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The Resilience of the Art Market

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

Artprice recorded that last year, 2011, was the best ever for the sales of art at auction. With 10.7 billion dollars in earnings for 2011, artists such as Picasso, Degas, Zhang, and Warhol helped make 2011 a stand our year for art. When compared to 2010’s total of 9.5 billion dollars, it is easy to see the confidence and staying power of the art market as a veritable asset in this economy that cannot be ignored.

Picasso's "La Lecture" Sold for $40.5 million

This is due to several factors that the Art Newspaper and Artprice have been discussing for quite some time. In their January 2012 edition, the Art Newspaper explains that the art market is not a single entity but smaller markets that are combined under one name which means that the profits for 2011 do not even include the private sales in galleries or between individuals thereby making the revenue gains even more substantial. The profits were derived from the driving demand for what the Newspaper described as new buyers liking the “branded nature of contemporary art”, mixed with the demand for fresh and correctly estimated property.

Zhang Xiaogang’s “Forever Lasting Love (Triptych)” Sold for $10.2 million

Art Price’s Art Market Insight features two article’s titled “2011 from the AMCI’s viewpoint” and “The global art market – an overview of 2011”. These articles reiterate that the art market confidence is at an all-time high, but with a focus on the international factors that lead, and continue to led to, the market’s success. The financial markets closed the year 1% down while the art market posted a 15% increase in revenue. The first part of 2011 saw lots of new records being set with over 6.3 billion dollars in revenue between January and June alone. This was aided by revenue coming in from China, which became the world’s leading fine art marketplace in 2011 (China alone accounted for 36% of the global art market).

Unfortunately with the European debt crisis, the art market fluctuated from July to August. However with the success of international art fairs and the late Contemporary art auctions, buyers were certainly more than optimistic about the value of their investments and continue to be. Going into 2012 the art market doesn’t seem to be worried as China maintains its hold, and Modern and Contemporary art are as popular as ever. So when buying a work of art in this economy you should feel confident, because there’s nowhere to go but up.

Tags: art news, auctions, buying art, buying fine art, fine art economics, picasso, Sheryl McMahan
Posted in Art investments, Current Events In Art, Everything else, Uncategorized |

What Will Happen to Warhol?

Friday, December 2nd, 2011

Andy Warhol

The Andy Warhol Foundation has developed a rather convoluted reputation in their quest to catalog and certify the vast collection of over 100,000 (across all media) works that Warhol created. The Foundation Board has made several controversial decisions regarding the authentication of specific prints and screen prints that have landed them with millions of dollars’ worth of legal bills and a negative reputation as the monopolizing entity of the Warhol market. However a collector may feel about their role in the art market, they play an important one. In an interesting turn of events this past month, the Andy Warhol Foundation announced that it will dissolve its authentication board at the beginning of 2012.

Wahol- Blackglama

What does this mean for the collector? Will panic spread through the art market as Warhol’s go unregulated? That does not seem to be the case as the Art Newspaper brilliantly discusses in The problem with authenticating Warhol. In the article they note the facts” that none of the top five Warhol works sold at auction have been stamped by the board…”. With only 16 out of 49 works for sale this past month having been authenticated by the board, there is no reason for collectors to fear.

All of the top record-breakers are, however, detailed in the artist’s catalogue raisonné that the Warhol Foundation has compiled. There are three completed volumes of the catalogue that document Warhol’s paintings, prints, screen prints, and sculpture until 1974. The foundation’s mission is to make a complete catalogue of all of Warhol’s works and will continue to review works submitted for inclusion in future editions, but in its own time (unlike the authentication board, which took requests).

The Foundation stepping away from the market to focus on scholarship will undoubtedly led to good things. A more complete catalog of Warhol’s work will aid the art market in regards to authenticity as the new scholarship will include his drawings and photographs, which currently do not exist in a cohesive form. When looking at the Warhol works the Authentication Board has been exposed to, there is no cause for concern as only 6,000 of Warhol’s more than 100,000 works have gone through the authentication process. Thus the only advice to offer a collector is to practice due diligence in regards to researching the provenance of a piece and feel 100% comfortable and confident in their purchase.

Tags: buying fine art, Sheryl McMahan, warhol
Posted in Art History, Art investments, Current Events In Art, Uncategorized |

Conservation in the 21st Century

Monday, November 21st, 2011

Trolling the web for the latest art news, I stumbled upon a fascinating article on Wired. According to Mike Olson, an unlikely partnership with an even stranger toolbox has emerged to restore the frescoes at the Church of Santos Juanes in the Spanish city of Valencia, otherwise known as the birthplace of paella. Between the two of them, the Centre for Advanced Food Microbiology and the Polytechnic University at the Institute of Heritage Restoration identified the ideal restoration tool: a salt- and glue-eating bacteria. Let those who believe food and art to be separate take note.

Frescoes inside the Church of Santos Juanes in Valencia, Spain

Pseudomonas stutzeri was developed by a team of biologists, their efforts driven in part by Pilar Bosch, who learned her tricks from the group that cleaned the Campo Santo di Pisa in Italy. Growing the bacteria in a culture containing the elements that need to be removed from the frescoes, the scientists develop a strain that eats away, literally, at the gluey remnants of past botched restoration attempts and at the salt blooms left by pigeon nests.

The bacteria are spread on an area of the frescoes and covered with a gel; when heated by a lamp, this gel generates humid conditions under which the Pseudomonas thrive, and get to work. Just 90 minutes later, the targeted area of the fresco is washed clean with water and dried, killing the bacteria and leaving behind a shiny clean section to admire.

In this way, about one third of the frescoes decorating the walls of the baroque and gothic Church, whose original structure dates back to the 13^th century, have been restored to date.

What strikes me, and what might occur to fresco aficionados, is how this restoration-by-bacteria creates a neat symmetry, revealing what was created through similar means. The artist paints one pre-determined portion of fresco per day. Before work begins, wet plaster is laid down. The fragment must be completed before the plaster begins to dry. Any mistakes must be manually removed, and sometimes the entire section – called a giornata in Italian due to its daily time limit – has to be taken out.

Bosch and her team of people and Pseudomonas might think of their own work as broken down into miniaturegiornata, 90-minute cycles of apply and unveil. As for this joint venture of bacteria, biologists and baroque art, I knew the world needed to know.

Tags: Ariel Rosen, art movements, conservation
Posted in Art History, Conservation and Restoration, Current Events In Art, Everything else, Uncategorized |

Art Market Update

Monday, November 7th, 2011

Sotheby’s and Christie’s Impressionist and Modern sales this past week provided for an interesting revitalization of the Impressionist and Modern art market. Christie’s tallied $149,773,500, while Sotheby’s tallied $199,804,500 in sales which are remarkable when compared to previous Impressionist and Modern sales. Both sales offered a variety of different works, but as an Artinfo article pointed out, the provenance and rarity of the items in the Sotheby’s sales were not to be passed up.

There were several insights that were revealed in these sales as to the direction of the art market. The first of which is that Surrealism is gaining popularity once more. Max Ernst’s incredible masterpiece, “The Stolen Mirror,” sold for a record $16,322,500. While two classic works by René Magritte also found homes with “La fin du mond,” making $7,026,500, and the painting “Les vacances de hegel,” making $10,162,500. Surrealism is an interesting theme as it attempts to express the workings of the subconscious through fantastic imagery and strange juxtapositions of subject matter, which not everyone appreciates but the works do have quite the solidarity in the art market.

La femme qui pleure, I by Pablo Picasso

Meanwhile others insights emerged, and that was the continuing market power of Pablo Picasso prints. His famed 1937 etching, “La femme qui pleure, I,” sold for $5,122,500 at Christie’s, a record for a single print at auction. Etchings are known to have a high resale value due to the artist’s involvement in their creation and the method employed to create them. Reproduced prints in particular have become steadily incorporated into artists’ original prints and are therefore not solely produced, as originally intended, for mass production therefore the value is still there as can be seen in the sale of this Picasso.

Several of our other artists that we feature had great sales as well. Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s “Portrait en buste de jeune fille” went for $1,874,500, and Wassily Kandinsky’s color-charged 1908 Expressionist composition “Weisser Klang (White Sound)” sold for $8,930,500. These all seem to affirm, when taken in accordance to the auction results of the past few years, that art is a good place to put some of your wealth as it has proven to be a resilient market. The confidence in the art market can only continue to rise as additional Contemporary auctions occur this week.

Posted in Art investments, Everything else, Uncategorized |

Watermarks and Rembrandts

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011

When Masterworks Fine Art acquires an artwork, we undertake a program of research and identification. Old Masters prints, such as those by Rembrandt, require special attention because documentation can be limited, works often exist in multiple states, and posthumous prints made from plates still in existence are on the market.

When researching a Rembrandt impression, we consider the image and sheet size, the type of paper on which the work is printed, and the watermark (if there is one). We consult Nowell-Eusticke, the authoritative catalogue raisonné for the artist, compare our results against the volumes by Hind and White & Boon, and turn to the recently-published Watermarks in Rembrandt’s Prints by Ash & Fletcher. These books describe, in one way or another, differences large and small between each printing of a single plate.

Rembrandt experimented with the effects of printing on different kinds of paper, and is known to have used vellum, calfskin parchment, creamy handmade European papers, coarse “oatmeal” papers made from the dregs of the papermaking vat, and the thicker, softer “Japan” paper (Ash & Fletcher, 11). Not all of these papers were made with watermarks or wire marks, as they are also known, but those that were can provide insight into the time frame in which a print was pulled.

As methodical studies of watermarks found in the graphic work of specific artists appear, the identification of these marks becomes increasingly valuable. It is a rare day when we uncover a full watermark on a newly acquired print. Finding even the tip of a crown or a partial cluster of grapes enables us to match that fragment to a documented watermark. If we can nail down what paper the work is on, we can at least be certain that the impression was not pulled before a certain date.

How does this relate to Rembrandt?

Say we determine that a certain watermark was produced in the early 18^th century. A Rembrandt etching on that particular paper couldn’t possibly be a lifetime impression, given the artist’s death in 1669. Ash and Fletcher note: “Our research often revealed the use of the same paper in the same print or in prints produced within a few years of each other” (15). That being said, they continue, “Rembrandt may have purchased certain papers in quantity, saved them, and used them intermittently over the years” (Ibid). This passage underscores the difficulty Rembrandt scholars face in assigning prints an exact date. Though helpful, a paper’s dates of creation do not necessarily dictate the time frame for the printing of a specific state. A plate may have been etched one year and printed the next. It may also have been reprinted a decade later.

Information obtained through a watermark about a paper’s country of origin, dates of manufacture, and import history can narrow the time frame for an impression and authenticate the work. However, sometimes our search for a wire mark leaves us empty-handed, and we turn to determining the state of the print.

Tags: Ariel Rosen, art invest, confidence, old master prints, rembrandt etchings, rembrandt prints
Posted in Art History, Art investments, Everything else, Uncategorized |

Caring for Ceramic Works of Art

Friday, August 12th, 2011

You did it. You visited galleries, combed catalogues, searched the web, and purchased that ceramic by Léger or Picasso that you’ve been dreaming of for months now. Having discarded the bubble wrap and displayed the piece, you might feel your work is done. However, caring for your fragile artwork is an ongoing process.

To begin with, be sure to place your ceramic out of direct sunlight in a location where it won’t get knocked over. When handling these artworks, wash your hands and wear latex gloves, a material that prevents the piece slipping from your grasp. Your bare hands contain oils and moisture that can stain the clay, affecting image and value. Ideally, you should display the work in a dust-tight case to avoid particles settling on its textured surface, which is difficult to clean and easily scratched.

If you have to, use a can of compressed air (what’s known as an air duster) to dust terra-cotta, raku, bisque, and other unglazed, soft ceramics. With glazed artworks, the use of a soft brush is preferable to that of a cloth, which can leave behind hard-to-remove fibers. If a piece has a coarse surface or fragile decoration prone to flaking, avoid using a brush or cloth to dust the surface.

Fragile or unstable ceramics sometimes exhibit “crazed” glazes, which manifests as a series of fine surface cracks. In some cases considered a flaw, the effect can also be intentional. Crackle glazes are, in effect, a controlled form of crazing. Multiple causes exist: the clay, especially when porous or unglazed in certain areas, can absorb moisture and expand after firing; significant, rapid temperature changes can throw the work into thermal shock; or the glaze can simply be too small for the pottery. Imagine a person in a too-small, fine-knit sweater whose skin shows through the strained weave.

Crazing, glazing, cracking, and crizzling.

Crizzling? Why, it’s the crazing equivalent for stained glass and antique art glass, of course. This same network of thin surface cracks renders glass works cloudy, dull or opaque. An instable or deficient chemical makeup, linked to the use of too much alkali, or not enough lime, in the manufacturing process, is to blame. Over time, salt leaches away from the glass, setting off chemical reactions that weaken the object. Sadly, sisseling or crackling or crisseling – however you want to call it – is damage that can’t be undone.

At least correct handling of your ceramic masterpiece will maintain its condition, and prevent future deterioration.

Tags: Ariel Rosen, collections care, conservation
Posted in Conservation and Restoration, Everything else, Uncategorized |

Rembrandt: What a State

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

More than 15 studies of Rembrandt’s prints have been done since Parisian art dealer Edmé-François Gersaint compiled the first portfolio of the artist’s work in 1751, a number that underscores the challenge that his oeuvre continues to pose (White & Boon, v). These books provide essential information about each print; cross-referenced catalogue raisonné numbers identify each image, and a brief, meticulous discussion of the impressions and states in existence follows.

We look to Nowell-Usticke’s authoritative Rembrandt’s Etchings: States and Values before cross-checking the entries in catalogues by White & Boon and Hind, amongst others. Nowell-Usticke makes the following remark in his introduction:

“A great multiplicity of states seems to have always been associated with
Rembrandt’s etched work. I feel this idea is incorrect. Rembrandt was
basically a one state etcher. […] after completing his etching he would
carefully inspect it; only when he was satisfied would he remove the
varnish and pull about five trial proofs to check general appearance […]
If these proved satisfactory […] he would pull about twenty more proofs
before putting the plate aside” (14).

These early prints, created within Rembrandt’s lifetime, are known as lifetime impressions, and are the most valuable works on the market. The word also applies to those impressions that the artist may have pulled if an initial printing sold well. Nowell-Usticke estimates 25 more prints followed the “early” examples, and these he terms “intermediate”. The last prints are “late”. This simple nomenclature opens the door to a complex web of plates destroyed and existing, reprints, retouches and more.

An etching can exist in one state, or in nine and our job is to determine where the work in our possession fits in with the print’s history.

Catalogue entries ask the reader to scrutinize the shading on the edge of a cloak or look for additional horizontal shading on a window sill. States of a print can vary minutely, meaning correct identification requires careful examination. Without our extensive library, which contains rare books and is a source of pride here at the gallery, we would not be able to complete such comprehensive research.

In the case of our Jakob Thomasz Haringh (The Young Haring), however, there was little room for doubt. The catalogue informs us that state III impressions of this print show a large picture added to the wall at left; state IV impressions are printed from a plate that has been, “cut down to head & shoulders only; the picture has been removed, leaving some traces” (Nowell-Usticke, B 275). The trimming of the plate narrows our options considerably, enabling us to name the correct state.

When we acquired Curly Headed Man With a Wry Mouth, our research was similarly short-lived. The plate, which has been destroyed, only existed in two states. Since impressions from the later printing show “The badly worn face & neck gone over with the roulette,” we had no trouble categorizing a first state print (Nowell-Usticke, B 305).

Navigating the catalogue raisonnès can be confusing at first, and we don’t always find what we’re seeking, but the research opens technical windows onto a great artist’s work and methods. And it’s surprisingly satisfying to find, yes, “The cross no longer touches the border at L. Fine diagonal L-R shading added below scroll (Making 3 directions)” – must be a State II Christ Crucified Between Two Thieves, Oval Plate (Nowell-Usticke, B 79).

Tags: Ariel Rosen, confidence, old master prints, rembrandt etchings, rembrandt prints
Posted in Art History, Art investments, Everything else, Uncategorized |

Investing in Art in a Smoke-and-Mirrors Financial Market

Friday, August 5th, 2011

The stock market is in marked decline and bonds are showing pitifully low returns. Interest rates are at a minimum, as low as .5% in some countries. Given that the sub-prime mortgage fiasco kicked off this recession in the first place, real estate has not been looking too attractive as a haven for liquid assets.

To be sure, the national spectacle that was the debt ceiling crisis did not help things. Ending just hours before the United States ran out of money to pay its bills, the problem has actually been delayed, not resolved. Fitch Ratings warned that though the debt ceiling agreement reached Congress represents a step in the right direction, the U.S. still lacks, “a credible plan to reduce the budget deficit to a level that would secure [its] AAA status over the medium-term.” The threat still remains that the country’s credit rating may take a dive, fueled by lenders’ concerns that $14 trillion in debt is unsustainable.

Those who had never imagined the United States might be unable to settle its accounts are perhaps imagining a similar scenario played out in their own personal finances. For the individual, it may not be an option to file away these concerns for a later date. In the face of such an unstable financial market, investing in tangible assets can be an answer. Precious metals such as gold and silver are proving to be safe investments, having risen 16% and 30% in value respectively in 2011 alone. In the United Kingdom, you can turn to the Wine Investment Fund, where annualized returns range between 8% and 20%. And then there is the Fine Art Fund Group, whose investors are currently enjoying returns above 25%.

Even if you can’t afford the Fund’s $250,000 base level investment, individuals can build l art collections with personal and monetary value. Though numbers are tumbling right and left, the art market is going strong. Christie’s closed its Paris Contemporary Art auction at over €8.4 million ($3.8 million) on May 31, 2011, and showed similar numbers between its two Impressionist and Modern Art sales just weeks earlier. The auction giant recently hosted an entire event dedicated to Picasso ceramics, where pieces sold between $800 and $134,000. Such an extraordinary price range underscores the accessibility of art for investors with all budgets.

Whether you choose to fill your portfolio with Modern Masters such as Chagall, Miró, and Picasso, or contemporary favorites like Warhol, Yvaral, or Vasarely, you can’t go wrong. Art is one of the few tangible assets that will simultaneously enrich your aesthetic life and ensure your financial wellbeing, over the long term.

Resources:
1. “U.S. Stocks Manage to Eke out a Gain.” New York Times. August 4, 2011.
2. “Gold, fine wine, art or under the bed: what’s the safest place for your cash?”Guardian UK. July 25, 2011.
3. Christie’s: Auction Results, May 2011.

Tags: Ariel Rosen, art invest, buying art, buying fine art, confidence, fine art economics
Posted in Art investments, Current Events In Art, Everything else, Uncategorized |

Picasso: From Paris to San Francisco

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

If you’re from Paris, walking the many galleries of the Picasso exhibition at the San Francisco de Young might be like going home again. If you’re from the Bay Area, “Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris” will transport you to the French capital. Either way, Picasso lovers attending the exhibition will feel that they are going to a long dinner with old friends. 150 paintings, drawings, sculptures and drawings from every phase of the artist’s richly varied career traveled from the Musée National Picasso for a foggy summer stay. Such a vast undertaking is all the more notable for its rarity – the collection from the Musée National Picasso is only on loan during the completion of extensive renovations scheduled through 2012.

Organized chronologically and by period, the exhibition provides insight into the breadth of Picasso’s oeuvre. From the early Blue Period in Barcelona through the revolution that was Cubism, it moves into Neo-Classicism and Surrealism; bronze and “found” sculpture shares space with such later, exuberantly fragmented paintings as The Matador (1970), a self-portrait.

“I haven’t got a style,” Picasso asserts, and this exhibition denies any possibility that the artist might be limited in people’s minds to a single movement. A range of styles, each mastered in its own right, fills the rooms. Notable is the complete absence of wall text explaining the history or analyzing the significance of the works. Timoth Burgand, Curator in Charge of American Art for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, explains that this lack of text allows for personal, direct interaction with the art. Instead of being bogged down with explanation, the works are free to speak for themselves.

That we learn something new about Picasso from this exhibition is no surprise. Visit the Museu Picasso in Barcelona and an astounding range of works on paper display the master artist’s talent in the graphic arts. View our collection of ceramics and understand yet another, perhaps lesser known, side of his work. Travel to the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid – the monumental Guernica and its black and white vision of the bombing of that town during the Spanish civil war awaits. If you can’t stop by the de Young for a visit before October 9, you will find the artist’s works scattered around the globe, or you might bring a piece from our collection home to you.

Tags: Ariel Rosen, exhibitions, museums, picasso prints
Posted in Current Events In Art, Everything else, Uncategorized |

Child’s Play

Monday, July 25th, 2011

An artist’s friendship with another artist is often a sacred bond of admiration, influence, and inspiration. Despite the distances and visual mediums that may that separate them, each relationship leaves a lasting impact on the involved artists. One particular individual’s relationships with other artists has frequently been the topic of many exhibitions and books, and that is Alexander Calder. Alexander “Sandy” Calder is the most acclaimed and influential sculptor of our time, and developed meaningful relationships with his fellow artists Fernand Léger and Joan Miró.

Calder was influenced by Léger, and Léger admired Calder’s work. Their paths crossed multiple times as Léger was often in the audience of Calder’s circus performances and Calder invited him to write the preface to his catalogue for the exhibition at Galerie Percier in 1931. The two artists had a close relationship and were often seen walking around New York or Paris together searching for visual inspiration. In their art, although they tended to resolve their depictions of the modern world in different manners, we can see the ideological thread between their work and similar integration of figuration and abstraction.

Calder and Miró lived in Paris at the same time and became close friends. Their artistic parallels have been well documented and exhibited. Both artists have an impish quality, a sense of play, and a love of adventure in their works. In describing the similarities in his work with that of Miró, Calder is quoted as saying, “Well, the archeologists will tell you there’s a little bit of Miró in Calder and little bit of Calder in Miró.” That could certainly be said of many artists relationships.

Tags: artists, calder, léger, miró, Sheryl McMahan
Posted in Art History, Everything else, Uncategorized |

The Context of Magritte

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

As one of the most popular artists of the 20^th century, Rene Magritte has been influential to many artists that range from John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Vija Celmins, Marcel Broodthaers, Jan Verdoodt, Martin Kippenberger and Storm Thorgerson. Some of these artists’ works integrate direct references to Magritte’s works, while others offer contemporary viewpoints on his abstract fixations. This is all due to his artistic brilliance with the use of context that is labeled under the title of surrealism.

Surrealism uses visual imagery from the subconscious mind to create art without the intention of logical comprehensibility. Many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works being an artifact. During Magritte’s life however he had a rather turbulent relationship with the movement. While in Paris in the 1920’s, Magritte became acquainted with much of the Surrealist theory and their romanticized notions of scandal, crime and disguise. However, Magritte was disgusted by the superficial methods of the Parisian and Belgian Surrealists and strove to remove himself from the association, but the movement continued to impact his work.

Magritte would remove an object from its usual context so that its purpose could change. With paintings like La Durée Poignardée, 1939, Magritte wanted viewers to put aside utility and common sense while interpreting the objects found in the work. In his artwork, Magritte toyed with everyday objects, human habits and emotions, placing them in foreign contexts and questioning their familiar meanings. He suggested new interpretations of old things in his deceivingly simple paintings, making the commonplace profound and the rational irrational. He painted his canvasses in the same manner as he lived his life, in strange modesty and under constant analysis.

Magritte’s intended goal for his work was to challenge observers’ preconditioned perceptions of reality and force viewers to become hypersensitive to their surroundings. As one of the more popular artists we sell, Magritte is timeless in his juxtapositions that reflect everyday life and beliefs, a great addition to any collection.

Tags: art movements, artists, history, magritte, Sheryl McMahan, surrealism
Posted in Art History, Everything else, Uncategorized |

American Artists

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

In honor of July 4^th, Masterworks Fine Art would like to present American artists that we feature in our gallery as they exemplify the ingenuity, integrity, and drive of America’s founding fathers who fought for independence and freedom. Alexander Calder, Jasper Johns, Sam Francis, Andy Warhol, and Deborah Butterfield are all American artists who have played pivotal and influential roles in their chosen art forms.

Alexander Calder was born in Pennsylvania and encouraged to create at a young age. Despite his talents, Calder did not originally set out to become an artist, but became an engineer. He did sketches for local papers and magazines which brought about a renewed passion. This was further fueled in his creation of both wire sculpture and kinetic art. As the inventor of the mobile and stabile sculpture, Calder also created paintings, lithographs, toys, tapestry and jewelry. As he stated of his inspiration; “The underlying sense of form in my work has been the system of the Universe, or part thereof. For that is a rather large model to work from.”

Jasper Johns hails from Georgia and is at the forefront of American art. His richly worked paintings of maps, flags, and targets led the artistic community away from Abstract Expressionism toward a new emphasis on the concrete. Johns laid the groundwork for both Pop Art and Minimalism. Today, as his prints and paintings set record prices at auction, the meanings of his paintings, his imagery, and his changing style continue to be subjects of controversy. Constantly challenging the technical possibilities of printmaking, painting and sculpture, Johns laid the groundwork for a wide range of experimental artists; “When something is new to us, we treat it as an experience. We feel that our senses are awake and clear. We are alive”.

Sam Francis is a prolific Californian artist. Considered one of the premier colorists of the twentieth century, his exciting, movement-driven, multi-faceted splatter/brush paintings are classified as Abstract Expressionism, but he is also closely associated with Color Field painting. Color Field painting is type of abstract art that consists of broad areas of low-contrast color on a very shallow picture plane. Francis held a deep love for color and had a brilliant awareness of the contrasts in colors and lights which is displayed in his work; “Color is born of the interpenetration of light and dark.”

The leading figure in the visual art movement known as Pop Art and one of the most sought after and successful American artists of all time is Andy Warhol. There is no denying this Pennsylvanian’s brilliance at removing everyday objects or celebrities from their context and isolating them to challenge the traditional art culture and views on commercialism. Warhol’s life is well known and his art still breaks auction records, and we are fortunate to offer his works; “Once you ‘got’ Pop, you could never see a sign again the same way again. And once you thought Pop, you could never see America the same way again.”

Last, but certainly not least, is the American sculpturist Deborah Butterfield. Born in California, she chose to create self-portraits using images of horses. Butterfield crafts the horses out of scrap metal, cast bronze, wood, wire, and organic materials such as mud. She photographs the frame of the figure before she puts the material on which enables her to piece the work together from all angles giving the horses their realistic movement of body through which we are then able to interpret the emotion and context . Interestingly, she only works in the winter, so her works usually take 3 to 5 years to complete.

Tags: art movements, artists, calder, Sheryl McMahan, warhol
Posted in Art History, Everything else, Uncategorized |

London Calling

Friday, June 24th, 2011

Impressionist and Modern sales were held this week in London with strong results. Sotheby’s ended with $157,543,910 in sales and Christie’s ended at $227,111,142. The stars of both nights were artists we currently sell. Pablo Picasso’s “Couple le Baiser” went for $10,621,070 which is 18 times higher than its previously recorded auction in 1993. Meanwhile, Picasso’s “Homme a la Pipe et Nu Couche” sold for $7,800,591. Lastly, Picasso’s “Jeune Fille Endormie” and “Femme Assise, Robe Bleue” respectively sold for $21,866,588 and $29,133,148.

Joan Miró’s abstraction “Femme a la Voix de Rossignol dans la Nuit” sold for $7,709,608 while Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s “La Liseuse” sold for $9,165,339. “l’Empire des Lumieres,” by René Magritte went for $3,888,313 and Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s widely exhibited “La Source (Nu Allonge)” sold for $8,241,788.

European buyers have been dominating the sales, but U.S. buyers have made an impact as well. This only goes to show that art is a great investment at any price level, in any country. With the steady return of good sales, art is stronger than it has been in quite while.

Tags: art invest, buying art, buying fine art, confidence, fine art economics, Sheryl McMahan
Posted in Art investments, Current Events In Art, Uncategorized |

Art Basel: Indications to Come?

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

Art Basel is often described as the world’s top fair for modern and contemporary works and it opens June 15, 2011 with over 300 galleries displaying works for a combined total worth around $1.75 billion, according to specialist insurer Hiscox.

Art Basel features galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. More than 2,500 artists, ranging from the great masters of Modern art to the latest generation of emerging stars, are represented in the show’s multiple sections. The exhibition includes the highest-quality paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations, photographs, video and editioned works. Last year, 62,500 people attended Art 41 Basel, including art collectors, art dealers, artists, curators and other art enthusiasts.

In the VIP preview that occurred June 14, 2011 there was well over millions of dollars of art sold. Even if one does not attend the fair or collect the artists represented by the galleries, the sales at the fair are excellent indicators of the market for both price and mood. Although the art market has yet to regain the giddy heights of the boom that preceded the 2009 slump, the million-dollar sales at Art Basel tell that the market is strong and worthy of investment.

Tags: art galleries, art invest, buying art, buying fine art, confidence, Sheryl McMahan
Posted in Art investments, Current Events In Art, Uncategorized |

Picasso’s Influences

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

Many modern artists and collectors are introduced to Picasso through multiple mediums. In school one takes an art class here, a history class there and discovers his art and life. Through film, advertisements, and print media his art is used as a canvas for expression. His work is intricately woven into our lives through so many different avenues and mediums that we don’t quite realize the influence he has.

Picasso’s most important influence however can be seen in the modern artists that aspire to emulate his work, challenge his techniques, and reinterpret his works with their own flair. With Picasso’s staggering output of more than 20,000 paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and photographs there is plenty to choose from.

Picasso invented cubism with Georges Braque, invented the collage technique, and painted the 20th century’s most imposing masterpiece “Guernica”, so it is indeed hard to think of any modern artist who didn’t at some point in their career take cues from Picasso.

These artists range from Max Weber to Man Ray to Willem de Kooning to Jackson Pollock to Arshile Gorky to Lee Krasner to David Smith to Andy Warhol to Claes Oldenburg to Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein.

Many more artists are inspired by Picasso’s art and will continue to be. As they strive to capture Picasso’s versatility and movement through art and life, they embrace Picasso’s creative lawlessness and redefine art in their own right. So when looking at a de Kooning in a gallery or museum, take an extra second to ponder about the influence of Picasso.

Tags: art movements, history, picasso, Sheryl McMahan
Posted in Art History, Everything else, Uncategorized |

Treating Art as Stock

Thursday, May 19th, 2011

There is an interesting topic taking hold in the art world that has people talking and it centers around the global trend of creating Art Investment Funds. These art funds allow for individuals to make long-term investments in a portfolio of valuable artworks. What this means is that an art investment company either
a) buys particular works of art upfront whose value they believe will rise and then allows individuals to invest in the created portfolio and then upon selling the works of art will get a return OR
b) lines up individuals who put money towards purchasing art for a portfolio as an investment on the assumption that the value will increase and then upon selling the works of art will get a return.
All in all, they aim to maximize the rate of return on works in their collection.

There are many different options available besides these two but they are the most popular, as London-based Fine Art Fund displays. Fine Art Fund was the first fund of its type to invest in art as a worldwide asset class, and continues to be the only one to do so on a major international scale. However their creation is gaining in popularity as can be seen with several companies in several different countries taking a similar approach to the art market.

In Brazil, Plural Capital is an investment firm based in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo that has launched BGA Private Equity Investment Fund. This new art-fueled market venture is worth $24 million and the strategy is to buy contemporary works, mainly from Brazil, for three years, and then spend two years selling off the art it has purchased. Therefore it encourages private investors to use the contemporary art market as a financial instrument.

Russia provides another example as to this sort of investment gaining popularity, but with a twist. One art investment firm, Atlanta Art, is valued at $4.7 million and just began trading last month. But it is Sobranie.Photoeffect valued at $467 million that is has a twist in their investment plan. What makes Sobranie.Photoeffect different is that instead of raising money from wealthy individuals to buy art, it has obtained its works from a group of anonymous Russian collectors. The plan for the fund is to sell five to 10 percent of its stock at auction every year, paying its final dividends after 15 years and then ceasing to exist. Sobranie.Photoeffect deals exclusively with photographs and holds over 290,000 original prints.

Russia and Brazil are not the only examples of art investment funds, but France and China offer different variations. In China, a financial corporation has gone public with China’s first openly traded art portfolio, on the Shenzhen Cultural Assets and Equity Exchange (SZCAEE). Issued by the Shenzhen Artvip Cultural Corporation, the art portfolio comprises 12 paintings by contemporary artist Yang Peijiang in the form of 1,000 shares, which sold out on the first day of trading, netting $354,480. As the artworks are traded by Artvip, which is managing the 12 works, profits are dispersed to shareholders. The Exchange itself is interesting as it was established in 2009 by the Chinese government, but functions as an alternative platform for the trading of a wide range of cultural assets — including artworks, luxury goods, and films — as part of the Chinese government’s attempt to commercialize, diversify, and regulate the public exchange of such cultural properties.

Meanwhile in France, the French company A&F Markets has come up with a venture called Art Exchange that will treat artworks as investment vehicles, opening them up to partial purchase by shareholders. The initiative has just launched with an offer of shares in two pieces, one by Sol LeWitt and the other by Francesco Vezzoli. Now 11,000 shares of LeWitt’s “Irregular Form” are available at $13 per share, for a total value of $142,000 and 13,500 shares of Vezzoli’s “The Premiere of a Play That Will Never Run” are also offered at the same rate, giving it a total price of $174,000.

What does an art investment fund do for you? Well it provides those who cannot afford to buy expensive works of art an avenue for reaping a profit off of the art, as well as provides new buyers with an “in” into the art world. In two of the examples listed above, shareholders are even able to have the piece on display in their home on a loan so to say. Thus, in addition to sharing the potential appreciation and profits of the artwork, the artwork is being admired and enjoyed as well.

Tags: art invest, buying art, buying fine art, confidence, fine art economics, Sheryl McMahan
Posted in Art investments, Current Events In Art, Uncategorized |

Art Market Riding High

Monday, May 16th, 2011

Now, is the perfect time to invest in art. The international market is booming with great returns, and here at Masterworks we want you to get the best from your investment. That is why we are laying out the best buying markets right now so you know the worth of your investment.

Impressionist and Modern Art is holding steady in the art market. Several impressionist records were set this past week with Maurice Vlamincks Paysage de Banlieu selling for $22,482,500 (originally bought 17 years prior for $6,822,500) and Maximilien Luces’sNotre-Dame de Paris, that sold for $4,226,500. Pablo Picasso was a top seller with Les Femmes d’Alger, Version L going for $15,762,500, Homme au Mouton selling for $7,138,500, and Femmes Lisant (Deux Personages) selling for $21,362,500. All of these rare works are being offered at the perfect time for both old and new investors to enjoy.

Contemporary Turkish Art, generally sold in Dubai and London, is blossoming into the international art world as can be seen in the specialized sales held at major auction houses in April. In total, the sales in April 2011 generated $6.1m. The best results were Ömer Uluç and Erol Akyava’s painting End of Encounter, which brought in $741,000. The Whispering Wall II by Burhan Cahit Dogançay reached $375,000, and an untitled work by Orhon Mubin went for $326,000. These results show that the Dubaian market, which is traditionally strong for Contemporary Turkish art, is now being outshined by the European segment of the market.

Contemporary Chinese Art is dominating the global art market. Many of the works are selling for quadruple of what they were estimated at. Total revenue from one auction was $46.68m. One of the highest selling contemporary artist’s is currently Zhang Xiaogang, whose Forever lasting Love (1988) sold for $9m. Only time will tell if the market continues to rise or fall, but as Chinese art buyers are actively collecting, the market looks to be a good investment.

Tags: art invest, buying art, buying fine art, confidence, Sheryl McMahan
Posted in Art investments, Current Events In Art, Uncategorized |

Joan Miró: A Creative Life

Monday, May 9th, 2011

To most art lovers, a painting by Joan Miró is immediately recognizable. It displays botanical, geometric or abstract lines or shapes floating against celestial blue, sandy yellow or earth brown backgrounds. It also probably exudes a mystical yet reassuring dreamy quality. However interestingly enough, his personality was nothing like his work.

Miró was a highly disciplined hard working man. He spoke little and looked like the perfect bourgeois. He was orderly, reliable and punctilious. He was astonishingly versatile, willing to try almost anything. Nothing of him had any touch of a free spirited bohemian that he seemed to exhibit in his works.

In 1927, when Miró was 34 he was already a successful artist but he had a restless temperament and lived in provoking times. Surrealism, he discovered, had limitations. He was ready for a radical change in art, but he realized that he would have to create it himself. With his famous words, “I want to assassinate painting,” Miró did just that. He took the elements out of art and stuck to the essentials. Whether he used a limited color palate or sparse geometric designs or different material he deified the essence of painting being on a canvas.

”I personally don’t know where we are heading,” Miró told a Spanish journalist in 1931. ”The only thing that’s clear to me is that I intend to destroy, destroy everything that exists in painting. I have utter contempt for painting. The only thing that interests me is the spirit itself, and I only use the customary artists’ tools — brushes, canvas and paint — in order to get the best effects. I’m only interested in anonymous art, the kind that springs from the collective unconscious.”

By the end of his long life, Miró had executed paintings and sculptures that prefigured Abstract Expressionism, Pop art, Color Field painting, process art, appropriation, and even conceptualism. Ultimately he succeeded in his goal of “assassinating painting”, and left us with a canvas of brilliant colors combined with simplified forms that allow us to embrace our inner child.

Tags: art invest, artists, history, miró, Sheryl McMahan
Posted in Art History, Art investments, Everything else, Uncategorized |

Matisse and Picasso: A Respectful Rivalry

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

Competition. Rivalry. Respect. Admiration. Bandit. All of these words were once used by both Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse in recognition of one and other. In Matisse and Picasso: The Story of their Rivalry and Friendship by Jack Flam, their tumultuous relationship is examined and brilliantly told.

Picasso was the first modern celebrity artist, unapologetic for his crass behavior, while Matisse lived in contrast, a reserved man shielding his life from the public view. They mocked each other in their respective works, yet revered each other for their talents. Matisse ”left me his odalisques,” Picasso famously declared after Matisse died, and then, in ”Women of Algiers,” Picasso returned these odalisques to their original source, Delacroix. He was expressing what Françoise Gilot, the painter and Picasso’s lover, called a kinship based on the common ”understanding of the same artists and the same principles.”

Both of the artists had a restless, self-confident, combative intelligence. As can be seen in the cross comparison of their careers and from the respect and admiration adorned from their art, they were strong contemporaries whose fame seemed to rise and fall in contrast to one and other. By the end, Picasso was strapping canvases onto the roof of his car and driving them over to show an elderly Matisse. ”Everything considered, there is only Matisse,” Picasso said. ”Only one person has the right to criticize me,” Matisse responded.

Picasso once said that in order to grasp 20th-century art, you ought to see ”side by side everything Matisse and I were doing.” This rivalry and friendship seemed to bring out the best in both artists. Thus, us lovers of the art world, are fortunate that they co-existed because without the personality or presence of one or the other, who knows what sort of influences would have driven them, and what masterpieces we would have lost out on.

Tags: art invest, history, matisse, picasso, Sheryl McMahan
Posted in Art History, Everything else, Uncategorized |

Braque and Picasso: The Creation of Cubism

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

Braque was an introvert, and Picasso was an extrovert so by all accounts these two personalities should not have mixed. Both of them had different painting styles and work ethics, yet from 1908 to 1914 they were basically inseparable, forming a unique and everlasting partnership that created Cubism.

Braque’s role is often underplayed as Picasso is the more commercially acclaimed artist, but Braque was capable of remarkable flexibility and invention. It was certainly a give and take between Braque and Picasso, and of their velocity of discovery and invention. However Braque’s and Picasso’s attraction to notions of selflessness and anonymity probably owes more to the reticence and tact of Braque, than to the overly self-confident of Picasso.

Even after Picasso and Braque went their own ways, when Braque enlisted to join the war efforts, they occasionally made snide remarks about each other but remained loyal to what they had shared during these years. They never expressed what transpired between them. As Braque recalled, ”Picasso and I said things to one another that will never be said again … that no one will be able to understand.” This dedication and respect is one seldomly seen in the art world, and their silence on what transpired signifies that they felt their time together was sacred. And without such time spent together, who knows if Cubism would exist or even be considered an art form today.

Tags: art movements, artists, braque, history, picasso, Sheryl McMahan
Posted in Art History, Everything else, Uncategorized |

Did you know Picasso was questioned for stealing the Mona Lisa?

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

When the Mona Lisa disappeared from the Louvre in 1911, a friend of Picasso’s, Guillaume Apollinaire, was arrested first and ratted out Picasso for possessing stolen antiquities. Picasso was subsequently arrested and released because he had not stolen the Mona Lisa. However he was not completely innocent of a crime as he did possess a pair of Bronze Age Iberian statues stolen from the Louvre that was never detected.*

*obtained from Picasso and Theft of the Mona Lisa

Tags: artists, history, picasso, Sheryl McMahan
Posted in Art History, Everything else, Uncategorized |

Tips for Buying Fine Art

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

Signed CHAGALL lithograph, Bonjour Paris (Good Morning Paris), 1972

With a rapidly changing economy it has become increasingly evident that many people are turning to different kinds of tangible assets as a hedge against both inflation and recession. In my 35 years of experience collecting, buying, and selling original works of fine art, I have found the art market to be far more stable and yield far more consistent returns than any other tangible financial instrument that I know of. It comes down to a general belief that it’s all about collecting “names”, or artists whose careers and reputations have long been established and are not going to fade with the advance of time.

The guide presented below is generally intended for customers who are buying original works of fine art and spending between $10,000 and $250,000. In general, my first piece of advice is to buy well-established, famous-named artists; Old Masters (e.g. Rembrandt, Dürer) and Modern Masters (e.g. Chagall, Picasso, Miro, Matisse, Braque) are certainly sure bets. On the Contemporary side, artists like Calder, Vasarely, and Yvaral are great artists to collect, enjoy, and invest in. (I would include works by Warhol in this list, but his market has become so over-heated that I have some concerns about the sustainability of the doubling and tripling of prices that have occurred on an annual basis over the past 4 or 5 years.)

Buy / Acquire only original works of fine art

Differentiating originals from reproductions can be difficult especially when the artistic media used to create an artist’s work has changed so dramatically over the years. An original etching, lithograph, serigraph, and aquatint for example, are easy to differentiate because they do not show a dot matrix (classically associated with reproductions of original works of art).

The challenge today is that many contemporary artists use mass media for reproducing images like off-set lithography, collotypes, and Giclée to reproduce their works. However, this does not necessarily mean that these works are not original works of fine art. The following conditions are necessary in order to be considered original works of fine art:

Hand-signed & Numbered: Works must be hand-signed by the artist and numbered in limited editions.As an example of this, the vast majority of Warhol prints – while among the most collected in the world – are all photo-mechanically reproduced and are not classically considered original serigraphs or lithographs. But because this is the only way Warhol worked, these pieces are considered original works, even though they technically are not. We understand this is a confusing distinction to make and I am happy to be contacted on a piece-by-piece basis to explain the level of involvement by the artist with each work.
Catalogue Raisonné Information & Documentation: Be sure that the print corresponds to the printed documentation in a catalogue raisonné of the artist’s, publisher’s, or printer’s work. Artists did not make an original work in 3 different sizes, for example; only 1 size of an original work is typically produced. A good, thorough catalogue raisonné will tell you the technique of manufacture, size of image, size of the printed sheet, and the edition size.There is a minor caviot to this: some areas of printmaking are not documented properly or thoroughly and mistakes can be found in those catalogues that do exist. This is relatively rare and can be explained in other ways.
Lifetime Impressions vs. Re-Strikes: A print produced during an artist’s lifetime will have certain qualities and characteristics that are documented in the artist’s catalogue raisonnés. Re-strikes, later impressions, or posthumous works fall in another category. These works are usually printed from original plates. However, the artist did not authorize their creation. They may have been authorized by the artist’s estate but their value is diminished over that of an original work pulled under the artist’s direction and supervision during his lifetime. Both are collectable, but the values will vary greatly.
Certificates of Authenticity (COAs): Certificates for graphic works are in general, worth the paper they are printed on; they are only as good as the company who issues them. Having said that, certain COAs are better than others and they should only contain factual information, verifiable by outside sources.

For older works of art, much of this information remains unknown, especially prior to 1900. In those circumstances, you do your best to answer the questions as truthfully and faithfully as possible. Unique works of art (as opposed to original prints) frequently come with COAs by the designated member(s) of an artist’s family who have the moral right to authenticate a work of art.

For example, if you were buying a Picasso unique work, the only people who have the authority to authenticate those works, are Maya Picasso and Claude Picasso (appointed by the French government). If the work of art was by Marc Chagall, the Comité Chagall is THE only entity that can authenticate a unique original work by Chagall. The problem for those dealing in graphic works is that most experts will not authenticate them (they only deal with unique originals).

Please find the following excerpt on COA requirements as stated by the State of California Civil Code 1744 (as of 2003):

The name of the artist
Information about any artist’s signature appearing on the multiple, such as whether the artist signed it personally or whether it was stamped by the artist’s estate, or by some other source.
A description of the medium or process used in producing the multiple such as etching, engraving, lithographic, serigraphic, Giclee or a particular method or material used in any photographic developing processes.
A statement about any photomechanical, photographic, or surmoulage (for sculpture) process used to create a multiple of an image produced in a different medium, for a purpose other than the creation of the multiple being described, and a statement of the respective mediums.
If a photomechanical, photographic or surmoulage process was used, and the multiple is not signed, a statement about whether the artist authorized or approved in writing creation of the multiple or the edition.
Information about whether the artist was deceased at the time the master was made which produced the multiple.
Information about whether it is a “posthumous” multiple, that is, where the master was created during the life of the artist but the multiple was produced after the artist’s death.
If it is a second or later edition of multiples made from a master that produced a prior limited edition, or if the master for this edition was made from a print or master that was made from a prior multiple, this shall be stated. In addition, the total number of multiples, including proofs, of all other editions produced from that master must be stated.
The year, or approximate year, the multiple was produced shall be stated, if the multiple was created after 1949. For multiples produced prior to 1950, the certificate must state the year, approximate year or period when the master was made and when that particular multiple was produced.
Information about whether the edition is being offered as a limited edition, and if so: (i) the authorized maximum number of signed or numbered impressions or both, in the edition; (ii) the authorized maximum number of unsigned or unnumbered impressions, or both, in the edition; (iii) the authorized maximum number of artist’s, publisher’s or other proofs, if any, outside of the regular edition; and (iv) the total size of the edition.
Whether or not the master has been destroyed, effaced, altered, defaced, or canceled after the current edition. If for example the master screens have been destroyed, then the atelier cannot make any additional images more of that image.
If the multiple is part of a limited edition that was printed after January 1, 1983, that statement of the size of the limited edition also constitutes an express warranty that no additional multiples of the same image, including proofs, have been produced in this or in any other limited edition.

Pricing

Pricing is, on a retail basis, based on a gallery’s overhead costs, including its location, sales commissions, etc.; frequently pricing will entail a 50%-100% mark-up. I advise collectors to inquire about galleries’ pricing methods what factors go into the pricing of their inventory. That question alone, if it goes unanswered in a satisfactory manner, should give you an indication of the establishment’s legitimacy and customer service. (As an aside, if you think you can find an original hand-signed work by a prominent artist like Chagall or Picasso for less than $5,000 you are probably buying a fake or a reproduction with a photo-mechanical signature. There’s no such thing has an authentic, hand-signed Chagall for $399.99. However, there can be major price variations where an original Chagall might be $10,000 in one gallery and $25,000 in another – all this varies based on the information provided above.)

Signatures

How do you know an artist really hand-signed a work? The artist’s birth/date dates should be listed on any COA so that you know the real Pablo Picasso (born 1881; died 1973) really signed it, as opposed to a Pablo Picasso in Chicago, IL who is still alive. It is important that the artist’s dates be present to make this distinction very clear.

For major artists, there are frequently comparative catalogues and signature registries where you can find comparable signatures to help gain confidence that the artist truly signed the work. This information should also be contained in the catalogue raisonné, the best of which should tell you if there are unsigned impressions and if so, how many.

Proactive Research & Due Diligence

Do your best to educate yourself about an artist’s work. Speak to the gallery owner directly and ask these questions to make sure you feel confident about your acquisition. A professional dealer will allow for returns, exchanges, and guarantee the work of art’s authenticity for the lifetime of your ownership of that work. Find a good glossary of terminology to research and understand precisely the terms that are involved in the description of the artist’s work. (Masterworks Fine Art, Inc. offers an abbreviated glossary of art terms.)

Quality in a Work of Art

Original works of fine art are hand-made. Because of this, there is variation in the quality of impression. Due to the ravages of time, there are variations in color saturation and condition. A print that has a tear across the middle of it is clearly going to be worth less than a print with full margins and in flawless condition. Brilliant, crisp impressions will sell more successfully than dull, worn impressions. The price ranges can be enormous; for example, an early impression of a Rembrandt print might be priced at $100,000. A later, poorer impression could be $7,000. What makes the difference is a good, strong knowledge of connoisseurship and connoisseurship criteria.

Connoisseurship

This is a critical aspect in acquiring any work of art. Connoisseurship has to do with the assessment and understanding of quality in an original work of fine art. Connoisseurship will always determine the work with the greatest value – which will be the most iconic image by a specific artist. Connoisseurship in a work of art will vary from artist to artist. With Chagall, for example, it has to do with solely the amount of color saturation and Chagall-like imagery. With Picasso, in contrast, connoisseurship will depend on the graphic qualities of the image and the brilliancy with which he is able to convey a message in a relatively small number of strokes.

I often reference and artwork’s “curb effect,” or its ability to pulls you in from across the room, allowing you to distinctly tell who the work has been created by. A Picasso that looks like a geometric work of art by Vasarely is not ever going to be as desirable or collectable as a Picasso of a mother holding a child from the Blue Period. In other words, historically, the most collectable and valuable works of art by major artists, are works that scream they are works by those artists.

Tags: art invest, buying art, buying fine art
Posted in Uncategorized |

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