moved to Paris where he became friends with André Breton, and became involved in the surrealist group. Magritte died of pancreatic cancer on August 15, 1967 and was interred in Schaarbeek Cemetery, Brussels.

This picture reached at auction on the 3rd of February 2009 the sum of 746,850 GBP ($1,07 million) vs. an estimate of 400,000—600,000 GBP (price with Buyer's Premium).

OSKAR KOKOSCHKA : ISTANBUL I

2009-02-04T19:40:00.000-08:00

This painting by Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980) was made in 1929 and it is an oil on canvas representing the port of Istanbul (Turkey). It measures 31.6 x 43.6 in. / 80.3 x 110.8 cm and was acquired from the artist in 1930 by the Galerie Paul Cassirer, Berlin, then transferred to N. V. Amsterdamsche Kunsthandel Paul Cassirer & Co., Amsterdam in April 1931.

Oskar Federer , director general of the Vitkovice iron and mining company, from Ostrava (Czechoslovakia) acquired it from the above through Neue Galerie, Vienna, in 1933. In 1939, he managed to leave the Nazi-held Czechoslovakia when his wife and children already were safely in Canada. However, he could smuggle out only four of his favourite paintings, leaving behind a precious collection of works by European masters.

Istanbul I was Seized by the Nazis in 1939 as "entartete kunst" (degenerate art) and sold to the Galerie Vytvarného Umenì, Ostrava, in November 1943. Federer grandson, Andrew, a Toronto-based banker who works for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, failed to regain the paintings that remained in the Czech Republic in the 1990s because legislation at that time allowed only restitution of property confiscated after the 1948 Communist takeover. A new law, passed in 2000, allowed for art stolen by the Nazis to be claimed by the original owners or their heirs. It was restituted to the heirs of Oskar Federer in 2007.

Oskar Kokoschka (1 March 1886 – 22 February 1980) was an Austrian artist, poet and playwright, best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes and his passionate affair with Alma Schindler, widow of composer Gustav Mahler and ex-wife of Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus.

Kokoschka became a British citizen in 1946 and only in 1978 would regain Austrian citizenship. He travelled briefly to the United States in 1947 before settling in Switzerland, where he lived the rest of his life.

Kokoschka had much in common with his contemporary Max Beckmann. Both maintained their independence from German Expressionism, yet they are now regarded as its supreme masters, who delved deeply into the art of past masters to develop unique individual styles.

Estimated by Sotheby's between 1,200,000—1,800,000 GBP, it sold with Buyer's Premium for 1,49 million GBP ($2,15 million) on 3rd of February 2009.

PABLO PICASSO : TETE D'HOMME BARBU

2009-02-04T18:12:00.001-08:00

This Tête d'homme barbu signed 'Picasso' (upper left), dated '5.6.65.II' (on the reverse) is an oil on canvas measuring 18 1/8 x 15 in. (46 x 38.1 cm).

It was last sold in June 2007 by Christie's for 423,200 GBP in London (839,206 dollars at the time) but it reached yesterday 3rd of February 612,450 GBP (884,000 dollars at current exchange price)in an auction sale by Sotheby's. American and European investors can clinch very good deal given the current situation of the British Pound vs. the dollar and the Euro.

Sotheby's had conservatively estimated the picture between 350,000 and 450,000 GBP. Picasso (1881-1973) painted several bearded men. One of the few men that Picasso regularly saw in his final years was his chauffeur Maurice Bresnu, who joined the Picasso household with his wife in early 1965. He served Picasso to the end of the artist's life and assisted his widow Jacqueline thereafter.

Tête d'homme barbu belongs to a series of paintings of busts and heads executed in Mougins in late May and June 1965, several of which share the same Bresnu-like characteristics of the beard and tight black curls. Picasso's overriding preoccupation in this series seems to be the simplification of form, and his ability to portray both features and the individual with a few choice brushstrokes is superbly conveyed. Or maybe it is just that his talent was weaning out, his patience for hard work slowing down or his appetite for quick money unrelenting.

ERNST L. KIRCHNER : BERLIN STREET SCENE

2009-02-04T16:32:00.000-08:00

This painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) that Sotheby’s was selling on the 3rd of February 2009 — “Street Scene,” from 1913 — was last publicly seen at Sotheby’s London 11 years ago as part of a group of Fauve and German Expressionist works that were sold by Charles Tabachnick, a Toronto collector.

It is an oil on canvas measuring 70 by 51cm. (27 1/2 by 20in) and it fetched $3.3 million, a record price at the time. That buyer, whom Sotheby’s refused to identify, was selling the Berlin scene today in London and the auctioneer sold it off for 5.41 million GBP ($ 7.81 million) vs. an estimate ranging between 5 and 7 million GBP. A little disappointment for both the seller and the vendor.

Kirchner’s Berlin street scenes are among his most celebrated images. The artist, from Dresden, first visited Berlin in 1910 and moved there in 1911. From 1913 to 1915 he produced 11 street scenes. Except for one that Kirchner began in 1911 and repainted in 1922 and that Christie’s sold in London in 2006 for $3.8 million, this is the only remaining street scene in private hands. The rest are in museums around the world. In New York in November 2006, Christie’s sold another Berlin street scene from 1913-14 for a record $38 million. The buyer, who had the help of an anonymous friend, was Ronald S. Lauder, heir of the cosmetic conglomerate and founder of the Neue Galerie in Manhattan. The painting, of an urban crowd with a prostitute in a bright red dress, has been on and off the walls of the Neue Galerie ever since.

Ernst L. Kirchner was a German expressionist painter and printmaker and one of the founders of the artists group Die Brücke or "The Bridge", a key group leading to the foundation of Expressionism in 20th century art. He volunteered for army service in the First World War, but soon suffered a breakdown and was discharged. In 1933, his work was branded as "degenerate" by the Nazis and in 1937 over 600 of his works were sold or destroyed. In 1938 he committed suicide.

EDOUARD DEGAS : LA PETITE DANSEUSE DE 14 ANS

2009-02-04T16:19:00.001-08:00

The important & iconic sculpture Petite danseuse de quatorze ans by impressionist artist Edgar Degas was offered for sale in Sotheby’s Art Evening Auction of Impressionist and Modern Art in London on the 3rd of February 2009.

La Petite danseuse is one of the most ambitious and iconic of Degas’s works and a groundbreaking sculpture from the Impressionist period. The bronze cast to be offered at Sotheby’s is one of only a handful of casts remaining in private hands.

Created in wax circa 1879-81, Petite danseuse was the only sculpture to have been exhibited during the artist’s lifetime. Using a wire armature for the body and hemp for the arms and hands, Degas worked in modelling wax, dressing the figure in real silk, tulle and gauze. The wig came from Madame Cusset, supplier of ‘hair for puppets and dolls’. The wax sculpture was found in Degas’s studio following his death in 1917 and cast in bronze in from 1922.

His model was Marie van Goethem, the daughter of a Belgian tailor and laundress, who was a ballet student at the Opéra and among the dancers of the Opéra who were of particular interest to Degas at this time.

Estimated at 9-12 millions GBP, the Danseuse reached 13,25 millions including buyer's premium. Since 2001 the Degas price index rise 67%. Morale of the sale : the Danseuse is kidding the current crisis.

ILYA KABAKOV : BEETLE

2009-01-12T19:51:00.000-08:00

This picture entitle Beetle is an enamel paint on wooden panel measuring 226.5 x 148.5 cm. (89 1/4 x 58 1/2 in) signed, titled and dated ‘I.Kabakov Beetle 1982 [in Cyrillic]’ on the stretcher.

Kabakov is a painter born in 1933 in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine who is now an American conceptual artist of Russian-origin. He worked for thirty years in Moscow, from the 1950s until the late 1980s. He now lives and works on Long Island. He was named by JewishArtNews as one of the "ten greatest living artists" in 2000.

Kabakov joined the Union of Soviet Artists in 1959, and became a full-member in 1965. This was a prestigious position in the USSR and it brought with it substantial material benefits. In general, Kabakov illustrated children's books for 3–6 months each year and then spent the remainder of his time on his own projects.

Rather than depict the Soviet Union as a failed Socialist project defeated by Western economics, Kabakov describes it as one utopian project among many, capitalism included. Kabakov remained in Russia until 1987. His first trip to the West was to Graz, Austria when the Kunstverein (Art council) gave him an artistic residency. Between 1988 and 1992 Kabakov claimed no permanent home yet stayed in the West, working and living only briefly in various countries. In comparison to many Soviet émigré artists, Kabakov was immediately successful and has remained so ever since. Between 1988 and 1989 he had exhibitions in New York, Bern, Venice, and Paris.

His Beetle was sold in February 2008 for $5.84 million in London by auction house Phillips de Pury for an estimate of 1.2-1.8 million GBP. Kabakov is now the most expensive Russian artist. At a recent retrospective of his work in Moscow, Kabakov appeared wearing a shabby jacket and an old wool hat, looking like not a new Russian but an old one. Kabakov, now 75, seens to feel uncomfortable in the New Russia.

He recently referred to the crowd of nouveaux riches Russian attending his retrospective as rozovii gnoi, or pink pus.....

AND THE 2008 WINNERS ARE..... BACON, MONET, MUNCH, KOONS AND GUSTON

2008-12-29T21:18:00.000-08:00

In the midst of a market that remained on a crazy price trend for a long time before to cool off towards the end of the year, five paintings fetched very high prices in 2008. Good thing for the houses that auctioned them off, four of them were overvalued while only one was on the money.

The absolute winner is Francis Bacon's Triptych executed in 1976 that was acquired in May by Russian trophy-hunter Roman Abramovich for upward of $ 86,2 million, making it the fourth most expensive painting to sell at auction, behind two Picassos and a Gustav Klimt. Abramovich, 42, qualified for the Sunday Times Rich List 2008, with an estimated fortune of £11.7 billion ($16 billion)(1).

Forbes magazine ranked him as the fifteenth richest person in the world. He was considered to be the second richest person currently living within the United Kingdom in 2008. In my opinion, this price was grossly overvalued but if the auctioneers can find a foolish Russian nouveau-riche to increase their bottom-line, I do not see any reason to spoil their joy. This picture will never sell again at this price.

The second overvalued winner of the year is Claude Monet's rather gloomy Le bassin aux Nymphéas executed in 1919 that fetched the price of $ 40.9 million in June. This oil on canvas measuring 39 1/2 by 79 1/8 inches was acquired by London based art advisor Tania Buckrell Pos of Arts & Management International who beat telephone competition for the dark abstraction, and the final sale price shattered the artist’s record. This painting had been owned by the the California industrialist philanthropist Norton Simon who in other times terrorized the people of Christie's.

The third winner of 2008 is Edward Munch's beautiful and awe inspiring Vampire Love & Pain executed in 1894 depicting a woman with long, flaming red tresses biting the neck of a submissive male. The picture made a record price of $38,162,500 in November in a market that had become definitely depressive. The wealth of oil-rich Norway has flung Munch’s star higher in the past few seasons, though this contest, with at least four suitors chasing the prize, eclipsed the previous mark of $30,841,00, set by "Girls on a Bridge" (1902) at Sotheby’s New York in May.

Edvard Munch ( 1863 – 1944) was a Norwegian Symbolist painter, print maker, and an important forerunner of expressionistic art. A macabre quality pervaded his early work. Munch came to Paris in 1889 and based his expressive style on Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh and Gauguin.

The fourth winner of 2008 is the inevitable Englishman Jeff Koons whose Balloon Flower (Magenta) (1995–2000) - a nine-ton, high-chromium stainless steel monument from 1995/2000- that fetched the inflated and overvalued sum of £12,921,250 ($18 million)(1) in June and filled the pocket of the Dallas-based collector Howard Rachofsky.

Jeff Koons was born in York (Pennsylvania in 1955) and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Maryland Institute of College Art. Koons has long been known as a good self-promoter who relies on shiny, kitschy images to gain public attention.

The chateau de Versailles (France) near Paris recently held a Koons exhibit that costed 1.9 million Euros, 800,000 of which went solely to the Split Rocker which is in the gardens and is a reference to Le Nôtre.

Last winner of the year, the nice Beggar’s Joys (1954–55) by Canadian-born Philip Guston (1913-1980) who was a notable painter and printmaker in the New York School, which included many of the Abstract Expressionists, such as Jackson Pollock and Willem De Kooning. This picture fetched only $10,162,500 versus an estimate of $14–18 million.

It is probable that Sotheby's overlooked the fact that Guston is unknown in Europe, at least in comparison to the pantheon of ex-colleagues such as de Kooning, Pollock, and Rothko. The work set a record for the under-appreciated American artist nevertheless.

In my opinion, this picture altough extremely nice and attractive was also grossly overvalued but it seems that Guston is a rising star as -in May 2005- his very similar "The Street" from 1956 made $7,296,000.

The work sold in the salesroom to San Francisco art adviser Mary Zlot, who is known to counsel Bay Area billionaires Charles Schwab and George Roberts.

(1) At 29th of December 2008 rate of exchange

ALISON E. TAYLOR : 29 PALMS

2008-12-29T16:58:00.000-08:00

Alison Elisabeth Taylor is a very original American painter who has a MFA (master of Fine Arts) from Columbia University but who is self-taught in the art of wood inlay called marquetry.

She was born in 1973 in Selma, Alabama and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. She lives in New York city. Marquetry has a mixed history that is well-suited to her task. A princely luxury in medieval and renaissance times, it is, by now, more likely to be found in lower middle class homes of the kind inhabited by Ms. Taylor’s protagonists.

To make her works Alison E. Taylor makes first the drawings, then covers them with vellum, and maps out the puzzle-piece shapes she will cut from veneers. Some of her works contain more than 60 different types of wood. There is constantly an air of irony and social critic in her works that definitely draw the attention of the onlooker. Then there is the "finish" of the marquetry and the general impression is of a very elegant and electric atmosphere.

This work is a wood veneer, shellac 47 X 77 inches executed in 2007. Last Spring, for her second solo show at James Cohan Gallery in New York, she made her own freestanding room, paneled inside with marquetry looking like a homesteader's cabin. Some of her works sell for up to $150,000.

EMIL NOLDE : MARSCHLANDSCHAFT

2008-12-26T18:41:00.000-08:00

German painter Emil Hansen, aka Emil Nolde, was born near the German-Danish border in 1867. He adopted the name of his birth town as his artist name at a later date. Nolde completed an apprenticeship as a furniture designer and wood carver in Flensburg between 1884 and 1888 and then worked for various furniture factories in Munich, Karlsruhe and Berlin.

Nolde finally moved to Munich after deciding to become a painter, but the academy under Franz von Stuck dismissed him. He joined Adolf Hölzel in Dachau in 1899 to become his pupil and went to Paris in 1900 to increase his knowledge at the Académie Julien. Nolde studied the Neo-Impressionists Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch and James Ensor. He was briefly part of the Berliner secession movement.

In 1933, Nolde was the only major German expressionist to join the Nazi Party. Exhibited at the first exposition of Great German Art in 1937, he was however defamed during WW2 by the Nazis who eventually decided his art was "degenerated" and banned from exhibiting since 1941. Nolde spent the years 1939 to 1945 in Seebüll painting his 'unpainted paintings', more than 1000 small watercolours, which he took on in his oil paintings after 1945. He died in 1956.

In his last years, primarily watercolours with flower and landscape motifs from the neighbourhood of his house in Seebüll, where Nolde died on 13 April 1956, came into existence.This picture, an oil on canvas, recently went on post-auction sale for 70,000 EUR / 99,400 $.

In 2007, the portrait of some woman called Nadja executed in 1919 was sold for $2.87 million (€2.15 million) at an auction held by Ketterer Kunst in Munich. The canvas, which most optimistic estimate had been just €1.8 million went to a well-known private collector residing in Germany.

Owned by Dr. Ernst Rathenau from 1920s, Nadja mysteriously disappeared between October 1977 and September 1979. An anonymous art collector found the canvas in the attic in one of the Berlin houses in late 2006 after the suicide of his daughter. She had been probably involved in Nadja’s disappearance.

IRMA STERN : MALAY GIRL WITH HIBISCUS

2008-12-23T15:11:00.000-08:00

Irma Stern (1894 - 1966) was a major South African artist who achieved national and international recognition in her lifetime.

She was born in the Transvaal, of German-Jewish parents. Her father was interned in a concentration camp by the British during the South African War because of his pro-Boer leanings. Irma and her younger brother, Rudi, were thus taken to Cape Town by their mother. After the war, the family returned to Germany and constant travel. This travel would influence Irma's work.

In 1913 Stern studied art in Germany at the Weimar Academy, in 1914 at the Levin-Funcke Studio and notably from 1917 with Max Pechstein, a founder of the Novembergruppe. Stern was associated with the German Expressionist painters of this period. She held her first exhibition in Berlin in 1919, the first of nearly one hundred solo exhibitions she was to hold in her lifetime. However, her first South African exhibition in Cape Town in 1922 she provoked controversy because of her modern art style. She returned to Germany, but decided to live in Cape Town in 1926. She became an established artist by the 1940s.

Stern's contribution to South African art was considerable and as a consequence a major retrospective exhibition of her work was put together in 1968. In 1971 the Irma Stern Museum was opened in her home, The Firs in Rosebank, as part of the University of Cape Town's collection.

This Malay Girl with Hibiscus an oil on canvas measuring 24 x 24in. (61 x 61cm.) executed in 1944 fetched £301,250 ($460,009) last week at Christie's London.

IS CONTEMPORARY ART PORNOGRAPHIC ?

2008-12-22T16:14:00.000-08:00

No, contemporary art is not pornographic per se, it is only very willingly and complacently provocative in a manner than even the Cubists and the Surrealists were not.

And any artist or art amateur knows that the best way to be provocative and to draw attention -especially if you are talented, innovative and original- is to make your works border on pornography. He who can the most can the least. And if pornography is the picture which is being 'too close' whilst erotica is the picture which is 'leaving room for the imagination', then Jeff Koons' painting on the right is pornographic.

The "Red Butt" of the series Made in Heaven by Jeff Koons shows him in close action with his then wife Anna Ilona Staller also known as La Cicciolina. (the most intimate details were censored by me). Hungarian-born Italian porn-star, Staller married Koons in 1991 and left him two years later. A son was born of their short union in 1992 and in 2008 Staller filed suit against Koons for failing to pay child support. When you think that he is one of the richest painters in the world, it leaves you thinking....

Anyway, this artistico-pornographic picture - that will probably never hang in a museum -and was certainly not shown at any Koons retrospective- is a 90x60 in. silkscreen made in 1991 and is # one of an edition of one plus one artist's proof which no longer exists. In 2003, Christie's sold one of them for $369,000 after a bidding war involving 9 bidders. In May 2005, the same auction house sold it again for $520,000 . I do not know if Contemporary art is pornographic but I am sure it can be and that it sells very well.

Of course like some critic you can always justify pornography in the Art by writing something like : "Instead of a porno show, the effect is like that of Japanese erotic prints, where the degree of stylization is so exaggerated that the sexual acrobatics as such are quickly submerged in an all-engulfing artifice." (Robert Rosenblum in The Jeff Koons Handbook, Rizzoli, London, 1992, p.25). But you will fool nobody for yourself, not even the fools who bought it for what it is : a pornographic picture made by a very talented artist.

EMILE GALLE : CAMEO GLASS

2008-12-20T21:25:00.000-08:00

Paintings, italian sport cars, watches, sculptures, the world of Fine Art is a vast world and one of my favorite category with Italian sport cars is the glass works, particularly the ones by French Emile Gallé factory.

Émile Gallé (1846 – 1904) was a French artist who worked in glass, and is considered to be one of the major forces in the French Art Nouveau movement.

Gallé was the son of a faience and furniture manufacturer and studied philosophy, botany, and drawing in his youth. He later learned glassmaking at Meisenthal (Lorraine, France) and came to work at his father's factory in Nancy after 1870. His early work was executed using clear glass decorated with enamel, but he soon turned to an original style featuring heavy, opaque glass carved or etched with plant motifs. His career took off after his work received praise at the Paris Exhibition of 1878.

Gallé revitalized the glass industry by establishing a workshop to mass produce his, and other artists', designs. The factory would employ 300 workers and artisans at its height, including the notable glassmaker Eugène Rosseau, and remained in operation until 1936.

Gallé was also a great and noble figure who was treasurer of the Nancy branch of the Ligue Française pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme and in 1898 one of the first to become actively involved in the defence of Alfred Dreyfus. He also publicly condemned the Armenian genocide, defended the Romanian Jews and spoke up in defence of the Irish Catholics against Britain, supporting William O’Brien, one of the leaders of the Irish revolt. Gallé died of leukemia in 1904.

This wonderful work, property of a Houston collector, is 10 1/4 in. (26 cm) high and is a signed gallé, additionally engraved with the Biblical verses Matthew 5:4 and Isaiah 44:5 in Latin, wheel-carved marqueterie-sur-verre cameo glass and gilt-bronze.

Estimated between $30,000 and 50,000 , it fetched at Sotheby's New York in December 2008 the respectable height of $46,875 (buyer premium included).

COLLECTORS SNUBBED PRESTIGIOUS ITALIAN CARS SALE IN GSTAAD

2008-12-20T14:28:00.000-08:00

If collectors are currently pouting Contemporary art, they literally snubbed this week end my favorite works of art, i.e. Ferraris, Lancias and other "miraviglie" sport cars from the 50s-90s by the best designers and makers of Italy.

The London auction house Bonhams that carved for itself a prestigious niche in the segment of collectible cars market was offering this week end in Gstaad, Switzerland, a nice bunch of some of the most beautiful Ferraris, Maseratis and Lancias one can dream of.

Unfortunately the bidding was not very agressive to say the least. Of the 34 prestigious sport cars offered only 13 passed the reserve price and sold, making a score of 62% of left over cars. More worrying the cars that sold were almost all low priced : 9 sold for less than 200,000 CHF ($181,000) while only a beautiful 1965 black Ferrari 275 GTS Spyder (picture at left) went for more than CHF 600,000 ($524,000) and a splendid 1961 Maserati 3500 GT Vignale Spyder full of history and completely redone (picture on top) fetched CHF 346,050 ($313,000).

But this was a minor disappointment : the "clou de la vente", supposedly a fantastic 1951 Ferrari 212 Export Spider V12 whose bodywork was styled and crafted by Carrozzeria Rocco Motto of Torino did not make its reserve. This unique piece of art used to belong to the enthusiastic Florentine amateur racing driver Piero Scotti. He took delivery of the car – unusually painted metallic grey - in the early Spring of 1951 and on April 28 that year he drove it in the XVIII Mille Miglia accompanied by Amos Ruspaggiari. The car’s start-time race number was ‘434’, and Scotti achieved astonishing success with it – returning to the starting point at Brescia after 1,000 miles’ hectic racing on the public roads of Italy to finish third overall.

The car ran in the 1987 Mille Miglia Retro, and in 1991 reappeared with it in the Rallye des 10,000 Virages. Appearances followed in the 1992 Tour de France Automobile and 1997 Monaco Historic Grand Prix meeting. The car was displayed during the Lyons Salon de l’Auto of 1999 and it was also exhibited at the Concours d’Elégance d' Automobiles Classiques Louis Vuitton at Bagatelle.

The estimate for this capo lavoro was between CHF 2.8 and 3.8 million ($2.5-3.5 million) but it did not reach the reserve and was left unsold on the stage. Onlookers and fans could not believed their eyes.

Another big disappointment was caused by the fate of one of the most elegant sport car of all times, the pretty Lancia Aurelia Spyder : this 1955 B24 model designed by Pinin Farina, the first car ever to employ a V6 engine, was launched at the 1950 Turin Motor Show. Only 240 B24 Spiders were manufactured during 1954/55, and today the model is one of the most sought-after of post-war Lancias. But this beautiful black exemple was left unsold on stage in spite of a moderate estimate of CHF 430 /530,000 ($390,000).

The Lancia Aurelia B24 Spider summed up 1950s Dolce Vita Italy perhaps better than any other motor car. Over the past seven years the equivalent of approximately €138,300 has been spent on this example and unfortunately the result which is simply stunning left indifferent the bidders. I wish I had enough money to bid on it. It is definitely the car I would have love to buy this weekend and to bring back to Texas for Christmas.

WHERE ARE THE GREAT ART FAIRS ?

2008-12-18T16:12:00.000-08:00

Do you know where took place the most ridiculous bidding war of all times between three rich men ?

It was at Basel Art Fair in 2006 between Charles Saatchi, publicist and collector, Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH and Steve Cohen, manager of the hedge fund SAC Capital Partners.

The object of their lust ? Pieces of bronze-casted HUMAN EXCREMENT covered in 24-carat gold and contained in glass boxes supposed to be the symbols of an anti consumerist statement.

Eventually Steve Cohen snapped the coveted shit from the lust of the two others wealthy fools with a bid at £68,000.

The golden shit was the work of sculptor Terence Koh (here with K.Lagerfeld) who was born in 1977 in Beijing, was raised in Mississauga, Ontario, and lives in New York City. Also known as Asianpunkboy, Koh received his Bachelor degree from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver and his work often borders on pornography.

Basel art fair is one of the four biggest 205 art fairs in the world where dealers come together for several days to offer their best works as the prize of each individual booth is never under $40,000.

The big Four are to art what Cannes Festival is to movies industry : a place where you must be seen or you are a non-entity. The big #1 is the TEFAF (European Fine Art foundation fair) : held in March it is known as the Maastrich Fair (Netherlands) under the patronage of French insurance Cy AXA. Founded in 1985, it exhibits art works for a global value estimated at $1 billion. It is 28,000 m2 (300,000 sq ft) which is roughly the size of four soccer fields. In 2008, 610 dealers applied to show and only 220 from 15 countries were accepted. No important art dealer wants to miss Maastricht where sales in 2007 had a value of some €790 million.

For Ben Janssens, Chairman of TEFAF’s Executive Committee, “there is no evidence that the jittery financial markets have discouraged art buyers and in fact the reverse seems to be true. Visitors said to me that they see no point in investing in stocks at the moment and prefer to put their money into art and antiques.”

The second is Art Basel (Switzerland) called "Olympics of the Art World" which draws during 6 days in June collectors and dealers to the Rhine city : this year 60,000 people attended the Fair and in 2009 circa 300 of the world's leading art galleries for Modern and contemporary art will display 20th- and 21st-century art works. Sponsored by Swiss Bank UBS, Art Basel is the mother of all fairs : in 2008, 900 galleries applied and only 290 were selected, over $2million were spent in advertising and dealers fees for the smallest stand started at €17,000.

A third Fair is Art Basel's spin-off, Art Basel Miami that begain in 2005 and is now the biggest fair in the world for Contemporary Art. It recently took place in December (3-6) : Art Basel Miami is the most important art show in the United States and has achieved world status for his blend of art, money and fashion. Critics call it the "All singing, all dancing art fair." This year, 250 leading galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa exhibited 20th and 21st century artworks by over 2,000 artists. The 80-sq-meter booth costs $110,000. According to art dealers, the 2008 edition was not so bad. Or at least not as bad as expected. Basel Miami is capable to attract more than 2,000 VHNWI (very high net worth individuals).

The last of the big four is the most recent edition, London Frieze in Regent’s Park, held in October since 2004 which features more than 150 galleries from around the world. In order to increase the number of exhibitors and make the exhibit's fees more affordable, Frieze launched in 2008 a new section dedicated to solo artist presentations which is open to galleries who have been in existence for less than 6 years and present a regular programme of exhibitions. In 2006, 470 galleries applied for 152 spots.

Maastrich, the two basel-fairs and Frieze are branded the "must-see" fairs and they attract consignments that might have gone to Christie's or Sotheby's evening sales. It is more or less a virtuous circles in so far as each of them attracts the same collection of dealers, artists, curators and art advisors and journalists. It is a bit of a circus but no more than Cannes Festival and probably more interesting and educating although Art Basel Miami began this year to resemble to a huge gypsy circus with movies and rock stars, even Marilyn Manson had a stand to exhibit his works that were IMHO very good.

Below the big four, one has 20 "nice-to-see" fairs which gives opportunities to mainstream dealers to show their assets. The big four costs the stars dealers up to $100,000 each and any dealer who wants to attend them all will have to cough up half a million dollar or more. Booths at Maastricht are not given away : the total cost of exhibit -including shipping, hotel, food and so on- for a 80- sq.meter booth reaches €80,000 ($120,000).

Will the fair system prevent the auction houses to bury the art dealers as something of the past between the axe and the spinning wheel ? It is hard to tell but the affluence of applications to each of the big four obviously show that the competition is not yet a thing of the past and that dealers are still capable and agressive players on the art market, especially contemporary. And averybody knows that the art market is more and more made of contemporary works as the Old Masters and the Moderr Art works tend to dry up and make themselves rarer and rarer.

SALVATOR DE CARLIS : BUST OF JOHANN JOACHIM WINCKELMANN

2008-12-18T10:35:00.001-08:00

Sculpture is one of the Fine Arts which is sometimes disregarded by investors and collectors. But there are plenty of wonders in the realm of sculpture and very nice opportunities for an aspiring collector.

One is not obliged to look for a Degas, a Modigliani or a Rodin but at high level there are works of relatively unknown artists that can bring beauty and value to a collection.

The noble face of German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann (68 cms) is magnificently represented by this bust made by Salvator de Carlis in the XIXth century. It fetched the surprising sum of € 75,150 in Amsterdam this week whereas it has been estimated around €9,000 by Sotheby's auctioneers.

Johann J. Winckelmann ( 1717 - 1768), a German art historian and archaeologist, was a pioneer Hellenist who first articulated the difference between Greek, Greco-Roman and Roman art. The prophet and founding hero of modern archaeology, Winckelmann was one of the founders of scientific archaeology.

This bust is then an homage to the works of this man who died tragically and rather stupidly : in 1768 Winckelmann was persuaded by his friend the sculptor Bartolomeo Cavaceppito to travel to Munich and Vienna, where he was received with honor by Empress Maria Theresa. On his way back, he was murdered at Trieste in a hotel bed by a fellow traveller, a man named Francesco Arcangeli, for medals that Maria Theresa had given him. Arcangeli had thought that he was only "un uomo di poco conto" ("a man of little account").

So little that his bust -two centuries later- reached almost 80,000 Euro.

JUDAICA: AS GOOD AS THE BEST CONTEMPORARY & PROBABLY SAFER

2008-12-17T17:27:00.000-08:00

If you have a serious look at an auction sale of Judaica artefacts or memorabilia you can have a very good surprise because those items are in high demand by the Jewish community on one hand and by learned collectors on the other. Judaica represents a wide and diverse area of collecting comprising three main categories: Hebrew manuscripts and books, ritual objects, and fine arts, including paintings and graphics.

Investing in good Judaica is rarely a risky business and you have the certitude that with time your investment will increase in value even moderately. Sotheby's New York held this week an important Judaica sale of more than 160 lots of which some fetched incredible high prices, setting them on a par with the most expensive purchases of recent Contemporary art.

Although some might consider better to be a Jew than a Roman Catholic to buy a Judaica I strongly disagree. A Hebrew Bible is as good a collectible as a Roman Catholic Codex and a manuscript of Psalms is as valuable as the Collection of Rabelais writings.

For instance this beautiful 18th century Sefer Tehillim (Psalms) illuminated and decorated manuscript fetched the astronomical price of $92,500 for an
estimate of only 30,000/40,000. It has 113 leaves (4 7/8 x 3½ in.; 124 x 89 mm) including 103 leaves on vellum. Each title within full-page contains painted scene and there are 31 additional miniatures decorated in gouache, page frames and many initial words in liquid gold while the sectional titles are illuminated with floral decoration painted in yellow and red, occasional marginal drawings in gouache.
The work is a gift presented by a devoted son to his father-in-law, the Shtadlan Michel Segal and his wife Hannaleh in Hanover in 1734. The gift of the manuscript coincided with the Festival of Purim (1) and was sent in the tradition of mishloah manot and is dated: Friday, Purim [14 Adar II, 5]494 (=19 March 1734).

Another striking example is the fate of this 4-volume Biblica Rabbinica that belonged to Rabbi Moses Judah Belgrado (inscriptions of his father's death in 1667 and his wife's death on the final folio of volume 1).

In 1516 Daniel Bomberg, a wealthy Christian, was granted the privilege of publishing Hebrew books in Venice. Among the first works he printed was the Mikra'ot Gedolot (Rabbinic Bible) a folio edition of the entire Bible with the leading commentaries. Pope Leo X gave his imprimatur for this book and Felix Pratensis, a monk who had been born a Jew, was the editor. Bomberg published the edition because of growing interest in the Hebrew language and the Bible among learned Christians. This very well preserved Bible fetched the incredible price of $134,500 this week at a auction sale at Sotheby's NYC for an estimate of only 50/70,000.

But the cherry on the cake was represented by the sale of this magnificent pair of early english parcel-gilt silver large baroque Torah Finials, made by William Spackman arounf 1719, of multi baluster form embossed and chased with bands of lobes alternating with stemmed bell flowers, pierced with arches framed by chased flowerheads against matted ground.

Early English torah finials are exceptionally rare. Of the few surviving however, eleven pairs are recorded with the mark of Abraham de Oliveyra, who was born in Amsterdam in 1657 and relocated to London in the 1690's. The other specialist maker was William Spackman, a gentile who followed Dutch prototypes. This pair of a height of 18in. (45.8cm) fetched $338,500 at Sotheby's NY for an estimate of $300,000 /500,000.

(1)Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people of the ancient Persian Empire from Haman's plot to annihilate them, as recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther.

ROGER HILTON : MAY 58

2008-12-17T16:38:00.000-08:00

This rather uninteresting picture by Englishman Roger Hilton (1911-1975) titled May '58, is an oil and charcoal on canvas measuring 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61 cm.)and was part of the collection of a wealthy Englishman who bought it in 1986 from the Redfern gallery in London (1).

In February and March 1958, Hilton's first retrospective was mounted at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in London. For the first time, the mature artistic nature of Hilton was on public display, in a powerful selection of works. The exhibition was a serious and important event which led to the Tate buying its first work by the artist, January 1957 .

Later that year, in July 1958, Hilton was selected to feature in a Critic's Choice exhibition at Tooth's Gallery : it was an eclectic mix, bringing together Francis Bacon, William Coldstream, Victor Pasmore and Roger Hilton making the latter famous. Roger Hilton was a pioneer of abstract art in post-war Britain. He was born in Northwood, London and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, London and also in Paris. But he is always connected with St. Ives, and moved permanently to west Cornwall in 1965. By 1974 he was confined to bed as an invalid precipitated in part by alcoholism. His work became less abstract in his later years, often being based on the nude or images of animals.

His fame endured to this day as shows this banal oil/charcoal on convas that fetched this week at Christie's London the high sum of £32,450 ($49,551) beating its lower estimate by almost £8,000 .

(1) Note that the Redfern gallery represents the works by Sarah Armstrong-Jones, the daughter of the late Princess Margaret. Lady Sarah attended the Camberwell School of Art and Middlesex Polytechnic and is a professional painter. She is also Vice President of the Royal Ballet, an appointment she accepted in 2004, following the example of her mother who was a patron of the Royal Ballet.

THEODOR MAJOR : LANCASHIRE SCENE

2008-12-17T16:12:00.000-08:00

One would think that nobody is ready to go well beyond the estimate and the reserve price for a gloomy dim foggy view of Lancashire by English painter Theodore Major (1908-1999) titled Lancashire Scene.

Well just change your mind because this oil on canvas measuring 22 x 26 in. (55.9 x 66 cm.) and painted in the late 1940s fetched this week at Christie's London more than twice its lower estimate at £20,000 ($30,540). Major was famous for his depiction of industrial scenes of the first half of the XXth century in all their gloomness and dreary perspective of dejected workers against a background of smoking chimneys, sinister industrial plants and dark smoggy skies.

Major had this year some help from his supporters : 2008 marks the centenary of his birth and has been celebrated with a large exhibition at Gallery Oldham and the launch of a fully illustrated biography of the artist. The present work was painted in the late 1940s when the family lived in Wigan (Lancashire). After moving to Appley Bridge in 1950, Major painted on board rather than canvas and relatively few works remain from the earlier period.

GERMAIN FABIUS BREST : BOUQUET DE TULIPES

2008-12-17T15:25:00.000-08:00

If you distrust or esteem that Contemporary Art market got nuts or unaffordable, you don't have to throw the towel regarding your aspiration to become a wise collector. You can buy for instance works by French "Orientalist" painter Germain Fabius Brest (1823-1900) whose pictures are still very much in demand.

His Bouquet de tulipes et pivoines dans un intérieur ottoman -an oil on canvas measuring 24.02" x 19.92" in.- is part of the "tableaux orientalistes" category made by this artist from my home city of Marseille (France) ; it fetched this week at Christie's Paris the respectable sum of €20,000 vs. an estimate of 6,000 /8,000.

Fabius Brest learnt his art with famous painters like Émile Loubon in Marseille and Constant Troyon in Paris. Advised by Loubon who had lived in Palestine to visit The Middle East, Brest went to Turkey where he stayed 5 years until 1859. He came back from this region with a lot of landscape paintings. The Middle East and its architecture will stay a source of inspiration during his entire life. Some of his paintings (see upper pictures) are amazingly vivid and good and can be viewed at the Istanbul sanatevi (Istanbul art house) from which you can even buy on line very solid and promising art..

NEXT STAR ARTIST 2008 IS HERB WILLIAMS

2008-12-15T21:42:00.000-08:00

American artist Herb Williams, 36, from Nashville (TN.) was named Next Star Artist for the year 2008 by a jury of 15 international galleries of whom Saatchi, Galleri HK, Red Bubble and Art Culture Studio.

Williams think that artwork can be humorous and even downright fun, yet still be viable in the midst of what is considered “art” today.

Some of his influences are Jasper Johns, Magritte, Duchamp, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Robert Rauschenburg, Banksy, and Ai Weiwei, all artists whom the reader of this blog is now familiar with.

In 1996 Williams obtained a B.F.A. in Sculpture of the Birmingham Southern College (Alabama). Since then he exhibited in Florida, Tennessee, Alabama and twice in France in 2003 and 2005. His works have been bought by several private and public collections (Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Vanderbilt, Vogue).

Using cigar cutters and dog nail clippers, Williams cuts the crayons to create a mosaic-like artwork : this Obama's 3D-portrait is made of over 50,000 crayons of different colors in a very large canvass that took 4 months of hard work. His life-sized Johnny Cash sculpture used over 100,000 black crayons, and he used over a quarter million Crayolas to create a six-foot Marilyn Monroe portrait. Next September, his works will be exhibited in NYC's prestigious Rare Gallery in Chelsea. .

While the recent portrait of President-elect Obama fetches $25,000 from the Rymer Gallery, you can walk away with one of the artist's life-size high heel shoes for under $1,000.

CONTEMPORARY ART DOWN 17% IN 2008

2008-12-15T20:57:00.000-08:00

Annual sales of contemporary art at Sotheby’s and Christie’s flagship auctions in New York and London have dropped 17% in 2008, according to Bloomberg news agency. The significant drop from a total of $2.4 billion last year to just below $2 billion this year comes after two years of more than doubling in sales.

According to Christie's CEO Edward Dolman the London auction house is going to lower its estimates by 10% in the coming months. But if you listen to Tobias Meyer (1), auctioneer at Sotheyby's, the decline of Contemporary market is providing a lot of opportunities.

(1) Tobias Meyer is Deputy Chairman, Europe at Sotheby's auction house, Head of Department, Worldwide Contemporary Art, and can be reached at Tel: +1 212 606 7254 or e-mailed to at tobias.meyer@Sothebys.com

CRISIS HITS HIRST AND HURTS STAFF

2008-12-14T21:34:00.000-08:00

One would have thought that His Excellency Damien Hirst, unchallendged Pope of Factory-Contemporary Art, would have been recession-proofed. Et bien non !!

My favorite informer in London told me that he laid off his studio-factory staff on Thursday 12 December : almost 80% of the nice artists who make the pills for Hirst's drug cabinet series were told their contracts were not being renewed.

Another three who make his butterfly paintings were also told they were surplus to any current requirements. Their salary is or was in the region of £19,000 a year.

Not too generous for a man who is considered the richest artist on earth with his 130 million Pounds at 42. Remember that in December 2004, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (picture) was sold by Saatchi to American collector Steve Cohen for $12 million (£6.5 million), in a deal negotiated by Hirst's New York agent, Gagosian. Steve Cohen, a Greenwich hedge fund manager, then donated the work to MoMA.

Hirst is used to making dollars by the hundred of thousands and it is certainly a sign of the times if this poor artist does not have any more money to pay his employees. Donations can be made at the Gagosian Gallery in New York city.

A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO THE ART DEALERS

2008-12-14T11:55:00.000-08:00

There are thousands of galleries and art dealers in the world. In the USA, there is an Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA, 575 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022) that gives a list of its 165 members and a very comprehensive Guide to Collectors that may be useful to an aspiring buyer.

To qualify for membership, a gallery must have been in business for at least five years, have a reputation for honesty and integrity. You would not expect less. Note that the gallery of the flamboyant Larry Gagosian is not a member of the ADAA : "Gaga" does not embarrass himself with that sort of membership.

Among the expectations that a collector must have, the ADAA cites as a #1 Authenticity, followed by Quality, Rarity, Condition, Provenance and Value. Note that value is held in ultimate position and authenticity in #1. We would think that works by Hirst or Warhol or Tracey Emin or even Koons would respond to this criteria. Not at all. Warhol painted silkscreens by the dozens, Emin openly mocks authenticity, Hirst used to say that great artists are great negotiators and Koons does not care less about rarity that when he exhibits a plastic tortoise or a Puppy made of bushes.

However all the members of the ADAA would kill mother, sister and lover to have the chance to exhibit a Koons or a Hirst. It is one more case of "Do what I say but don't do what I do" theory. And when it comes to auctions, the ADAA tells you that for both sellers and buyers, auctions are a gamble in which control is ceded to fickle and sometimes irrational forces. Understood ?

Dealers, will tell you the ADAA, are able to give personal attention to buyers and sellers at all levels of the market, while auctioneers lavish much of their energy on multi-million-dollar lots. ADAA dealers have made a long-term commitment to the art and artists they represent, whereas auctioneers seldom look much further than the next sale. Capito ?

More, the ADAA warns you that pre-sale estimates published in auction catalogues are not necessarily predictive of final sales results or of fair value. Estimates are frequently the result of a negotiation between the auction-house and the consignor and may represent wishful thinking on both sides. Verstehen ?

Don't even believe that you made a bargain because you got a lot below its lower estimate. This is false. If a lot appears to be going cheaply, it may be that the estimate was too high. Possibly the work is in bad condition. Perhaps the attribution is doubtful and perhaps the auctioneer is a crook. Compris ?

In London you have the Society of Art Dealers (SAD) in Ormond House, 3 Duke of York Street London, SW1Y 6JP that boasted of "around" 100 members and was founded in 1932. Do not expect a great help from this respectable association ; the Society has a better role to play than assisting you in the Art jungle : its vital role is to represent "the interests of its members in discussions with the government and other professional bodies on current issues concerning the art trade." Do not think though that there are discussions with the auction houses, they hate each other. Entendido ?

Once more note that the most powerful art dealer in England, Charles Saatchi, is not a member. SAD's artwoks database is very poor and does not mention a Koons or a Hirst but it gives you an exhaustive lists of galleries where you can buy Contemporary art.

In France you have the Syndicat des Antiquaires and the Cie Nationale des Commissaires Priseurs, two very old institutions whose protectionist habits were shattered in the early 2000s when European regulations forced "art dealers" (antiquaires) and "commissaires priseurs" (auctioneers) to drop their monopolistic policies (Law of July 2000) opening the French art market to the competition of Sotheby's and Christie's. Those two organisations do not deal with the public needs and have a pure role of negociation and representation with public authorities. But there is no art dealers or galleries association like the ADAA or the SDA (2).

In Canada, there is a Contemporary Art Galleries Association (AGAC) sprang from Montreal art dealers’ desire to ensure the recognition and viability of the contemporary art market. Founded in 1985, the AGAC is a non-profit organization whose function is to defend its members interests. Presently, the Association includes contemporary art galleries from Quebec and Ontario.

According to a book (1) recently published in the USA, the Superstar dealers are Gagosian gallery, Haunch of Venison, White Cube, Lisson Gallery, Sadie Coles, Victoria Miro, Hauser & Wirth, Maureen Paley, The Approach and Stephen Friedman gallery in London and Gagosian, PaceWildenstein, Marian Goodman, Paula Cooper, Gladstone, David Zwirner, Matthews Marks, Sonnabend, Luhring Augustine and Gavin Brown in New York. One could add Artcurial in Paris, the Galleria Colonna and the Doria Pamphili Galleria in Rome, the Stella Art gallery in Moscow, the Opera City Art Gallery in Tokyo and a handful of galleries in Zurich, Mexico and Madrid.

A special mention must be made of the interactive Saatchi gallery established in 2006 which is only an on line gallery but it offers representation to 38,000 artists and has more than 70 million hits per day. Anybody can register his works on the famous Saatchi gallery.

Some sources advance that the average turn-over of that kind of very famous galleries in 2006 was around $650,000 and that they represent less than 1% of all contemporary artists. The majority of artists seek and settle for representation with less well-branded dealers. Somme 12,000 artists stroll the streets of London in search of a representing gallery and the figure is said to be 15,000 in New York.

Having said that it is hard to tell where to find the best deals and to clinch the juicest bargains : if you are beginning a serious collection and are really determined with some means I would advise to use the expertise of an art dealer. But do some serious shopping around in your city before to pick up one, ask questions and don't be afraid to look goofy. If you are really committed, it will show and the dealer will pay attention to you. If he/she does not and snubs you, just walk away, he/she has lost a good client.

On another hand if you just want to catch a nice piece of art now and then and are not interested in becoming a serious collector just go to auction houses anywhere in the world but look at their incoming sales and refrain from letting yourself caught in a stupid bidding war.

Once you are an experienced collector and know the art market, then you can drop your dealer and enjoy the thrill of the hammer especially when it is yielded by star auctioneer like Tobias Meyer of Sotheby's (3) (picture) and go to the big auction sales that draw the attention of the media and huge crowds... But never forget : Caveat emptor !!

(1) The $12 million stuffed shark by Don Thompson, Palgrave Macmillan 2008
(2) Curiously enough the opening of the French market coincided with the acquisition of Christie's by businessman François Pinault and of Phillips de Pury by his rival Bernard Arnault.
(3) Tobias Meyer is Deputy Chairman, Europe at Sotheby's auction house, Head of Department, Worldwide Contemporary Art, and can be reached at Tel: +1 212 606 7254 or e-mailed to at tobias.meyer@Sothebys.com

JEAN MICHEL BASQUIAT : SURVEY

2008-12-14T10:20:00.001-08:00

This "Black Athlete" (1982) by Jean-Michel Basquiat, one of few standout artists at recent auctions, was available for $5.5 million at Van de Weghe's gallery's booth during the last Basel Miami Art Fair in December 2008.

To my knowledge it was unsold which is good because IMHO Basquiat like Koon's works are scam, fantasies that should not go beyond some thousands of dollars.

I think that one day in 20 or 30 years the Contemporary Art maket will become the Modern Art market and that prices will collapse. People will look at Basquiat's and Koon's works and will start saying to themselves :"our grandparents paid 5 million bucks for that piece of s...t ? My goodness ! They were out of their mind !"

Take my poll and let us know how much you would give for that picture by Jean Michel.

WOULD YOU PAY $6 MILLION BUCKS FOR THIS PICASSO ?

2008-12-14T09:16:00.001-08:00

At the recent Basel Miami Fair, Switzerland's Galerie Gmurzynska was offering Pablo Picasso's "Fillette a Cheval" (Little girl on a horse) -executed in 1905/06- for $6 million.

The picture is a grim reddish drawing of a man standing by a horse ridden by a young girl. It is not particularly appealing nor well drawn. It is only a Picasso, one among dozens of thousands.

The gallery did not sell the Picasso and it is well understandable. Who is the fool ready to spit out such a monstruous sum for the joy of hanging on his/her wall a painting that looks like the work of a average gifted artist in his first year at l'Ecole des Beaux Arts ?

"You don't understand, answer the critics and the art dealers, it is a Picasso". So what ? The whole thing is horrible, the reddish background loos like a primer, the small girl seems to come from a diet at Dachau and the man -who looks to be a Doppelgänger of Chaplin- is touching his chest as though he was checking for a possible heart attack !! Six millions bucks ? Please make me a serious offer at $600,000 and I might consider a purchase.

The press commented about the Miami Fair saying that art dealers were generally happy and satisfied. Wow the lie !!! The press is always lenient to the Art dealers and ready to propagandize their says with celerity and complacency. The reality is that prices are down, seriously down, rebates as well above expectations, negociations last for even with some aggressivity and good pieces of great quality went but not always at the best prices (for the dealers), in short the ones who made good deals were the visitors who had not yet lost all their wealth on the stock markets.

Conclusion, it is what we can call a buyers' market but the press never likes this idea : those morons prefer to stand with the dealers when it is a sellers' market and ignore the general needs of the public. Why ? It should be the contrary.

GREYWACKED SCULPTURE : $1.65 MILLION

2008-12-13T11:03:00.000-08:00

This Egyptian figure in greywacke wood of a kneeling man dating from around 600–342 B.C. measuring 35 cm. in height was sold in December 2008 by Sotheby's NYC for the astounding sum of $1.65 million vs. a higher estimate of $600,000.

According to press reports, the buyer was from Qatar and some think that the real owner will be Sheikh Saud Al-Thani who is very fond of Egyptian antiquities.

Its provenance was very prestigious too : Henry Salt (1780-1827) collected in Egypt between 1824 and he said to have found the figure in the Temple of Bubastes, Lower Egypt. Then Sir Charles John Greville (1785-1836), Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, acquired it and the figure stayed in the Collections of the Earls of Warwick until this date.

It is doubtful however than the final owner is the Sheikh Saud Al Thani who burst onto the antiquities market in the late 1990s. He was buying Islamic, Egyptian and Roman antiquities for himself, but was also acting as president of Qatar’s National Council for Culture, Arts and the Heritage (NCCAH) to acquire material intended to furnish a new museum complex which would make Qatar the cultural capital of the Gulf .

Among his record-breaking antiquities purchases were the so-called Jenkins Venus, a second-century AD Roman statue bought at Christie’s London in June 2002 for £7.9 million, and the third-century AD Roman “cage cup”, bought for £2.3 million at the Sotheby’s London November 1997 sale of the British Rail Pension Fund’s collection of ancient glass.

In April 2005 the buying came to an end when Sheikh Saud was placed under house arrest in Qatar under suspicion of misusing public funds. He was replaced as president of the NCCAH by Mohammed Abdulraheem Kafoud .

The greywacke figure had been sold in Sotheby’s first-ever antiquities auction in 1835, for £60. At its one-session sale on Wednesday 10 December, 101 of 122 well-selected lots found buyers, all in all, the sale earned $8.9 million on an estimate of $4–6.9 million. It was in the current conditions of the Art market a very good night for Sotheby's of whom a director concluded that "nothing changed on the market, people want high quality stuff and good provenance."

Greywacke (German grauwacke, signifying a grey, earthy rock) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly-sorted, angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments set in a compact, clay-fine matrix. It is a texturally-immature sedimentary rock generally found in Palaeozoic strata. The larger grains can be sand-to-gravel-sized, and matrix materials generally constitute more than 15% of the rock by volume.

YINGZHAO LIU : PEONY AND LEMON REFLECTION

2008-12-12T20:42:00.000-08:00

Chinese artist Yingzhao Liu is one of the Asian artist whose works are remarkable by their finesse and clarity and whose prices are still affordable : sharpness and image resolution of every of his pictures make his works worth a moment of serious thinking when compared to most of the Contemporary productions.

Offered by a California gallery at $6800 this Peony and Lemon may be negotiable at $6000 in the current economic conditions. However Chinese artists are hot and IMHO a very good long term investment.

Liu was born in 1956 in Heilongjiang Province, China and he received a Bachelor of Art from Harbin Normal University in China, and went on to receive his Master of Fine Arts degree from Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts, China.

In 1992, he became a lecturer in the Department of Oil Painting at TianJina Academy of Fine arts, and later a Professor at the Academy of Art Design, at TianJina Academy of Fine Arts. Yingzhao Liu has exhibited in American, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Macau, England, and Japan. Numerous paintings have been auctioned off by Christie's in Hongkong.

ART DEALERS ARE NOT INFALLIBLE

2008-12-12T18:50:00.000-08:00

At the end of the 50s, Francis Bacon was a total non-entity in the USA. In 1959 the famous Italian-born art dealer Leo Castelli started to sell his works at prices from $900 to $1500. In May 2008, nightmarish Francis Bacon painting Tryptich 1976 fetched record $86 million.

Triptych, 1976, consists of three panels depicting a headless human form surrounded by three vultures and flanked by two portraits of disfigured human faces.

If Castelli helped to make Bacon the icon the artist became on the Art market he made one considerable mistake : smart Leo did not keep any of the Bacon work for his own collection. He later admitted that it was his major error in a lifetime of art dealing. Did he not believed enough in the future of the Irish-English painter ?

However Castelli made another one and quite as big a mistake : before to represent Bacon he had rejected Andy Warhol in favor of his major artists like Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein. He eventually sold Andy Warhol's soup can paintings.

Today Bacon sells for million of dollars and Leo Castelli who died in 1999 became -in spite of those early mistakes- so famous that people used to say that they had acquired a "Castelli" rather than a Johns or one his other gallery artists. Willem De Koonings proclaimed urbi et orbi that Castelli would sell for a fortune an empty can of beer.

IS IT WORTH TO BUY CONTEMPORARY ART AT ITS CURRENT PRICES ?

2008-12-12T17:55:00.000-08:00

Jeff Koon's most expensive work Hanging Heart sculpture fetched $ 25.7 million at a Sotheby's sale in New York in November 2007. The 9ft-tall sculpture was created in stainless steel and consists of a giant heart, weighing 3,500lbs (1,600kg), suspended from the ceiling by two delicate gilded strands and hovering 16 inches (40cm) from the floor. The sculpture took 10 years to complete and was bought by the NYC-based Gagosian Gallery.

Lawrence Gilbert "Larry" Gogosian is probably the most famous "branding" art dealer on the planet and is capable to sell and brand absolutely anything to anybody. With Maurice Saatchi he is one of the most sough-after dealers on the Contemporary art market and a work on display at his gallery is certain to fetch incredible heights when he decides to sell it or to go down the drain if he is determined to dump it and his maker.

Having said that art dealers and galleries have a precarious existence. If you look at a listing of major galleries of the late 90s you will notice that 50% of them have vanished without much attention paid to the fact. In spite of the huge scandal that blighted them at the end of the 90s until 2001, Sotheby's and Christie's are still there and more active than ever. In 10 years, considering the current economic trends, will there be any collector willing to pay more than $25.7 million for this heart ?

I doubt it and if you talk to some serious art dealers the most frequent opinion is a resounding "NO". Even the flamboyant and tough Larry Gagosian may be then history. Of the thousand artists who had serious gallery shows in New York city and London during the 1980s, only 20 were on offer at Sotheby's and Christie's in 2007. More 8 of 10 works purchased directly from an artist and half the works purchased at auction will never again resell at their purchase price.

In conclusion, high prices on the Contemporary art market are made up by branded dealers like Gagosian who promote their artists and by the very successful marketing job of auction houses like Sotheby's and Christie's. Buying Contemporary art at current prices is "the art of the fool and the very rich".

NB : Koons's works are exposed until the 4th of January 2009 at the Palais de Versailles, near Paris (France).

YES YOU CAN GET A WARHOL FOR 6,000 POUNDS

2008-12-11T11:31:00.000-08:00

If you like cats, especially fat, if you are a Warhol fanatic, if you do not dread to look at a badly sketched pussycat on a wall, you can have a watercolour-and-offset-lithograph-on-paper cat executed in 1957 by the Factory's founder for 6,000 quid ($8,898), buyer's premium included.

The only thing you have to do is to attend Christie's December evening prestigious Contemporary sale in London and raise your hand not too early in the bidding war. You might even strike a good bargain as the pussycat had been conservatively estimated between £3,500 - £4,500.

And guess what ? When your friends ignoring it is by Warhol will start laughing and asking you "how much you paid for that crap" and when you will tell them "9000 dollars", the only way to quench their hilarity will be to say "Yes but it is a Warhol". Then you will rest assured that you had the last laugh and maybe some of your friends may find the pussy quite exciting.
Everything is so relative in the Art market...

CHRISTIE'S PARIS : CONTEMPORARY SANS ACHETEURS

2008-12-10T18:41:00.001-08:00

Christie's Paris people held this week their December 2008 sale of Post WW2 and Contemporary artists under the aegis of the current economic crisis and the results are not far from being catastrophic.

Some 275 works of art from European artists, mainly paintings, were offered among them 8 Sam Szafran's pictures, 6 Jean Fautrier, 4 Georges Mathieu, 3 Jean Paul Riopelle, 4 Jean Dubuffet, 3 Jesus Rafael Soto, 5 Jean Degottex , 2 Victor Vasarely and 5 sculptures by Vassiliakis Takis.

The main disappointment came from the high number of unsold or bought-in lots, a staggering 56%. Note that the biggest unsold number of lots on record is a scary 55% of the contemporary art on offer at Sotheby's, including pieces by Warhol, Lichtenstein, Rothko, Dubuffet, in a dreadful evening of November, 6th, 1990. The December sale at Christie's in Paris then beat this chilling figure.

Worse only 14% of the lots exceeded their higher estimate while a meager 22% reached their lower estimate without exceeding the higher estimate and 8% did not even reach the lower estimate but found a buyer above the reserve price.

Some artists however striked an amazing high price in spite of pessimistic estimates. It is the case of Sam Szafran, François-Xavier Lalanne, Jean Dubuffet, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Paul Rebeyrolle, Gerard Schneider, Georges Mathieu, Hans Hartung, Jesus Rafael Soto, Robert Combas and Gerard Schlosser.

Among the latter, Szafran is doubless the one who did the best : his Modele dans l'Atelier fetched 139,000 Euros vs. a higher estimate of €70,000, but on average the price fetched by his works overpassed the higher estimate by a stunning 127%. His Untitled (lot #109, see picture at left) shot to €16,250 vs. a higher estimate of 3,500. His Autoportrait fetched €6,875 vs. an estimate of 3,000.

If Szafran was the king of the Feast, François Xavier Lalanne - who died some days before the sale- was the prince-consort with his Mouton (Lamb), a boring although amusing work measuring (35 x 38¼ x 20 1/8 in.) , that fetched €133,000 vs. a maximum estimate of 90,000. Art dealers would tell you that cows and lambs do not sell well but this Lamb must have a specific appeal that avoided him to become a sacrificial one (see picture above) under the hammer of Christie's auctioneer : it is made of wood, wool, aluminium and copper, was executed in 1983 and measures 89 x 97 x 51 cm. A second Lalanne, an unexpected "Brochet" sculpture reached a staggering 46,600 Euros vs. a best estimate of 30,000.

Another record was set by Jean Dubuffet's rather disconcertingly ugly "Papa la Cravate" (picture at right) that fetched the honorable level of €367,000 whereas it was anticipated for a more reasonable 200,000. Many of Dubuffet's works are painted in oil paint using an impasto thickened by materials such as sand, tar and straw, giving the work an unusually textured surface. From 1962 he produced a series of works in which he limited himself to the colours red, white, black, and blue as it is the case in this Papa la Cravate (Daddy the Tie) which explains the high price reached by this unforgettable tie.

Hans Hartung, the German-French painter, known for his gestural abstract style, and Jesus Rafael Soto, the debonaire Venezuelan sculptor and painter famous for his op art and kinetic art works, surprised the crowd with prices going well beyond estimates :
Hartung's T1971 -R14 acrylic yellow and blue picture found an acquirer at Euro 27,000 above his higher estimate of 70,000 while the kind South-American, dead in 2005, should have been thrilled in his grave to know that his "Trou dans l'Espace" (picture at left) estimated at 60,000 (higher) went for an impressive €98,200. Another work by Soto, Virtual Negro, fetched 111,400 Euro vs, a higher estimate of 60,000.

Another artist whose work did quite well is the only French painter deserving at the moment some interest i.e. Robert Combas : one of his Sans Titre fetched 26,200 Euro vs. an estimate of 18,000. Nothing to break three legs to a duck as they say in France but still noticeable considering the scarcity of valuable French painters of our XXIst century.

A Sans titre by Italian Pier Paolo Calzolari (born in 1944), who is not very well known outside Europe, was offered at 18,000 Euro and went up to €41,800 way beyond its best estimate of €35,000.

Among the biggest drops vis à vis the lower estimate, one must mention Nagame Seshimani by Japanese Kazuo Shiraga, founder of the Zero Group in Japan, a rather ugly red oil on canvas that went for €43,000 instead of the 80,000 expected. Or the really stupid fiber glass, wood and pigment Healing of St Thomas by Indian born Anish Kapoor, often described as the one of the most influential sculptors of his generation, that went for a far cry from its most anticipated 120,000 Euros at €73,000.

Other works that failed to arouse the passion and went way under their lower estimate are a Sans Titre (and sans intérêt) by Henri Michaux, the idiosyncratic Belgian who painted and wrote under the influence of drugs, that went for 8,750 Euros vs. an estimate of 15,000 ; an André Leskoy's Lumière Blanche ; a Jean Degottex's Metagraphie ; a Matta's Studio per no songe ; a Jacques Mahe de la Villegle's 45 Rue Lafayette ; a Jean Tinguely's Salutations Distinguées and a Réfléchir avant d'agir (picture at right) by Cheri Samba that literally makes the beholder want to sleep and certainly not to dance.

WHO ARE THE YOUNG CHINESE STAR ARTISTS ?

2008-12-09T09:37:00.000-08:00

One hears a lot about the coming of the Chinese, their big ambitions on the Art market and the new wealth of a large population of collectors, industrialists and businessmen.

But who are the beneficiaries of these sudden largesses ? Well some are very famous and have already been mentioned on this blog. Names like Zhang Xiaogang, He Duoliing, Luo Zhongli, Ye Yongqing, Zhang Qikai are now familiar to the readers of this blog.

At the Basel Miami Art fair that close its doors last Sunday, the emergence of the Chinese was more than an evidence : they are coming in stride and in masses, buyers, collectors, dealers and museums curators. They come to buy and to sell.

European and American gallerists offering Chinese artists were quite ebullient : the value of a good Chinese artist had more than quintupled in 5 years. It has to be seen if in the current market conditions this statement will remain true but for the last 5 years it is a fact that Chinese painters have made a fantastic inroad in the Art World.

Among the most famous names one can mention people like Zhang Dali, Zeng Fanzhi, Wang Guangyi, Zheng Guogu, Zhang Haiying, Zhang Hongtu, Zhang Huan, Qiu Jie, Xiang Jing (picture above), Shi Jinsong, Fang Lijun, Yue Minjun, Li Qing, Wu Shanzhuan, Shen Shaomin, Li Songsong (picture at right) , Zhan Wang, Liu Wei, Zhang Xiaotao, Cang Xin, Shi Xinning, Li Yan, Bai Yiluo, Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, Zhang Yuan, Yin Zhaohui, Feng Zhengjie.

The Saatchi Gallery on line has a full list of the promising and confirmed Chinese painters with nice photographs of some of their works. Maurice Saatchi has proved that he might be an awful speculator, capable to make and break artists but he has also showed to the world since the 80 that he has a terrific nose to spot innovators and trend setters. Having a look at some of the "protégés" of Mr Maurice won't hurt anybody and may give to new collectors some profitable ideas.

BASEL MIAMI ART FAIR : THE RISE OF THE ASIANS

2008-12-08T10:58:00.000-08:00

The country (USA) was officially declared in a recession last Monday, when Art Basel Miami week kicked off, and there was plenty of chatter about vacant hotel rooms and events being scaled back during the seventh annual art blowout. Art Basel Miami became since its inception in 2002 the biggest Art Fair in the world.

True, Prosecco, the cheaper bubbly, replaced Dom Perignon at a few parties and crustacean treats were in shorter supply than usual. True, many visitors were looking at some 200 dealers booths with an air of desperation that did not anticipated well their desire to purchase anything.

Another bad omen : seven pastel-hued Robert Rauschenberg collages, consigned by comedian Lily Tomlin and priced $150,000 to $550,000 hung in Washburn’s stand. None were sold by Friday.

But generally gallerists pretended to be much happier : at least, they said, "we could talk, breathe and get in touch with prospective buyers and our regular collectors in a more relax way".

But what about the sales ? It is very difficult to obtain any statistic from gallerists, more so to get an idea of prices or commercial strategies. However most were ready to admit that they have been consenting noticeable rebates, in the region of 10%, sometines more to good collectors or enthusiastic beginners.
Buyers weren’t shy about pressing for deals. London-based art adviser Nick Hackworth scored a photograph for a client. Asking price: $70,000. Selling price: $50,000.

The fact is that the Contemporary art market's prices are becoming reasonable to the point that if the reason goes on like this for some time one will be able to talk about "collapse". It might be a good thing for the aspiring collectors and the young artists who hope to find first time buyers on the market.

But for the secondary market, the confirmed Contemporary artists and the very rich collectors who paid a year ago $100,000 for a work that is now flipped at auction for $50,000, it is not a good trend. Christie's American artists of the XIX-XXth century's sale last week in NYC did not do well at all with a huge number of unsold lots (31%) (1). This evolution was perceptible as well on the Contemporary market at the Basel Miami Fair where works were in huge supply with a much lower demand.

Among the events, Rock star Marylin Manson revealed his artistic side with a lot of excellent and promising paintings of which one very resembling self-portrait and an Adold Hitler's portrait that was well received by the visitors without any hostile demonstration. No mention of the asking prices was made.

The great novelty of the year was Art Asia, a new contemporary Asian art fair in Miami's midtown, where 44 galleries showed works from countries including Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia and even the Netherlands. For Susan Kerseboom, co-owner of Amsterdam's Willem Kerseboom Gallery and a first-time Miami art fair exhibitor, Asian art has gained cachet since she started representing a handful of Beijing-based artists in 2003 :"'Five years ago, one of our Chinese artists may have sold for $20,000, but today the same artist would sell for $100,000'' she said.

But maybe the spirit of the time was better resumed by a woman named Amy Werba who flatly said that "it's about time people finally realized that spending $40 million on a painting should not be a great goal in life. And she had :"Francis Bacon's picture is nothing but an amateurish attempt at painting -- and ugly at that. I see better art in the Wynwood and Design District galleries."

It is exactly what I personally think but for Bacon who was a great artist as shows this terrific portrait of his lover George Dyer. Unfortunately it is not VOPs like Amy and myself who make the Contemporary Art market but VVIPs : those people do not always care about Art, they are interested in money, social status and the terrifying respect that the fact to pay $40 millions for a distorted figure can make on their friends. Because who dares to say to them :"You pay 40,000 grants for that piece of crap ? Are you nuts ?"

Anyway one thing to remember about this edition of Basel Miami Art Fair is the inroad of the Asians and maybe it is a good idea to buy some before they start to sell for millions of dollars. Furthermore they are very good and they offer a completely new vision of the world. It is not du "déjà vu" !!!

(1) On Tuesday, November 6, 1990, 55% of the contemporary art on offer at Sotheby's went unsold, including pieces by Warhol, Lichtenstein, Rothko, Dubuffet. The house had predicted a global sale of 39-52 million of dollars. Instead it brought only $19.8 million.

AMERICAN PAINTERS : DOWN THE DRAIN WITH THE CRISIS

2008-12-08T08:27:00.001-08:00

New York City's Christie's held a very important sale of Great American Painters and Sculptors on the 4th of December 2008 whose results could very well herald the conditions of the market for 2009.

The auction house was offering a very strong collection of 186 lots of paintings and sculptures by the best American artists of the XIXth and the beginning of the XXth centuries. Disappointment was present at the end of the auction when 59 lots went unsold (31%) and only 25 reached their higher estimate. More disturbing still 20 lots achieved very bad results recording a huge gap between the realized price and the higher estimate.

For instance a pretty Night Pigs made by Jamie Wyeth (1946-) belonging to the Island Weiss Gallery, New York, estimated at $350,000 painfully realized $146,500 ; but more painful was the fate of four Frederic Remington's sculptures that literally were snubbed by the bidders : his Outlaw went for $662,500 vs. a higher estimate of $800,000, his Mountain man went for $146,500 vs. an estimate of $250,000, his Broncho Buster for 542,500 vs. 700,000 and his Cheyenne fetched $362,000 vs. an estimate of $500,000. Some collectors may have picked up good bargains.

Other big disappointments were caused by the works of Stuart Davis whose Study for Pochade #1 reached only $182,500 vs. a higher estimate of 300,000 ; of Milton Avery whose Harbour sold by Knoedler Gallery in NYC reached $194,500 vs. 300,000 ; of Frederik Carl Frieseke whose Landscape of Giverny failed to attract bidders beyond $122,500 whereas Christies had pinned hopes of 300,000.

A colossal disappointer was Childe Hassam with his Fifth Avenue Eveving (picture on top) -property from the Estates of psychiatrist Gerard Fountain (1917-2008) - whose estimate had propulsed it to 1 million and from where like a bungee jumper it fell down to a less exciting $902,000 ; the Two Schooners of James E. Buttersworth failed to reach their estimate of $500,000 to navigate in the quieter waters of $302,500 while the poor George Bellows had to be satisfied from his grave with his Hold'Em reaching $362,500 vs. an inflated 500,000.

The more worrying in this collection of bad data is that we can not imagine that given the current economic conditions Christie 's would have unrealistically set the prices of the higher estimates. On the bright side of the results, one must mention however the heights reached by some works like Suspended forms by Charles Scheeler that fetched $290,500 vs. a best estimate of $120,000 ; or by Study for Februaryby Grant Wood that made $1,05 million vs. 600,000 ; or by the Massasoit sculpture by Cyrus E.Dallin that more than doubled its higher estimate at $266,500 ; a Florida sunset by Hermann Herzog and a River Westphalia by Albert Bierstadt did as well very well at $230,500 and $338,500.

Nevertheless the mood was not euphoric at the end of the evening considering the important number of lots that did not trigger any serious bidding and the number of unsold lots.

CHILDE HASSAM : NEW YORK FIFTH AVENUE

2008-12-06T16:16:00.001-08:00

Some great American painters are currently surfing the economic crisis that rocks Wall Street and Main Street but the prices reached are nevertheless a far away shot from their higher estimate.

Childe Hassam's paintings of Fifth Avenue have long been acknowledged as masterworks of American Impressionism and the present work, Fifth Avenue, is among the artist's finest Impressionist works of New York's most fashionable thoroughfare.

This Fifth Avenue picture executed circa 1890 is a watercolor on paper laid down on board and measures 31 x 19 1/4 in. It has been in the collection of people like the Bloomingdale, the French, galleries like Hirsch & Adler and Berry-Hill.

Estimated between 1.2 and 1.8 million dollars by Christie's it fetched in a December 2008 sale the respectable price of $1.31 million, making it the "clou" of the sale with In Pasture News ($1,42 million) by Henry Farny that failed nevertheless to reach its higher estimate.

Born Frederick Childe Hassam (1859-1935) in Dorchester, Massachusetts, his name evolved from that of his ancestor William Horsham (which became Hasham and then later Hassam) who settled in Salem in the early seventeenth century. His father was a Boston merchant of some means and a collector of antiques. When the family hardware business in downtown Boston perished in the great fire of 1872, Hassam left Dorchester High School, without completing it, to take up work first in the accounting department of a Boston publishing house and then in the firm of a Boston wood engraver.

Later during a trip in Europe, the works of J. M. W. Turner, the great landscapist and master of the watercolor, served as Hassam's favorite models. He toured the Continent with Turner very much in mind. It is the trip to Paris in 1886 that most people talk about. He set up a studio on the Boulevard Clichy, studied at the Académie Julian under Gustave Boulanger and Jules Lefebvre, and stayed three years painting, exhibiting, and making a strong bid in various ways for critical notice. His paintings were accepted for the Paris Salon showings of 1887, 1888 and 1889.

When he returned with his now "blond" palette, he was able to make a happy fusion of the European style with American tradition. His work is now owned by the most prestigious museums and private collections in the USA and Europe like the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection in Madrid, Spain.

HENRY F. FARNY : SIGN OF PEACE and IN PASTURES

2008-12-06T15:37:00.001-08:00

In spite of the current economic crisis, some American painters of the XIXth century still achieve very high prices without all the buzz of the contemporary artists.

It is the case of this Sign of Peace (left) and of In Pastures New by Henry F. Farny (1847-1916), born in Alsace-Lorraine, France, who immigrated in 1853 to Warren, Pennsylvania with his parents and shortly thereafter settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he spent the remainder of his life. Following the path of earlier Cincinnati artists, Farny traveled to Europe studying first in Dusseldorf and then in Munich.

After returning from travel and study abroad, Farny made his first trip to the West in 1881 to witness the capture of Sitting Bull. Arriving after the removal of Sitting Bull from Fort Yates along the Missouri River, Farny stayed on and became an active participant in the social life of the Plains Indians who lived near the fort.

Farny recreated, and often repeated, scenes and events he witnessed on the Plains and in the mountains. This picture is a gouache on paper measuring 10 1/2 x 16 3/4 in. and was the property of an American Trust that sold it in 1985 to the Rosenstock gallery (Denver, Co.). The gallery put it on auction in December 2008 at Sotheby's NYC.

Estimated $600,000 - $800,000 , Sign of Peace fetched $662,500. In Pastures New estimated at $1,5 million fetched $1,425 million. However Sign of Peace was estimated $800,000 as its highest and could not reach this hight.

CHARLES W. PEALE : PORTRAIT OF JAMES DEPEYSTER

2008-12-04T21:34:00.001-08:00

Charles W. Peale (1742-1827) might be one of the most expensive American painters but all his work does not reach this enviable status.

This portrait of James W. Depeyster, an uncle of his second wife Elizabeth is an oil on camvas made in 1798 and measures 29 3/4 x 25 in.

Estimated by Christie's NYC between 70,000 and 100,000 dollars, this picture fetched this week $ 104,500 far from the 21.3 million reached by his portrait of George Washington in 2005.

The lesson of this sale is the always the same : reflecting the say that goes "what matters is not what you know but who you know" in matter of Fine Art one can say "what matters is not what you paint but who you paint..."

WHO ARE THE MOST EXPENSIVE AMERICAN PAINTERS ?

2008-12-04T13:37:00.000-08:00

The 10 most expensive American painters are Rothko, Warhol, Bellows, De Kooning, Hopper, Koons, Smith, Sargent, Feininger and Peale.

Mark Rothko, born Marcus Rothkowitz (1903–1970), was a Latvian-born American painter and printmaker who is classified as an abstract expressionist, although he rejected not only the label but even being called an abstract painter.

He emigrated with his mother and sister in the USA in 1913 and went to the New School of Design in 1923 , where one of his instructors was the artist Arshile Gorky.

Rothko suffered from an aneurysm in 1968 and committed suicide in 1970. He was entered in Sharon Gardens in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, N.Y. The most expensive of his work was sold for $ 72,8 million in May 2007 and was a picture titled White Center.

Second is the inimitable Pittsburgh-born Andy Warhol whose Green Car Crash sold in 2007 for $ 71,7 million. Andrew Warhola (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American artist and a figure in the movement known as pop art. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became famous worldwide for his work as a painter, avant-garde filmmaker, record producer, author, and public figure.

On June 3, 1968, crazy feminist anti-male Valerie Solanas shot Warhol and art critic Mario Amaya at Warhol's studio. Warhol died in New York City at 6:32 a.m. on February 22, 1987. According to news reports, he had been making good recovery from a routine gallbladder surgery at New York Hospital before dying in his sleep from a sudden post-operative cardiac arrhythmia. Prior to his diagnosis and operation, Warhol delayed having his recurring gallbladder problems checked, as he was afraid to enter hospitals and see doctors. The wounds of the 1968 shot left serious complications that certainly led to his sudden death.

The third of the most expensive Americans is George W.Bellows (1882-1925), a painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City. At a young age he was to become "the most acclaimed artist of his generation". Bellows was born in Columbus, Ohio.

Bellows was soon a student of Robert Henri at the New York School of Art, and became associated with Henri's "The Eight" and the Ashcan School, a group of artists who advocated painting contemporary American society in all its forms. By 1906, Bellows was renting his own studio. He died on January 8, 1925 in New York City, of peritonitis, after failing to tend to a ruptured appendix.

His mots expensive work was sold in 2007 for $ 27.7 million and is titled Men of the Docks , painted in 1912, a monumental masterwork by the undisputed leader of the Ashcan School.

Fourth is the famous Dutch-American Willem de Kooning ( 1904 – 1997) an abstract expressionist painter, born in Rotterdam (The Netherlands). His early artistic training included eight years at the Rotterdam Academy of Fine Arts and Techniques. In the 1920s he worked as an assistant to the art director of a Rotterdam department store. In 1926, De Kooning entered the United States as a stowaway on a British freighter and in 1927 he settled in Manhattan. In October 1935, De Kooning began to work on the WPA (Works Progress Administration) Federal Art Project, and he won the Logan Medal of the arts.

Developing a bold style of gestural paintings, he produced figure paintings and abstract, urban landscapes throughout the 1950s. In the following decade, pastoral themes replaced the urban violence of his earlier expressionist work. In 1963, de Kooning moved from a Manhattan loft to his newly built studio in the East Hampton community of the Springs. The North Atlantic light and flat beaches of Long Island inspired the luminous paintings of de Kooning's later career.

He made many canvasses about women, all distorted and rather monstruously looking. For that reason, he has sometimes been accused of being a woman-hater. In the 80s, Willem de Kooning was diagnosed with, in all probability, Alzheimer's disease. After his wife, Elaine, died on February 1, 1989, his daughter, Lisa, and his lawyer, John Eastman were granted guardianship over a De Kooning, alcoholic and sick. His most expensive work Untitled XXY sold in 2006 for $ 27.1 million.

Fifth place is Edward Hopper (1882 – 1967), a prominent realist painter and printmaker. While most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching. Hopper was born in upper Nyack, New York, a yacht-building center north of New York City, the only son of comfortably well-off middle class family.

His parents were of Dutch ancestry. Hopper began his art studies with a correspondence school in 1899. Soon, however, he transferred to the far more prestigious New York Institute of Art and Design. There he studied for six years, with teachers including William Merritt Chase who instructed him in oil painting. In 1913, at the famous Armory Show, Hopper sold his first painting, Sailing (1911), which he painted over an earlier self-portrait. Hopper was thirty-one. At forty-one, Hopper finally received the recognition he had sought, but he continued to harbor bitter feelings about his career, later turning down appearances and awards.

His financial stability now secured, Hopper would live a simple, stable life and continue creating art in his distinctive style for four more decades. He died in 1967, in his studio near Washington Square, in New York City. His wife, who died 10 months later, bequeathed their joint collection of over 3,000 works to the Whitney Museum of American Art. His Hotel Window painting -an oil on canvas made in 1955- fetched $26.8 million in November 2006 at Sotheby's. It has been estimated at 10-15 million.

The following most expensive American painter is the provocative and publicity-hungry Jeff Koons, born in York, Pennsylvania in 1955. He studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

He received a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1976. Mr. Koons lives and works in New York City and York, Pennsylvania. Koons is also known for his public sculptures, such as the monumental floral sculptures Puppy, shown at Rockefeller Center and permanently installed at the Guggenheim Bilbao, and Split-Rocker, exhibited at the Palais des Papes in Avignon, France. Most recently, in 2006, Balloon Flower (Red) was unveiled at 7 World Trade Center in New York City and he held a very controversial show in Fall 2008 at the Chateau de Versailles, near Paris.

His most expensive work Hanging Heart sculpture (above) fetched $ 25.7 million at a Sotheby's sale in New York in November 2007. The 9ft-tall sculpture was created in stainless steel and consists of a giant heart, weighing 3,500lbs (1,600kg), suspended from the ceiling by two delicate gilded strands and hovering 16 inches (40cm) from the floor. The sculpture took 10 years to complete and was bought by the NYC-based Gagosian Gallery.

Another expensive American artist is an Abstract Expressionist sculptor, named David R. Smith (1906-1965), founding member of the American Abstract Artists group in 1936 whose most expensive piece called Cubi XXVIII went for $ 23.8 million in 2005. It became the most expensive contemporary artwork ever sold at auction.

Art dealer Larry Gagosian, bidding on behalf of billionaire Eli Broad (from Kauffman and Broad), won it at Sotheby’s for this huge sum of money. “I was prepared, frankly, to pay more than what I bid,” Broad said after the sale. The deep-pocketed collector is funding the $60 million expansion of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where the Smith is now on display.

Smith came to sculpture through painting, having trained at the Art Students League from 1927 to 1932. Like many of his fellow artists, he then worked in the WPA Federal Art Project. Significant friendships—and aesthetic affinities—with John Graham, Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, and many of the Abstract Expressionist painters contributed to his development.

Profoundly influenced by the welded sculptures of Julio González and of Picasso, Smith started devoting himself entirely to metal sculptures, constructing compositions from steel and "found" scrap material. In the summer of 1929, Smith, along with his then wife Dorothy Dehner, bought a house in Bolton Landing, in upstate New York and won the Logan Medal of the arts.

He began his Cubi series of monumental, geometric steel sculptures in 1961 (although he began in earnest only in 1963). They are considered some of the most important works of 20th century American sculpture. In recognition of his influence on abstract expressionism, Smith was appointed to the National Council on the Arts by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. However, at the peak of his influence and still working on Cubi, he died in a car crash near Bennington, Vermont in May 1965.

Still in the range of the 20 million dollars, we have the painter John S. Sargent, ( 1856–1925) who was the most successful portrait painter of his era. Born in Florence Italy from American parents John Singer Sargent had an attempt to study at the Academy of Florence but he failed, so he went to Paris where he began his art studies with Carolus-Duran.

The young French portrait artist, who had a meteoric rise, was noted for his bold technique and modern teaching methods, and his influence would be pivotal to Sargent during the period from 1874-1878. In 1874, on the first attempt, Sargent passed the rigorous exam required to gain admission to the École des Beaux-Arts.

During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. His oeuvre documents worldwide travel, from Venice to the Tyrol, Corfu, the Middle East, Montana, Maine, and Florida. After leaving Carolus-Duran’s atelier, Sargent visited Spain. There he studied the paintings of Velazquez with a passion, absorbing the master’s technique, and in his travels gathered ideas for future works.

In a time when the art world focused, in turn, on Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism, Sargent practiced his own form of Realism, which brilliantly referenced Velázquez, Van Dyck, and Gainsborough. His seemingly effortless facility for paraphrasing the masters in a contemporary fashion led to a stream of commissioned portraits of remarkable virtuosity among them Teddy Roosevelt. In December 2004, Group with Parasols (A Siesta) (1905) sold for $US 23.5 million, nearly double the Sotheby's estimate of $12 million. The previous highest price for a Sargent painting was $US 11 million.

The ninth man on the list of the most expensive American artists is Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956) born to parents of German American descent and who grew up in New York City. Feininger only started working as an artist at the age of 36, after having worked as a commercial caricaturist for twenty years for various newspapers and magazines in both the USA and Germany; he was a member of the Berliner Sezession . He designed the cover for the Bauhaus 1919 manifesto - an expressionist woodblock 'cathedral'- and also taught at the Bauhaus for several years. In 1921, he had a joint exhibition with Paul Klee at the Weimar Museum.

With Cubist style and evocative color, he depicted modern life, especially factories, bridges, ships, harbors, and buildings. His most expensive painting The Jesuits III made in 1915 sold for $23,2 million estimated $7 - 9 million at Sotheby's NY on May 8 th 2007.

The less expensive of the most expensive is Charles W. Peale (1741-1827), born in Chestertown, Maryland. He followed for some time the trade of a saddler in Annapolis, but, having seen a portrait while visiting Norfolk, Virginia, he determined to attempt art, and on his return he executed a likeness of himself. His success induced him to change his vocation from saddle making to portrait painting. He lived in Boston in 1768'9, where he had some instruction from John Singleton Copley, and in 1770 he went to London, England, bearing letters to Benjamin West, who received him kindly, and whose pupil he became. He returned to Annapolis in 1774, began painting portraits, and two years later established himself in Philadelphia.

He also began to take an active interest in political affairs, and was a member of the legislature in 1779. Afterward he turned his attention to natural history : he lived to assist in establishing the Pennsylvania academy of the fine arts and to contribute to seventeen of its annual exhibitions. Peale is notable rather for versatility than for real genius in any direction and his fame rests mainly on his achievements as a portrait painter, among which those of George and Martha Washington, John Hancock, Benjamin Lincoln, Baron Steuben, Count Rochambeau, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Witherspoon, and Alexander Hamilton f James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, John C. Calhoun, and Henry Clay .

He opened in Philadelphia his own museum that housed a diverse collection of botanical, biological, and archaeological specimens. Most notably, the museum contained a large variety of birds which Peale himself acquired, and it was the first to display North American mammoth bones and it became eventually the Peale Museum. I n January 2005, a full length portrait of "Washington at Princeton" from 1779 sold for $21.3 million - setting a record for the highest price paid for an American portrait.

The popular success of George Washington at Princeton led to orders for as many replicas as Peale could produce. In August 1779 the artist wrote: “I have on hand a number of portraits of Gen. Washington. One the ambassador had for the Court of France, another is done for the Spanish Court, one other has been sent to the island of Cuba, and sundry others, which I have on hand are for private gentlemen.” Versions vary in size and composition–-with the background and the treatment of the figure of Washington altered by Peale. Changes included replacing the soldiers and horses with a bleak winter landscape, updating the general’s insignia according to the most recently issued orders, and giving greater prominence to the colonial flag. Other full-length versions by Charles Willson Peale are found at Princeton University in New Jersey, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Colonial Williamsburg, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

WHO ARE THE WORLD'S BIGGEST AUCTION HOUSES ?

2008-12-04T08:48:00.000-08:00

The main auction houses in the world are Christie's (UK), Sotheby's (UK), Phillips de Pury (USA), Poly International Auction (China), China Guardian (China) and Artcurial (France).

Christie's was founded in 1766 by James Christie (right), Christie's conducted the greatest auctions of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and today remains a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful. Christie's offers over 600 sales annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectibles, wine, cars and more. Christie’s is the world's leading art business with global auction sales in 2007 that totaled £3.1 billion ($6.3 billion). In June 1998 French businessman François Pinault acquired a 29% stake in Christie's making him the largest shareholder. The deal valued the company at $4.13 billion. It is now a private company.

Sotheyby's was founded in London by a certain Samuel Baker who, on March 11, 1744, held the first-ever sale under his own name : it was only books but by the hundreds. When Baker died in 1778, his estate was divided between his
partner at the time, George Leigh, and his nephew, John Sotheby. For the next 80 years, the Sotheby family dominated the firm and extended its role into such related areas as prints, medals and coins. By the end of the First World War, the firm had so successfully expanded its role in the art market that new premises were required. In 1917, Sotheby's moved from its Wellington Street location to its famous New Bond Street saleroom, which has remained its London base ever since.

Today, the firm has an annual turnover of approximately $5.9 billion (2007) and offices on London's New Bond Street and Manhattan's York Avenue. This powerful position has been achieved through natural growth, acquisitions, most notably the 1964 purchase of the United States' largest auctioneer of fine art, Parke-Bernet. In 2000, Sotheby's became the first international art auction house to hold auctions on the Internet.

Christie's and Sotheby's share 80% of the world auction market in high-value art, and an quasi-absolute monopoly on works selling for over $ 1 million. In 2006, 810 works of Art were auctioned for more than $1 million ; of these, 801 were sold at one or other of the two auction houses.

Phillips, more recently Phillips de Pury, was founded in London in 1796 by a certain Harry Phillips, Christie's former head clerk, and is now the third auction house in the world but lags far behind its two big rivals with sales of less than half a billion dollars. It is now located mainly in New York city but it was recently acquired by a Russian luxury retailer group called Mercury Group. In 2005 and 2006, the company earned a modest under -$10 million but had accumulated an enormous debt in the figure of $30 million.

Beijing's Poly International Auction Co., Ltd. was established on July 1, 2005. It is an auction house invested by Poly Cultural and Art Co. Ltd. With Poly Group’s (technologies) reliable resources and utter support, Beijing Poly Auction was determined to become a top auction house of international standards. And it did in less than 3 years buoyed by the trends on the Fine Art international market. In November of 2005, Poly Auction had its first major auction with artists like Xu Beihong, Wu Changshuo, Lin Fengmian, Li Keran and Wu Guanzhong, all leading artists in Chinese modern art history and their works were all part of this auction.

Moreover, Wu Guanzhong’s “Parrot’s Paradise” was auctioned for 30.25 million RMB (US$ 4.3 million), the artist’s highest auction record. Artist Huang Zhou’s “The Great Harvest” was sold for 15.95 millions RMB (US$ 2.2 million). This first major auction yields a total of 560 millions RMB (US$79.6 million). It established Beijing Poly Auction as one of the top auction houses in mainland China. In 2007, Poly International Auction put its focus on Chinese antiquity as well as Chinese paintings and calligraphy. In addition, through the association with Poly Museum and its connections in the art world, the group is anticipating to break into overseas market. It is currently in the process of acquiring art works and preparing for an international exhibition tour.

Although Poly does not release data about its global sales in the Fine Art market it is becoming a major player as Chinese artists themselves are vying with European and American artists to become the most expensive artists on the art scene of the world. Its share of the international Fine Art market is estimated by Artprice at 1.8% or about US$ 170 million.

The fourth biggest player on the Fine Art market is another chinese, China Guardian, that was established in May of 1993. With main offices in Beijing , and representative offices in Shanghai , Tianjin, Hong Kong and Japan , China Guardian has a physical presence across the whole country. Regular auction business covers Chinese paintings and calligraphy, porcelain, ceramics and works of art, Chinese oil paintings and sculptures, rare books, rubbings and calligraphy, stamps, coins and bronze mirrors, fine jewelry and jadeite, as well as watches and clocks. Artprice estimated its share of the market as 1% or about US $100 million. China Guardian is actively seeking a place on the market and launched a massive campaign of recruitment of experts in the field of Fine Art ; it offers excellent career opportunities for people interested in the arts with experience in the fields of arts and culture in general, including eastern or western arts, as well as those with museum experience, marketing, and customer service knowledge, preferably with language ability in both Chinese and English.

Last but not least are the French people of Artcurial at the famous 7 Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées in Paris. Artprice evaluates the global sales of the French auction house at less than 1% or about 90 million dollars. The company does not publish any data about its activity as very often do the private societies in secretive France. The group is owned by the Aga Khan and has taken a stake in Arqana, the European leader in horse auctions and is bookstore hold more than 18,000 books.

Its board comprises some of the most famous names of the French gotha like the Dassaults, and its staff list shows about 80 people. Artcurial does its best to maintain a presence on the international market and to keep the French market itself from being marginalised or even fossilized, keeping only a presence in the primitive photographies, 19th century paintings and Art Deco segments.

The top Frenchman in the international ranking of contemporary artists by total revenues is Robert Combas at a lowly 75th place. His record sale at $ 95,000 for Le Petit Cheval is 100 times lower thant the records set by Jeff Koons or Damien Hirst.

In an extremely competitive Fine Art market, about 90% of the sales achieved price under $10,000 in 2007.

NB : For a more detailed account of the recent history of Christie's, Sotheyby's and Phillips De Pury please read this interesting story .

A SHARE OF THE ART MARKET IS NOT FOR EVERYBODY EVEN THE VERY RICH

2008-12-02T15:38:00.001-08:00

Even for Simon de Pury and Bernard Arnault

In 1999 the French businessman Bernard Arnault and his LVHM group (1) -which employs 70,000 people and made sales of 16 billion Euros in 2007- acquired Phillips auction house created in 1796 in London for a reported $121 million. A year later, Arnault brought in the former Sotheby’s executives Simon de Pury (picture) and Daniella Luxembourg to run the company, which he merged with their Zurich gallery, de Pury & Luxembourg. The resulting firm, Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg, was cast by the media always keen to predict the future as a threat to the duopoly of Christie’s and Sotheby’s, forgetting in the process that the duopoly was in fact already threatened by Poly International of China and China Guardian.

But even LVMH's power and profitability (2.3 billion Euros) and huge investments in the business failed to win Phillips a significant share of the Impressionist, modern and contemporary art markets : LVHM’s ambitious strategy foundered in a sea of red ink. The deadly decision to offer consignors high guarantees led to its gaining consignment of the very famous Heinz Berggruen and of the Marion and Nathan Smooke collections. On the Smooke collection guaranteed at $180 million, the group lost between $ 40 and 50 million. In the end, Phillips accumulated losses of almost 400 million.

Arnault and company gradually bowed out of the partnership, ceding control to de Pury & Luxembourg in February 2002 for $ 30 million ; the following January, LVHM sold its remaining stake (27.5%) for a token sum. In March 2004 Mrs. Luxembourg resigned to start her own dealership and art-investment fund, selling her shares to de Pury, with whom she still maintains the Zurich gallery.

In spite of all his efforts Simon himself has been little by little sinking in a sea of red ink and has eventually decided to throw the towel. Competing against ancient giants like Sotheby's (1744 )and Christie's (1766 ) even in a booming market like the one of the last decade was too much for the small Phillips de Pury auction house and its meager $464 million annual turnover for the Fine Art public market (2.8%). Christie's achieved global sales of $6.3 billion (38% of which 197 million for the contemporary art market) and Sotheby's of $5.9 billion in 2007 but still represents 36% on the fine art public market.

So in early October 2008, the Moscow-based Mercury Group, Russia’s largest luxury-retail company managed by CEO Leonid Friedland, bought a controlling stake in the cash-strapped auctioneer Phillips de Pury & Company. Although the sums involved in the private transaction were not released, it is believed that Mercury paid approximately $60 million for its majority share, of which “around 50 percent” was to cover Phillips’s debt. In other words Friedland paid the same price that Arnault paid almost 10 years ago and is committed to use 50% of the cash to service the debt of the group Phillips de Pury.

Frankly in a market that is going down the drain, with the competition getting everyday tougher and with the credit making itself rare one does not see why the Russians would do better than the French. And by the way this story shows once more than getting a share of the art market is an expensive venture and not in the means of even a very rich man. Good luck Leonid !!!

(1) Dior, Champagne Moet & Chandon, Tag Heuer, Vuitton, Les Echos, Investir, DFS Galleria

CIRCLE OF NIKOLAI SAMOKISH : TROIKA

2008-12-02T10:53:00.001-08:00

An artwork with a pre-sale estimate around £ 2,000 ($2,970) went for a meager £13 at Christie's Russian 19th- and 20th-century art auction in London in November 2008, epitomizing the dreary results of the sale, which reached a total of £7.9 million against a pre-sale low estimate of £14.5 million. Only 55% of lots found buyers.

The £13 work (including buyer's premium), an undated and anonymous ink-on-paper, Troika Leaving the Farmstead, was bought by prominent Russian collector Nikita Lobanov-Rostovky after auctioneer James Bruce-Gardyne asked the room in exasperation: "Will anyone give me £10?" Yes indeed, some astute buyer did and made a very good deal.

YVES KLEIN : ARCHISPONGE

2008-12-02T09:44:00.000-08:00

This Yves Klein’s rare, large-scale, and magnificent abstraction Archisponge (Re 11) from 1960 was the evening’s top lot on November the 11th, 2008 in NYC, selling to an anonymous telephone bidder for $ 21,3 million (unpublished estimate in the region of $25 million). The vendor acquired the sea sponge and pebble–festooned work from legendary collector François de Menil from Houston in 1984.

Yves Klein (1928 - 1962) was a French artist and is considered an important figure in post-war European art. New York critics of Klein's time classify him as neo-Dada, others as a Post-modernist.

Klein was born in Nice, studied at the École Nationale de la Marine Marchande and the École Nationale des Langues Orientales and began practicing judo. He suffered a first heart attack whilst watching the film Mondo Cane at the Cannes Film Festival on 11 May 1962. Two more heart attacks followed, the second of which killed him on 6 June 1962.

The Menil collection is situated at 1515 Sul Ross Street Houston, TX 77006 : with its 16,000 objects, it is but one outcome of this French couple's vision and philosophy. Intertwining art, social activism, and a profound spirituality, the de Menils left an indelible mark on their adopted city of Houston. I used to live two blocks away from the Menil collection and it is one of the most beautiful private collection I have ever seen.

ZHANG XIAOGANG : BLOODLINE : BIG FAMILY, No. 2

2008-12-01T14:58:00.000-08:00

Zhang Xiaogang’s Bloodline: Big Family, No. 2, was the session’s most expensive lot of Honk Kong's Christie's sale of this month of December 2008. The famous 1995 oil on canvas by one of the best known Chinese painters went for HK $ 26,4 million ($3,4 million) to an anonymous phone bidder.

Still, it was a disappointing result. The work had been expected to sell for about HK$ 30 million and boasted considerable star power: the piece has been exhibited prominently by U.S. museums and was from the collection of Hollywood filmmaker Oliver Stone who has been quietly buying and selling for years. What a difference a deepening global economic meltdown can make.

During the first portion of the sale, billed as the highlight in the contemporary category, only 56 percent of the 32 works on offer sold, with many failing to meet the reserve price. The total sales amounted to HK$ 65,9 million.

In 2007 the total sales of his work reached $US 57 million including 15 lots that passed the million-dollar mark. Of the 35 Contemporary artists who have achieved 7 digits sales (>$1 million)last year 15 were Chinese.

ASGER JORN : ET BLIK IND I FORTIDEN

2008-12-01T10:10:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite Scandinavian artists is the little known Danish painter Asger Oluf Jørgensen, better known as Asger Jorn (1914-1976). He was born in Vejrum, in the northwest corner of Jutland, Denmark. When in college he joined the Danish Communist Party. In 1936 he traveled on a BSA motorbike he had scraped together enough money to buy to Paris to become a student of Kandinsky.

There Jorn decided instead to join Fernand Léger's Académie Contemporaine; it was during this period that he turned away from figurative painting and turned to abstract art. In 1937 he joined Le Corbusier in working on the Palais des Temps Noveaux at the 1937 Paris Exhibition.

During WW2, he became an active communist resistant but after the war he broke with the Danish Communist Party, while nevertheless remaining a lifelong philosophical communist. During the course of his artistic career he produced over 2500 paintings, prints, drawings, ceramics, sculptures, artist's books, collages, décollages, and collaborative tapestries. He died in Aarhus, Denmark on 1 May 1973. This oil on canvas above titled Et blik ind I fortiden (A look in the past) executed about 1962 measures 60 by 73 cm.

In October 2004 it was sold by Christie's in London for $81,829.

ART DEALER OR AUCTION HOUSE ?

2008-11-30T14:14:00.000-08:00

"The auction house and the gallery have very different functions. It’s the galleries that develop the artists and that are wise to keep the artists’ best interest first and to sell the work responsibly. This isn’t true of the houses— they have no commitment at all to the art itself, and quality is not always their highest priority. I believe they certainly don’t have the artists’ best interest at heart, and they contribute heavily to the idea that art is just merchandise."

New York gallerist Marian Goodman

JEAN PAUL RIOPELLE : SANS TITRE

2008-11-30T13:57:00.000-08:00

In a style comparable to Jackson Pollock's Abstract Expressionism, French Canadian artist Jean Paul Riopelle (1923-2002) painted a lot of abstract drips that reached high prices well before his death.

The artist’s record, $1.9 million, was set in 1989. But his prices suffered significantly in the recession of the early 1990s, and it is only in the past few years there has been significantly renewed interest in his work

Riopelle studied under Paul-Émile Borduas in the 1940s and was a member of Les Automatistes movement. He was one of the signers of the Refus global manifesto. In 1949 he moved to Paris and continued his career as an artist, where he commercialized on his image as a "wild Canadian". In 1949 he moved to Paris where he continued his career and capitalized on his image as a "wild Canadian".

In 1969 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada, and began to spend more time in Canada. He was specially recognized by UNESCO for his work. One of his largest compositions was originally intended for the Toronto airport, but is now in the Opéra Bastille in Paris.

This Sans titre picture is an oil on canvas and earned $1,6 million in November 2008 at an auction in Toronto (Canada).

JEAN EMILE PUIFORCAT : SILVER KETTLE

2008-11-28T10:15:00.000-08:00

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so it can be everywhere even in a domestic appliance like this silver boiler (kettle) made by the famous French jeweler Jean Emile Puiforcat in about 1933.

Jean E. Puiforcat (1897-1945) was born into a Parisian silversmithing family and became a leading designer in the field in France between the two World Wars. After commencing an apprenticeship in the family firm he studied sculpture under Louis Lejeune. He set up as a silversmith in 1922, working in the fashionable Art Deco style, and showed in Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann's Pavilion of a Rich Collector at the 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels.

Committed more to the abstract forms and restraint of Modernism than the more decorative aesthetic of the applied arts in France he joined the Union des Artistes Modernes (UAM) established in 1929. He was interested in mathematics and worked with geometrically inspired forms. An entire pavilion was dedicated to his work at the 1937 Paris Exposition des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne. With the rise of Fascism in Europe he settled in Mexico, where he opened a silversmithy in 1942. In Mexico, Puiforcat produced new models inspired by Mexican motifs and incorporating more flamboyant decorative details, such as studs and scalloped bands.

This silver kettle is 20 cm. high and weighs 2800 gr. It was estimated between 8,000 and 12,000 Euros and reached €10,000 at an auction in Paris.

ALBERT MARQUET : DANS L'ATELIER D'UN ARTISTE

2008-11-27T21:45:00.001-08:00

Art works' theft is one of the most popular form of crime. Interpol currently records 227 stolen art items during the last two months. This painting by Albert Marquet was stolen in Argentina and is still not recovered. It measures 54 x 46 cm. and is an oil on canvas.

Albert Marquet (1875 - 1947) was a painter and draughtsman who was a member of the Fauves early in his career and a close friend of Matisse. He eventually abandoned the Fauvist approach and adopted a naturalistic style.

He painted portraits and female nudes, but most of his output consisted of landscapes. He often painted scenes of Paris ports and bridges. After 1925, he worked mostly in watercolors.

Through his travels, he gained an international reputation. However, because of his shy demeanor, he preferred to remain out of the spotlight and refused all honors that were offered to him.

The two countries most affected by this phenomenon are France and Italy. The illicit trade in cultural objects is sustained by the demand from the arts market, the opening of borders, the improvement in transport systems and the political instability of certain countries.

Currently one of the most sought after stolen work of art is the Garcon au gilet rouge (right) by Paul Cezanne that was stolen in Switzerland. If by any chance you are aware of its shenanigans please contact Interpol by the mean of this form.

Cezanne (1839-1906) was a French artist and post impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century.

Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th century Impressionism and the early 20th century's new line of artistic enquiry, Cubism.

JEFF KOONS : CATERPILLAR CHAINS and CHEEKY

2008-11-27T21:02:00.000-08:00

Jeff Koons was born in York Pennsylvania in 1955 and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Maryland Institute of College Art. Koons has long been known as a good self-promoter who relies on shiny, kitschy images to gain public attention.

The chateau de Versailles (France) near Paris recently held a Koons exhibit that costed 1.9 million Euros, 800,000 of which went solely to the Split Rocker which is in the gardens and is a reference to Le Nôtre.

After less glamorous year in the 80s, today Jeff Koons' work records terrific sales. This is an interesting fact considering the world's economy is in a recession. At the May 14 Sotheby's sale Koons' work entitled Caterpillar Chains (seen above) from 2003 was purchased for $5,921,000.

It is not my goal in this blog to make or undo an artist but as an art amateur who loves beauty, colors and forms I can only say that I find this Caterpillar extremely ugly and that only a rich fool can accept to pay 6 million bucks for this "chenille en plastique".

Furthermore the problem with Jeff Koons's works in my humble opinion is that they arouse no emotion at all. Sure they are for most of them beautiful and aesthetically flawless but where is the emotion of the Impressionists, where is the humble feeling of the Old Masters, where is the revolt of the Modern Art, where is the mysticism of the abstract art ? There is nothing, just an artistic void that does not justify the million fetched by his works.

Is Koons's art a scam ? Difficult to put it right away in this category as his
paintings can be very good. This "Cheeky" at the Left is worth of Salvador Dali if only for its sexual connotation and ironical message. It was made in 2000 and it is confronting the viewer with collaged, disconnected images and high-key colors that are executed with photorealistic perfection. The ambiguity of the title Cheeky is what makes Koons' works so appealing to the viewer – is it sexual or childish, is it easy fun or is it ethereal?

The whole works of Koons enter in this dilemna and it is certainly the reason why it is fascinating so many people and fetche their astronomical prices. At the 11th of November 2008 evening sale at Sotheby's "Cheely' was bought for $4 million (buyer premium included), the low estimate but still a very high price. It is an oil on canvas and measures 108 x 79 1/2 in. ( 274.3 x 201.9 cm.).

LEONID FRECHKOP : PORTRAIT OF HIS WIFE

2008-11-27T14:37:00.000-08:00

This beautiful portrait of a lady was made by her husband the Belgo-Russian painter Leonid Frechkop (1897-1982).

Frechkop was born in Moscow where he studied painting at the Academy of Fine Art under C. Korovine, A. Arkhipov and N. Kassatkine until 1920. In 1922 the artist received the Prix de Rome.

Frechkop moved to Paris in the early 1920s and later settled in Brussels where many institutions have collected his work such as the Cabinet des Estampes. The Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou and museums in Dinant and Ixelles have also collected Frechkop’s work.

Considered primarily a Belgian artist, Frechkop was influenced by the ideals of Neue Sachlichkeit and Néo Réalisme. He was also largely influenced by the Italian Renaissance and the painter Hans Holbein. In 1983 and 1987 the Galerie L’Oeil in Brussels exhibited a small catalogue of the Frechkop’s work.

The artist is listed in many major publications of French and Belgian artists such as Benezit, Arto, Le Dictionnaire des Peintures Belges and Piron. Several significant oil paintings of female nudes by Frechkop have sold successfully at Christie’s Amsterdam since the artist’s death.

This picture is an oil on canvas and measures 31½ x 27½ in. (80 x 69.7 cm.). It was estimated between $6,100 and $9,200 and went on auction in London for $ 8,054 in November 2008.

KARL HAHN : ORDER OF ST ALEXANDER NEVSKY

2008-11-26T16:49:00.000-08:00

In Russia at the time this decoration was made -before 1898- pogroms were rife and peasants were starving to death but the friends of the stupid tzar who led his Empire to destruction and communism were rewarded with that sort of terrific medal.

This medal is representative of the Order of St Alexander Nevsky. The introduction of the Imperial Order of St. Alexander Nevsky was planned by Russian Emperor Peter I of Russia and was established in Russia by Catherine I of Russia on May 21, 1725 in memory of the deeds of Saint Alexander Nevsky in defending Russia against foreign invaders.

It was originally awarded to distinguished Russian citizens who had served their country with honor, mostly through political or military service. Tolstoy states in Anna Karenina that the Order of St. Vladimir and Order of St. Andrew were higher honors. It was abolished in 1917 following the Bolshevik Revolution.

In 1942, the Soviet Union revive the order as a purely military decoration, and renamed it the Order of Alexander Nevsky.

It is a jewelled sash badge attributed to the workshop of Karl Hahn of St Petersburg. It measures 57.5mm (including suspension loop) x 52.5mm (about 2 inches) and is made in gold, circular and rose-cut diamonds and enamels, having the original obverse centre replaced with an unofficial medallion and surround of non-Christian pattern.

Estimated between 30,000—50,000 GBP, it was sold including buyer's premium for 63,650 GBP ($ 97,600) in London in Fall 2008.

BURGER BOSS TO HEAD ITALIAN MUSEUMS

2008-11-26T15:51:00.001-08:00

The Italian Minister of Cultural Affairs, Sandro Bondi wishes to implement a new policy starting next year. First he wants to lease Italian works of Art to foreign museums on the model set up since 2000 by my cousin Bruno Racine, ex-head of the Beaubourg Museum in Paris.

He will start his new policy with leases to "America and to Arabia”. Alain Elkann, an advisor to the Minister who went to the United States a month ago to meet directors from eleven museums, in the role of travelling salesman, thus stated: “The model is the Louvre, who besides lending a part of its collection to Abou Dhabi passed an agreement with a museum in Atlanta, Georgia which will bring in 6 million dollars for the Parisian institution."

In order to carry out the “plan for museums and archeological sites”, a “Super manager” [sic] for museums, with full powers, has just been named by the Minister, without going through the usual screening and selection of applicants. The lucky winner is Mario Resca, 62, a friend of Silvio Berlusconi, head of McDonald’s Italy until 2007 and who has since directed a gambling casino. He of course has no knowledge or experience in museums or art history.

Mario thinks that museum works are “an oil field with zero cost” and that his role will be to “increase the value of this wealth.” Why not ? Of course all the well-thinkers of Italy and France are up in arms but it is well known that the Philistines never admitted that art is nothing else than a big market, for everybody, including the artists.

PAUL JOUVE : PANTHERE NOIRE

2008-11-26T12:45:00.000-08:00

This panthere noire debout (black panther standing) made by Paul Jouve (1878 - 1973) around 1929 is a litho with gouache and gold leaf. Paul Jouve was a French animal painter and sculptor of great repute who was born in Fontainebleau (France) and studied as soon as 13 years of age at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs and later at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.

He was commissioned to decorate the monumental door of the Universal Expo of 1900 in Paris and went to the famous villa Abd-el-Tif in Algeria as a scholarship student.

He fathered a passion for Africa and Extreme Orient and illustrated with passion and immense talent the lives of the wild animals of the French empire especially in North Africa and South East Asia .

This litho measures 85 x 69 cm. (33½ x 27 1/8 in.) and was for a long time in the property of Mme Andrée Buron, fille du peintre Henri Buron (1880-1969). It was recently offered in auction in Paris (France) and estimated between €20,000 - €25,000 : it went for €34,100. Paul Jouve's works are exposed at the Gallery Marcilhac in Nantes (France) and Felix Marcilhac wrote a splendid book about Jouve and his works.

DE CHIRICO BY DE CHIRICO

2008-11-25T09:18:00.000-08:00

If you like the Italian painter Giorgio De Chirico (1888-1978) to the point of buying his self-portrait, this carboncino e acquarello su cartone (carbon and watercolor on cardboard) with a Minerva in the background, made by the artist in 1966, can be a very very good investment.

De Chirico was an influential pre-Surrealist and then Surrealist Italian painter born in Volos, Greece, to a Genovese mother and a Sicilian father. He founded the scuola metafisica art movement.

After studying art in Athens and Florence, De Chirico moved to Germany in 1906 and entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich (the same one that rejected Adolf Hitler in 1907), where he read the writings of the philosophers Nietzsche and Arthur Schopenhauer, and studied the works of Arnold Böcklin and Max Klinger.

De Chirico met and married his first wife, the Russian Ballerina Raissa Gurievich in 1924, and together they moved to Paris. In 1928 he held his first exhibition in New York City and shortly afterwards, London. He wrote essays on art and other subjects, and in 1929 published a novel entitled Hebdomeros, the Metaphysician. In 1930 De Chirico met his second wife, Isabella Pakszwer Far, a Russian, with whom he would remain for the rest of his life. Together they moved to Italy in 1932, finally settling in Rome in 1944. In 1939 he adopted a neo-Baroque style influenced by Rubens.

He remained extremely prolific even as he approached his 90th year. In 1974 he was elected to the French Académie des Beaux-Arts. He died in Rome on November 20, 1978. Estimated between €14,000 et €18,000, this self portrait although not particularly interesting or beautiful was sold on auction for €20,800 ($26,097) in Milan, Italy in November 2008.

MICK ROCK : DAVID BOWIE COLLAGE

2008-11-24T20:22:00.000-08:00

For small budget collectors and fans of rock stars there are plenty of means to fulfill their love and start an interesting collection. For instance, they can buy prints or collages of their idols for not much money. This David Bowie Moonage Daydream Collage made by Mick Rock is a color, limited edition archival photographic print, signed and numbered 14/50. 20x24in.

Mick Rock is a photographer best known for his iconic shots of 1970s glam rock icons such as Queen, David Bowie, Mick Ronson, Lou Reed, Kevin Ayers, Iggy Pop and The Stooges, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones and Blondie. Born in London, he studied at Emanuel School before going on to study modern languages at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge - it was here, at Cambridge in 1966, that he met and photographed Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett, one of his first subjects.

His book Moonage Daydream: The Life and Times of Ziggy Stardust features a 15 000-word text by David Bowie, and hundreds of photos of Bowie in his Ziggy period.

This print was recently offered on auction in NYC and estimated between 1,500 and 2,000 dollars. It went for $ 1,250.

MICHELE DELLA VALLE : EMERALDS EARRINGS

2008-11-23T09:04:00.000-08:00

Those flashy emeralds-brilliants earrings made by artist and jeweler Michele della Valle were sold in November 2008 for the modest sum of CHF 67,300 ($ 55,057) vs. an estimate of CHF 30,000-45,000.

Each of hoop design is set with two lines of graduated oval emeralds, each bordered by lines of brilliant-cut diamonds, mounted in white gold, signed MdV and numbered, fitted case.

Some people think the Art market is goind down the drain. Well not all the market as long as there are wealthy men to buy such expensive toys to their ladies. Personally I think that wearing such earring is nothing else than ostentatious and provocative. It is not art, it is display of fortune. And you must be a fool to pay 50,000 bucks just to show to your friends how rich you are.

FERNANDO BOTERO : VENUS SLEEPING

2008-11-22T17:40:00.000-08:00

Fernando Botero Angulo (born 1932 in Medellín ) is a Colombian neo figurative artist, self-titled "the most Colombian of Colombian artists" early on, coming to prominence when he won the first prize at the Salón de Artistas Colombianos in 1959.

His work includes still-life and landscapes, but Botero tends to primarily focus on situational portraiture. The "fat people" is what they are often called by critics and to my humble opinion it is also easier to paint or sculpt fat bodies with huge curves.

He traveled to study arts in France. He is now a very expensive artist. This Venus sleeping signed and numbered 'Botero 4/6' and stamped with foundry mark (on the side of the base) is a bronze with dark brown patina and measures 45 x 151.7 x 58.4 cm. It was executed in 1990.

It was on auction in NYC in November 2008 with an estimated price of 400,000 - 600,000 dollars. It reached only $ 458,500. which is probably due to the downward trend of the market since some time.

I personally own a Venus laying who
measures 8ins x 3 ins (picture at right) sculpted by a Parisian artist whose initials are G.M. and who is on sale for 2,000 dollars. It was made in Paris in 2000 and it is made of wood. It is an excellent job and any person interested can contact me at sbofni at yahoo.com and ask for Michel.

WHO ARE THE MOST FAMOUS CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS ?

2008-11-21T10:01:00.000-08:00

If you ask art dealers and auctioneers about who are the most famous Contemporary artists, you have a good chance to obtain very different answers. For instance, Philippe Segalot (picture at left), the French art consultant and former manager of Christie's contemporary art departement, think that there are no more than 10 great artists in any one generation. And he adds that those ten will show their prices grow while the others will simply disappear like fog.

For Segalot, among the ten best he puts Koons, Basquiat, Gonzales-Torres, Hirst and Cattelan. The other five, you might have never heard of them and among the best of the 21st century Segalot ranks Murakami, Toymans, Barney and Gober. I personally have never heard of the last three but I am not an expert and not even a specialist. So who are those famous three whose works we should rush to buy ?

Luc Tuymans (born 1958) is a Belgian contemporary artist (autoportrait on the right), considered one of today's most influential painters. Shame on me I did not know that. Tuymans was born in Mortsel, Belgium (double shame I live 3 years in Brussels and I still do not know it) and began to study fine art at the Sint-Lukasinstituut in Brussels in 1976. He first exhibited in 1985 and his first U.S. exhibition was at The Renaissance Society in Chicago in 1995. Tuymans lives and works in Antwerp. Recently some of his work has been exhibited in "The Triumph of Painting" exhibition in the Saatchi Gallery in London. In May 1995, the David Zwirner gallery featured a two-person exhibition of paintings by Francis Picabia and Luc Tuymans. The Museum of Modern Art hold six works by Tuymans. In October 2008 one of his paintings sold by Christie's London fetched almost 47,000 GBP ($70,000).

Matthew Barney (born in 1967 in San Francisco, California ) is an American contemporary artist who gained fame by a film called Cremaster cycle, a sequence of five films, entitled Cremaster 1 to Cremaster 5, which create a self-enclosed aesthetic system.

The conceptual departure point for the cycle is the male cremaster muscle, and the films are filled with anatomical allusions to reproductive organs and the process of sexual differentiation. Some critics think he is simply a buffoon, notably with regard to his second film, Drawing Restraint 9. Others thik he is a genius. Barney could well be the most important American artist of his generation. He produces films and videos, most of which he performs in. He and his crew also make sculptures and objects for the films and turn out photographs, books and installations derived from the films.

The sculptures include dumbbells made out of tapioca, a weight bench made of petroleum jelly, a mirrored saddle and nylon chairs with backrests curved at the waist so that only contortionists could sit comfortably on them. Barney doesn't regard any of his works — the sculptures, the photographs, the books, the films — as subsidiary to any others.

To say the least Barney (photo on the right) is not easily understandable and is very often provocative : I do not know what to make of his works and I send the reader to the Gladstone gallery where more of this achievements can be seen.

In 2006, his works were exhibited at the show "all in the present must be transformed: Matthew Barney and Joseph Beuys," held by Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin. In November 2008, one of his works fetched $86,500 on action at Phillips De Pury in New York. He is acclaimed all over and his works are walked around the museums and galleries of the planet.

The third great artist of our fresh century is or may be Robert Gober, an American sculptor, who was born in Connecticut, in 1954. He studied at Middlebury College, Vermont Tyler School of Art in Rome. He lives and works in New York City and is represented by the Matthew Marks Gallery.

His work is often related to domestic and familiar objects such as sinks, doors, and legs, and has themes of nature, sexuality, religion, and politics. The sculptures are meticulously handcrafted, even when they appear to just be a re-creation of a common sink.

His work is in many museum collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Menil Collection, the Tate Modern.

This hanging bulb is an enamel, beeswax and rope measuring 8 x 3 x 3in. (20 x 7.5 x 7.5cm.) and was executed in 1990. At auction in June 2008, it fetched £457,250 ($911,300) at Christie's London.

Author Don Thompson, after a comprehensive survey and study of the Art market, cites 25 major Contemporary artists : Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Gehrard Richter, Bruce Nauman, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauchenberg,
Joseph Beuys, Ed Ruscha, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Cy Twombly, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Martin Kippenberger, Donald Judd, Willem de Kooning, Takashi Murakami, Peter Fischli, Richard Serra, Antoni Tapies, Maurizio Cattelan, Andreas Gurky, David Hockney, Rochard Diebenkorn and Jean Michel Basquiat. To tell the truth before to read his study (1) I had never heard of 9 of them.

(1) Don Thompson, The 12 million Stuffed Shark, 2008, Palgrave, Macmillan

CONSTANTINOS VOLANAKIS : THE ARRIVAL OF KARAISKAKIS AT FALIRO

2008-11-19T15:49:00.000-08:00

This oil on canvas by Greek painter Constantin Volanakis (1837-1907) is an oil on canvas measuring 146 by 219cm. ( 57½ by 86¼in.) and was executed to celebrate the arrival in 1827 of the fledgling Greek navy and one of its commanders, Georgios Karaiskakis, on the shores of Faliro, near Piraeus, in preparation for the campaign to liberate Athens from Ottoman rule.

Volanakis was a Greek painter, one of the top of 19th century. Born to a rich family, he went to Trieste, Italy, in 1856 where he took up painting. He studied in the Munich Academy. Known as the bard of the Greek sea, he is one of the main representatives of the Munich School Greek artistic movement of the 19th century. He died in 1907. His works are today exhibited in major museums in Greece and abroad.

This picture fetched the high price of 1,609,250 GBP ($2,41 million) in November 2008 on auction at Sotheby's London. This level is justified by the fact that never before offered at auction, The Arrival of Karaiskakis at Faliro, is the most important work by the artist to appear on the international art market. Most historical works by Volanakis of this scale and importance are in museums, institutions and corporate collections, making this painting one of the few examples still in private hands.

Furthermore it illustrates the determination of the Greek people in their fight for independence and had remained for a very long time in the same hands. It was bought by an anonymous bidder and one can safely guess that he was a rich Greek collector.

PATEK-PHILIPPE WATCH BY PELLARIN-LEROY

2008-11-17T07:18:00.000-08:00

Art is not only about paintings or sculptures. Art is everywhere, in the eye of the beholder but also it may be around his wrist or in this case in the front pocket of his jacket.

This fine and unique 18K gold openface keyless lever watch with enamel miniature after George Morland (1763-1804) by Swiss maker L. Pellarin-Leroy and retailed by Cartier was made in 1969.

It is one of the kind and the enamel miniature on the watch is after 'The Check' by George Morland, a late 18th century British painter of sporting art. "The Check" is part of a series of four paintings entitled "Fox Hunting: Going Out, Going Into Cover, The Check and The Death". In hunting terms, the check refers to an interruption of the hunt, usually caused by the hounds losing the scent of the fox.

It was offered at an auction in Geneva in November 2008 and has been estimated between $25,000 and $42,000. The watch went for $ 52,686.

WILLEM CLAESZ HEDA : THE PROPERTY OF A LADY

2008-11-15T10:11:00.000-08:00

Willem Claeszoon Heda (1594-c. 1680) was one of the earliest Dutch artists devoted exclusively to the painting of still life. He was born and died in Haarlem (Netherlands). He was a man of repute in his native city, filling all the offices of dignity and trust in the guild of Haarlem.

This painting entitled "The property of a Lady", painted in 1630, is an exquisite example of Heda's early refined banquet pieces. It is an oil on panel and was offered at Sotheby's Amsterdam in Novembrer 2008 with an estimate of € 200-300,000. It went for the sum of 312,750 EUR (approx. $ 394,000) buyer's premium included.A confirmation that the Old Masters are still riding the current economic storm quite successfully.

JOHN CURRIN : NICE AND EASY

2008-11-14T15:20:00.000-08:00

This is doubtless an excellent picture and it reached recently an astronomical price although maybe a little overrated. It was painted in 1999 by American painter John Currin born in 1962 and is entitled "Nice'N Easy".

Currin was born in Boulder, Colorado, and grew up in Connecticut, where he privately studied painting with a renowned traditionally trained artist from Odessa (Ukraine), Lev Meshberg.
Later he went to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he obtained a BFA in 1984, and received a MFA from Yale University in 1986. John Currin's work draws upon a broad range of cultural influences that include Renaissance oil paintings, 1950s women's magazine advertisements, and contemporary politics.

He is known for his agressive, sarcastic painting of society and is considered by some as a pornographic painter of immense talent. Certain pictures are obviously pornographic but always showed a terrific perspective, a talent for colors and forms and their suggestiveness is never deceiving. The picture on the right will remind the readers of a more famous painter.

In the 1990s, Currin's ability to paint subjects of kitsch with technical facility met with critical and financial success, and by 2003 his paintings were selling "for prices in the high six figures". This "Nice'N Easy" sold for $ 5.45 million at Sotheby's New York Plaza in November 2008.

AFRICAN ART : KOTA RELIQUARY FIGURE

2008-11-14T14:48:00.001-08:00

For African art amateurs, the period might be the right one. Prices are going down big time and rarely beat the estimate. This very lovely Kota reliquary figure from the Robert and Jean Shoenberg collection was sold on the 14th of November 2008 in New York, Rockefeller Plaza, for only $ 22,500 vs. an estimate of 30,000 - 40,000. A steal as would say my real estate agent.

This figure is mainly in brass and was initially property of Julius Carlebach, New York, since 1955. Personally I moderately like African and Oceanic Art and I have the greatest reserve as far as the provenance is concerned. In that case we know that this figure originated in Gabon and is a product of the famous Kota tribe.

The Kota tribe who comprises about 75,000 people created stylistically unique reliquary figures, called mbulu-ngulu, which are covered with a sheet of brass or copper. Like the Fang, the Kota keep the skulls and bones of ancestors in containers, which consist here of a basket surmounted by the carved figure. A mbulu-ngulu is a tomb figure of carved wood covered with a sheet of copper or brass, created by the Kota to protect the dead. Its traditional function, as a guardian figure standing against a wall, had a direct influence upon its form.

The Kota arrived in their current location in Gabon after completing a series of migrations that started to the northeast, possibly near Sudan. These migrations began in the 18th century and were underway when European contact was first made about 150 years later.

Having said that, on a purely investing viewpoint, such figures which are extremely rare are really a bargain at 22,500 dollars. Christian missionaries who entered the area in the early 1900s converted many of the Kota peoples. As a result, many of the art objects associated with their traditional religion were destroyed, buried, or in some cases thrown down wells.

CONTEMPORARY MASTERS : DAMIEN HIRST SNUBBED

2008-11-14T10:00:00.000-08:00

The market for Contemporary art, the most speculative segment of the art market (+108% since 2003), is taking full speed the aftermath of the current financial turmoil.

Wall St. troubles are spreading over Fifth Avenue. The results of the November sales in New York organised by Sotheby’s and Christie’s are a slap in the face of the auctioneers.

Only 66% of the lots offered during the two prestigious evening sales found buyers and the global sales reached $204 million vs. a pessimistic prevision of $ 429 million.

We are far from the heights reached in November 2007 that now looks like the market's peak. At the same evening sales in 2007, only 9% of the lots remained unsold and the total revenue amounted to $ 399 million, i.e. 20% above the combined low estimates. As at 15 November 2008, the prices of contemporary and post-war art have contracted by 36% compared with December 2007, returning in a few months, to their November 2006 level.

A Self-portrait by Francis Bacon, a Concetto Spaziale Festa sul Canal Grande by Lucio Fontana (picture above at left), a sculpture and a painting by Roy Lichtenstein, a nude by Lucian Freud and an oil painting by Brice Marden are among the lots that the bidders left in the hands of the auctioneers. Even more worrying, 10 of the 13 works by Damien Hirst offered last week were also bought in or is it ? I would rather consider the occurence as an evidence that the market came back to its senses. Vive la crise !

ART MARKET : DOWN OR UP ?

2008-11-14T07:35:00.000-08:00

If you listen to professionals the art market is getting the full blow of the economic crisis we are currently in : "c'est horrible, ma chère Gladys, my Rothko sold for only 500,000 dollars yesterday." Effectively one Rothko belonging to David Rockfeller sold for 72 millions dollars last year and a very similar one just made half a million dollar this week at Christie's. And frankly the differences between the two works do not justify such a tremendous gap.

So is there a crisis or not ? According to French art market expert Artprice, "le marché de l'art est ravagé par la crise". Oh my goodness ! Gladys is passing out and lets her Vuitton purse fall on the floor of the Art market exchange when she hears that. Her ankles swell terribly in her Prada shoes and her chauffeur Maurice, the nice black man from Haiti, rushed to her $70,000 Lexus to bring her back to her Manhattan mansion.

Artprice is convinced that the market is heading towards the levels of 2000 and that it is the worst crisis since 1990. Well I say "tant mieux" because there is no reason for the tech markets to be mauled by a speculative bubble and for the art market to be spared the same.

Having said that I have a simple question : which art market Artprice is talking about ? Rothko, De Kooning, Kelly and other overrated painters ? To my knowledge the Old Masters, famous or not, behaved extremely well this week in Amsterdam reaching prices well beyong the estimates. Even this little "pasticheur" of Jean Michel Basquiat, the Haitian artist who could not overcome an...overdose and draw a face, reached record prices with this atrocious "Boxeur" : the canvas (picture) painted in 1982 is a solid acrylic and oil paintstick on linen and reached this week the fabulous sum of $ 13.5 million. Sincerely I am asking who is most ravaged by the crisis : the art market or the brains of the buyer of this boxing atrocity ?

And Artprice to whine that "important works by Cézanne, Van Gogh, Matisse, Monet and Modigliani were bought back." So sad !! Well there is no sadness to notice that people's gullibility has its limits and that the art market is like any other exchange a... market. It is that simple. So simple that works by artists like Calder, the inevitable mobile sculptor, went well beyond their estimates and Artprice did not whine when his "Untitled" (picture) was acquired this week by a "ravaged" man for almost $ 800,000 vs. a maximum estimate of $ 780,000.

All that to say that the market is becoming at last reasonable, that old values continue to behave and ignore the storm and that, as always, some overrated artists will continue to be overrated. Who said that the market is smart and wise and that the trees grow up to the sky ? Remember what John Meynard Keynes used to say about the markets :"we have a tendency to forget that the markets are made of a conglomerate of fools, idiots and gullible suckers who are the very same ones that we socialize with at our club."

In conclusion, Artprice wrote in his web letter that "it is highly likely that between now and 2010 we will see an average price drop of 30 to 40%, taking valuations back to 2003-2004 levels." Only ? Personally I'd not be so optimistic.

ELLSWORTH KELLY : MANGO

2008-11-13T19:57:00.000-08:00

It looks like a majijuana bush but it actually is a mango and it was drawn in 1959 by Ellsworth Kelly, an American painter and sculptor associated with hard-edged painting, color field painting and the minimalist school. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques that emphasize the simplicity of form. Kelly often employs bright colors to enhance his works. I personally think that the dear Kelly is totally overrated and that his works are not assuming at all as his techniques. I can do better as shows the picture below. Anyway this Mango plant went for $ 116,000 on auction in November 2008 in New York city.

The picture below named Ike - en souvenir of whom you know_ was painted by myself in October 2008 and is on sale if anybody is interested .

DE KOONING : GOING DOWN IN DEVON OR EAST HAMPTON

2008-11-13T16:53:00.000-08:00

Willem De Kooning (1904 – 1997) who is widely recognized as the star of abstract expressionism entered the United States in 1926 as a stowaway on a British freighter. He was born in Rotterdam (NL) and supported himself as a house painter until moving to a studio in Manhattan in 1927.

He then started a very successful career and was accepted as a leader in abstract painting. Famous for his series of paintings called "Men" and for duplicating later on a series called "Women" de Kooning was not afraid of a certain deliberate vulgarity. It sold well anyway and in in 1983, a picture called Two Women fetched $1.2 million on auction (see previous posting).

Unfortunately it seems that his pictures do not weather the current economic storm too well because the last sale of his works recently showed a very sharp tendency to barely reached the same level than 25 years ago. In November 2008, two pictures offered in New York city were acquired well below the estimated of the auctioneer. The picture to the right called "Two figures in Devon" is an oil on paper laid down on canvas painted in 1971 and measures 58 1/4 x 43 1/4 in. It went for $ 1.65 million vs. an estimate of 1.8/2.5 million. The one to the left called East Hampton VII painted in 1976 is also an oil on paper that measures 30 1/4 x 35 in. and was sold for 962,500 dollars vs. an estimate of 1.2/1.8 million.

ALEXANDER CALDER : UNTITLED HANGING MOBILES

2008-11-13T16:19:00.001-08:00

Shall I tell you upfront how much this mobile executed circa 1939 by the inevitable Alex Calder (1898-1976) went for in November 2008 at an auction in New York city ? Yes I will : 782,500 dollars, i.e. the upper level of the estimate.

Everybody knows that Calder's works do not come up cheap but sometimes it is simply mind-boggling : the very same day an other mobile (picture below) went for $ 602,500 vs. an estimate of around 200,000.

This "Untitled" standing mobile--painted sheet metal and wire measuring 6½ x 10 x 6 in. (16.5 x 25.4 x 15.2 cm.) was executed circa 1954 and was the property of the Estate of Baroness Marcella Korff, niece of the American sculptor Mary Callery born in New York City in 1903 and deceased in 1977.

Callery who lived in Paris for some time inspired many young collectors of her time and was the first owner of Picasso's 1932 masterpiece Le Rêve, which she sold in August 1941 for $7,000 to Victor and Sally Ganz, a young New York couple who were starting to build a collection of their own. In 1997, Christie's sold Le Rêve from The Collection of Victor and Sally Ganz for $ 48,4 million.

VICTOR VASARELY : VEGA-TEK

2008-11-12T16:54:00.000-08:00

Victor Vasarely was born in Hungary in 1906, he left Hungary and settled in Paris in 1930 working as a graphic artist and as a creative consultant at the advertising agencies Havas, Draeger and Devambez. He became a graphics designer and a poster artist during the 1930’s who combined patterns and organic images with each other.

In 1970, Vasarely opened his first dedicated museum with over 500 works in a renaissance palace in Gordes, Vaucluse (closed in 1996). A second major undertaking was the Vasarely Foundation in Aix en Provence, a museum housed in a distinct structure specially designed by Vasarely. It was inaugurated in 1976 by French president Giscard d'Estaing. Sadly the museum is now in a state of disrepair, several of the pieces on display have been damaged by water leaking from the ceiling.

He died in Paris in 1997 while his family got engulfed in a big feud about his inheritance and legacy who even involved the ex-dean of the Law School of Aix, Charles Debbasch. Considered as the father of the Op-Art, Vasarely developed his style of geometric abstract art. His works won him international renown as they received 4 prestigious prizes and he became a very expensive painter.

Sotheby's New York was holding a contemporary and modern sales in November 2008 that offered one Vasarely known as Vega-Tek, a tempera on canvas (139.1 by 139.1 cm.) signed, titled and dated 1968 on the reverse and owned by Sidney Janis Gallery, New York. The estimate indicated a target price of $ 120,000 to 180,000 and at the auction the picture went for only 122,500 dollars.

I have recently seen small paintings by Vasarely in the grand mansion Longue Vue in New Orleans owned by the immensely rich Stern family . It had several Vasarelys hanging on the wall in an Art room in an air of abandonment. The people who were visiting the house with us did not noticed or ignored who Vasarely was and our guide just skipped the subject, probably because he was afraid to tell people that over one millon dollars of abstract art were looking at them. When I told my wife that they were Vasarelys and probably worth a fortune, the guide rushed us out of the room with a very weary look. I couldn't avoid thinking it was bizarre considering the judicial affairs that have engulfed the Vasarely family since the death of the artist.

Having said that I am surprised that this Vega-Tex did not go for more. It is a beautiful Op-art piece and probably a very good investment.

BANKSY : KEEP IT SPOTLESS

2008-11-11T15:34:00.000-08:00

Banksy is a well-known pseudo anonymous British graffiti artist. He is believed to be a native of Yate, near Bristol and to have been born in 1974,but there is substantial public uncertainty about his identity and personal and biographical details.

Banksy is a UK Guerrilla Street Artist who uses computer generated stencils which enables him to work faster, with the less likely possibility of being caught by the law. He has kept is ID a secret from most of us, but there are some who know who he is. Banksy started as a freehand graffiti artist 1992-1994 as one of Bristol's DryBreadZ Crew (DBZ), often assisting writers Kato and Tes. He was inspired by local artists and his work was part of the larger Bristol underground scene.

In August 2008, marking the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the associated levee failure disaster, Banksy produced a series of works in New Orleans, Louisiana, mostly on buildings derelict since the disaster. In February of the same year his Keep it Spotless (above) reached $1.7 million. Five years earlier his Keep it real was sold on auction in London for 800 Pounds. The success of this artist is phenomenal in spite or because of his satirical and somehow cynical approach to the art market and the art in general.

Some people think that under the pseudo of Banksy -very often written Bansky- the Bristol born artist Damien Hirst is in disguise. Damien Steven Hirst (born 7 June 1965) is an English artist and the most prominent member of the group known as "Young British Artists" (or YBAs).

Hirst dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s and is internationally renowned. During the 1990s his career was closely linked with the collector Charles Saatchi. In June 2007, Hirst gained the auction record for the most expensive work of art by a living artist — his Lullaby Spring, a 3 metre (10 ft) wide steel cabinet with 6,136 pills, sold for 19.2 million dollars to Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar.

In October 2007 his Rude Lord (above at right) made a year earlier fetched $ 550,000 on auction at Sotheby's. There is even a very active Bansky pool on Flickr that can been consulted here.

The Bankrobber Gallery at 52 Lonsdale Rd Notting Hill in London W11 2DE (phone 44 (0) 207 221 1883 offers paintings by Banksy, Damien Hirst, Peter Doherty, Gerald Jenkins and Russel Young.

Recently the secretive graffiti artist managed to erect three storeys of scaffolding behind a security fence despite being watched by a CCTV (City council TV) camera. Then, during darkness and hidden behind a sheet of polythene, he painted this comment on ‘Big Brother’ society. The message displayed in white paint was “One Nation Under CCTV”, ironically placed right next to a CCTV camera.

Under the message is a Stencil painted image of a young boy on a ladder painting the message while a Police officer is seen taking a photo from a distance with his dog on his side.

Finally Westminster City Council has ordered the 23ft-high (7m) mural to be removed from the building on Newman Street. Although the artist's sketches have sold for thousands of pounds at auctions, deputy leader of the council Robert Davis said keeping the mural would mean "condoning" graffiti. What an idiot ! Where has gone the British sense of humour ?

OLD MASTERS : NO CRISIS IN VIEW

2008-11-10T14:27:00.000-08:00

The last sale of Old Masters recently held in Amsterdam by Christie's was a huge satisfaction for both auctioneer and sellers and a clear sign that the Art market is not going down the drain as fast as some misinformed media have already reported.

Tendencies are definitely on the upside and sellers were extremely happy by the resilience of the market. Amsterdam Christie's was offering on the 10th of November 2008 a set of 67 Old Masters' paintings made by followers, attributed or circles and in most cases by Secundary Old Masters themselves : fortunately for the sellers, not one single of the pictures on offer went below the estimate.

The excess went up as much as 25% in most cases and as 250% in some others : for instance the highest price was reached by an oil on panel (52.4 x 84.1 cm.) made by Flemish master Pieter Claesz. (c. 1597-1660 Haarlem) representing some quinces, peaches, a sliced melon on a silver plate, a bread roll, a leg of ham on a pewter plate, a knife, a 'Roemer' of white wine, a stoneware jug and a basket of fruit, all on a table signed with monogram and dated 'A° Pc 1651' (picture). It was estimated between $ 90,000 and $ 128,000 and it reached $ 324,000. (picture on the left).

The second highest price was reached by a Study of three young women by the studio of Sir Peter Paul Rubens that went for $ 121,000 vs. an estimate mimimum of $ 100,000. A beautiful oil on copper representing a gothic church interior with elegantly dressed figures signed and dated Henrick van Steenwijk 1578 that was estimated between 19,000 adn 25,000 dollars went for $ 47,399.

An oil on canvas (picture on the right) by Jan Fyt (Antwerp 1611-1661) representing mixed grapes, cherries and plums by a cauldron with figs, an apple, a partridge and four quails nearby that was estimated $64,052 - $89,673 went for $93,516 (buyer's premium included). This picture was confiscated by the Nazis during the War in 1941 and was sold to Dr. Hans Posse, ex Director of the Dresden Art Gallery, appointed Director of the Special Mission Linz by Hitler himself, for the planned Führer Museum in Linz (Austria) that was never constructed.

PAUL GAUGUIN : L'HOMME A LA HACHE

2008-11-09T11:12:00.000-08:00

One of the most expensive pictures in the world, l'Homme à la hache (The man with an axe), was painted in 1891 as an oil on canvas in the Pacific island of Moorea (Tahiti) by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903).

Gauguin's arrival in Tahiti, after a passage of 69 days, was not especially memorable. His ship dropped anchor in the port of Papeete during the dead of night, as per normal practice, to take advantage of the high tide. Stories in the local press had anticipated Gauguin's coming, for the artist carried a commission from the French government to paint the island and its people.

A young naval lieutenant named Jénot helped him get settled in town. The famous painter's presence quickly raised eyebrows--because of his longish hair, he was called taata-vahine ("man-woman"). Gauguin returned to France in August 1893, with only four francs in his pocket. He rented a room in Paris, and made use of a studio in the same building that the painter Alphonse Mucha had lent him. Gauguin convinced the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel to mount an exhibition of his new paintings. The show opened on 10 November, and consisted of 41 Tahitian paintings, plus some sculptures and three earlier Breton pictures, accounting for almost all of the work he had done in the South Seas and deemed important, including L'homme à la hache. Only eleven paintings were sold, and the show was not a financial success.

But in 2006, this picture got its revenge and reached new heights when it was sold for $ 40,33 million in New York City. This particular sale by Chrisite's set nine new auction records, including for Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Paul Gauguin. Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II sold for $87,936,000 (with premium), the third highest price for a painting at auction.

PABLO PICASSO : MANDOLINE SUR UNE TABLE

2008-11-08T17:52:00.000-08:00

Pablo Picasso did not paint only chefs d'oeuvre. This mandoline on a table painted in 1922 is rather a boring picture (81.6 x 100.1 cm.) that will bring me to sleep rather than to ecstasy. It was in the property of the late Evelyn Annenberg Hall - a long-time Trustee of the Museum of Modern Art (NYC)- and a famous art collector herself.

She had a weakness for the handsome Pablo of whom she acquired her first picture in 1940, an acquisition qualified of remarkable for the epoch. Mrs. Annenberg Hall passed away in 2005 at age 93 in her home in Manhattan, NYC. With her second husband, William Jaffe, a corporate lawyer, she assembled an outstanding private art collection that included European paintings, sculpture and antique furniture, Chinese porcelain, pre-Colombian artifacts and Renaissance drawings.

This Picasso's picture which was estimated by the autioneer between $3,500,000 - $4,500,000 barely reached 3,1 million includind buyer's premium. The present still-life was painted during the winter of 1922 in the apartment on the fashionable rue La Boétie that Picasso shared with his wife, Olga Khokhlova, and their infant son, Paulo. Like the guitar, the mandolin is a recurrent motif throughout Picasso's work of the 1910s and 1920s. It appears in one of his most important cubist portraits, Fanny Tellier, a painting that some asserted would change the course of cubism.

Well this picture is not going to change the course of my life and has certainly not changed the course of the auction at which it was sold in November 2008.

EGON SCHIELE : LAYING IN BED

2008-11-07T21:33:00.000-08:00

Egon Schiele, 1890-1918, was a great Austrian artist, an a protégé of Gustav Klimt, and a major figurative painter of the early 20th century. In the autumn of 1918, the Spanish flu epidemic that claimed more than 20,000,000 lives in Europe reached Vienna. His wife Edith, who was six months pregnant, succumbed to the disease on 28 October : he died only three days after her. During the three days between their deaths, Schiele drew a few sketches of Edith; these were his last works.

The sketch on the right made in 1917 is a black Conté crayon on paper and represents his wife Edith laying on his side in a very suggestive position. Estimated before the sale between $150,000 and 200,000, the work went on auction at Christies NYC in November 2008 for $314,500 including buyer's premium. I personally think this picture is awful and I would never pay that amount of money to hang this horror on my walls. Désolé Egon !!

Having said that another crayon on paper, gouache, watercolor by Schiele (left picture) was sold on the 6th of November 2008 for $ 1,594,500. It has been estimated before the sale between $700,000 and 1,000,000. Collectors know the price of the artist but still I have difficulty to understand how in such a period of economic difficulties such prices can be reached without being drawn to the floor one of those days.

OSKAR KOKOSCHKA : FRAU STEHENDER

2008-11-07T21:00:00.000-08:00

I love Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980) who was a great Austrian painter, the lover of the wife of Walter Gropius, boss of the Bauhaus, and a degenerate painter according to the Nazis.

But I usually prefer his full of colour canvasses on oil although it seems that a lot of people love OK for no reason except that he appears to be a sound investment.

However do not talk to me about art but about money when I learn that this sketch of Frau Stehender signed with initials 'OK'
- watercolor and pencil - on buff paper, 17¾ x 12½ in., executed in 1907 was sold today 7 of November at Christie's NYC for $ 74,500. It has been estimated prior to the sale between 40,000 and 60,000 dollars. Obviously the economic crisis we hear so much about has not yet reached the pockets of the wealthy collectors, or maybe they reached for safety before a general collapse of assets.

There are moments where I seriously wonder whether Hitler was not right to deem that sort of painting "entarte". Anyway the most entarte must be the people who are snobish enough to pay 74500 dollars for this obscenity. Hung that on the wall of your dining-room and none of your guests is any longer hungry. But don't tell them you paid 75 grants for it they would laugh their ass on the floor for good.

MAHJOUB BEN BELLA : TOTEM

2008-10-31T21:17:00.000-07:00

Mahjoub Ben Bella was born in 1946 in Maghnia (Algeria). After some studies at the Fine Arts School in Oran (Algeria), he moved to the Fine Arts School of Tourcoing in the North of France and then at the Fine Arts School in Paris before to go eventually to the Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris.

He is the painter of Lille and of the North of France and is widely considered in this region where he painted 12 kilometers of cobble stones of the infamous hard road of the Paris-Roubaix cycle race. His repute is now international and his work sells everywhere notably in the Emirates where his style illustrates the meeting of two words in a pacific way, the North and the South, the East and the West of the Mediterranean. Ben Bella's work creates a remarkable fusion between signs based on Arabic calligraphy, and Abstract Expressionism in European painting.

This painting is an oil on canvas painted in 2005 and measures 76¾ x 51 1/8in. (195 x 130 cm.) . It was offered on auction at Chrisitie's in October 2008 and reached the low level of its estimate, i.e. $ 40,000.