For centuries the rules for successful participation in the art market remained broadly consistent for collectors but times are changing…and fast…and it is no longer so clear that the old rules apply. The old rules to successful art buying were roughly: – study your subject, buy what you like so you could enjoy it on
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Whereas Bankers used to process art deals with little fuss, they now examine them in detail and decide if they will accept them or not. Your ‘Relationship Manager’ always wanted to know more about your business….well, now he does… and he is your new boss. All art deals of any significance now get referred to
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The Shigir Idol, a Totem Pole type figure, has recently been dated by German archaeologists in Mannheim as 11,000 years old. Accelerated Mass Spectrometry was used on seven miniscule wooden fragments. This dating puts the Idol as 1,500 years older than had been established by tests conducted in Russia in 1997 by G. I. Zajtseva at
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The Art Russe exhibition of Soviet period paintings and sculpture, entitled ‘20th Century Russian and Soviet Art: War and Peace’ opened with a Gala evening event at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi on the 6th October. Several museums are under construction in Abu Dhabi and, until they are ready, exhibitions are being held in
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Rather late in the day, and spurred on by the interest of the Dutch government, the French government has finally woken up to the importance of the pair of Rembrandts belonging to Eric de Rothschild that are currently on the market. As reported here, in a previous post, the portraits are of Marten Soolmans and
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Lately the art market has received flak from all sides and one interesting piece of news amidst all the negative press is that the Dutch government have announced they are having a serious crack at securing the return to Holland of the magnificent pair of Rembrandt portraits that belong to Eric de Rothschild. Last week
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Art Russe, the foundation headed by the entrepreneur and philanthropist Andrey Filatov, is organising a major exhibition of Russian art in Abu Dhabi.  The exhibition will run from the 6 October 2015 – 10 December 2015 and is to be held at the Emirates Palace Hotel. The Emirates Palace Hotel, a palatial building on the
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I have written elsewhere about Sotheby’s share price being a leading indicator for the general health of the art market and indeed for the stock market in general.  See http://www.russianartdealer.com/journal/aggressive-activist-investors-shake-sothebys-spears-wms-magazine/ The following article written by James Stefurak for Seeking Alpha is an in-depth examination of Sotheby’s, its share price, and the general health of the art
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Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips modernist works sales last week topped US$2.5bn with more fast money chasing art than at any time since 2008. Picasso’s Women of Algiers made a new auction record for a work of art of US$179m. Giacometti’s life-size sculpture L’homme au doigt sold for US$141.3m confirming that sculpture has now achieved the
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Sotheby’s have revealed their new President is Tad Smith, the former head of Madison Square Gardens.  Mr Smith acknowledges he knows nothing about art or the art world but apparently likes Ai Weiwei and Damien Hirst (which confirms he knows nothing about art).  He said he recently bought a photograph of a floating ballet dancer
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