Excerpt from the Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies

Victor Wiener wrote an interesting and thought provoking article on The Unique Aspects of Appraising Large Scale Art. Victor looks at the Dream Garden Mosaic by Tiffany, the Tiffany Colombian Chapel, The Ayer Mansion in Boston, Church Reredos, and artists Damien Hirst and Sol LeWitt. Victor Wiener's article certainly gives the appraiser much to think about.



The Question of Whether the Work is Portable Personal Property or Fixed Real Property

Although many large works of art are site-specific objects, many can be removed from their physical setting. All works discussed in this paper are portable; they can be dismantled and re-installed in another location. The degree of portability varies from object to object.
The Damien Hirst works can be transported with relative ease. The church reredos, because of their complex designs, may be more complex to move. The Ayer mansion decorations may be even more difficult to dismantle and re-install, while the Sol LeWitt wall drawings would have to be recreated.
The portability of a specific work can affect its value. Potential buyers may be influenced by ancillary costs associated with relocating a large scale work.

The prospective buyer of the Dream Garden mosaic was willing to assume the cost of approximately $1 million to restore the lobby of the Curtis office building to its condition prior to 1916 when the mosaic was installed. Any purchaser of a church reredos would have to assume the considerable expense of transferring a large, intricate and delicate work of art to a new location, just as the buyer of a Sol LeWitt wall drawing would have to pay Sol LeWitt’s installation crew significant fees for recreating the mural in a new surrounding. And transport of the 6000 kg Hymn by Damien Hirst will not be inexpensive.

While most purchasers of significant works of art are concerned with the maintenance and conservation expenses, associated with the ownership of these works, the expenses connected with the ownership of large scale pieces may limit the number of potential buyers to a relatively small number. However, these prospective buyers, most likely, will be highly committed and in possession of the financial means needed to assume ownership of these large scale works. Nonetheless the appraiser needs to take these factors into consideration when assessing who these potential buyers may be and how strong the market is likely to be for these works.

The Question of Quality

Not all large scale works by a particular artist are of the same quality.
There are distinct variations in quality of the Sol LeWitt wall draw-ings. The Dream Garden mosaic and the Columbian Chapel by Tiffany are of decidedly superior design quality when compared to the interior decoration of the Ayer mansion with its uniform tesserae – notwithstanding the fact that mansion’s entrance hall is a bravura piece of stage design.
The large scale Hymn by Damien Hirst is far superior, in my opinion, to the other large scale Damien Hirst sculptures such as Virgin Mother and Charity. And, the reredos at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire and the one at Saint Thomas Episcopal church in New York City are of significantly higher quality than the reredos at other institutions.

As with other works of art of more average scale, the appraiser has to determine the quality of a specific large scale work when compared and contrasted with similar and like works by the same artist or those works of a comparable nature by another hand. For example, the medium size pill cabinets by Damien Hirst of the same dimensions have sold at vastly varying prices due to the coloration and arrangement of the pills. Similarly, the valuation of the large scale pill cabinet seen in Naples would also be dependent upon the colors and arrangement of the pills inside.
The assessment of the aesthetic value of a specific piece when compared with other works is a significant part of an appraiser’s assignment. This consideration is no different when valuing large scale works or when valuing objects which are miniature in scale.

The Question of the Iconic Nature of Large Scale Works

Clearly large scale works take considerably longer to produce than works of a more conventional size. This is true for artists such as Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons who have ateliers with many assistants.

When a large scale work is created it has the possibility of being viewed as an “iconic” work – i.e. a work of extraordinary quality which stands out from the more common pieces produced by an artist. This is especially true for artists such as Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons or Louis Comfort Tiffany whose studios have produced numerous works of conventional dimensions.
If a large scale work is viewed by the public as iconic, the market most likely will place a premium on the piece in the form of a high value.

However, this is not always the case for every large scale work. The market most likely would not view every Sol LeWitt large scale wall drawing as iconic since LeWitt was prolific in producing large scale works. In such a case market value would be determined almost exclusively by the aesthetic quality of a given piece.

Large scale works of an iconic nature may be harder to sell because there are fewer potential buyers; but when they do sell they generally sell for much higher prices than works of more conventional size. Had the Dream Garden sold for $10 million in 1999 it would have been a world record for Tiffany in both the public auction and private gallery sales markets.
It would be erroneous to believe that because a work is harder to sell it is less valuable. The value of the large scale pill cabinet in Naples would most likely be augmented and not diminished by its scale, rendering it an iconic object.

And, by the same token, Damien Hirst’s Hymn may, indeed, have an increased value due to its large size and superb aesthetic qualities – although it may take a while to sell it if it were to be placed on the market. To believe it would be less valuable than a sculpture of more manageable size would be analogous to believing that Michelangelo’s David is less valuable than Verrochio’s David. Both works are extraordinary achievements of Italian Renaissance sculpture but the smaller David by Verrochio does not have the iconic qualities of Michelangelo’s David which was called “the giant” when it was created in the 16th century.

The Question of Highest and Best Use

Large scale works of art are frequently site specific. Although many, including all the examples cited in this paper, are portable many may be so large that they would have higher value if left in place.
Church reredos which were designed and produced off site may augment the architectural value of the chapels in which they were placed, although they could be sold to another church or museum.