Opening of the Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain

Scott Reyburn of Bloomberg is reporting on the opening of Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain, or FIAC, in Paris and the largest French art fair has been positive.  Dealers are reporting the sales are taking a little more time to consummate as the assure buyers the time is right to buy.  The mood seems positive. According to Reyburn a Piet Mondrian is reserved for between $30-40 million (see image) and a Picasso at $24 million. Reyburn was also reporting that some collectors who were wishing to sell were looking to dealers to arrange private sales. These positive results come on the heels of the London Frieze Art Fair which was also considered a strong, or at least strong for the current economic climate.

Reyburn reports

Some owners of high-value works of art are looking to make private sales through dealers, rather than risk offering works at public auction, where prices and failures are recorded on databases. The 2-foot-8-inch high Picasso, titled “Femme ecrivant,” had been consigned to FIAC by a U.S.-based collector and was being presented by the Chicago- and New York-based Richard Gray Gallery.

“Twenty million-dollar deals don’t happen in a few minutes,” gallery director Paul Gray said. The potential buyer’s reserve on the 1934 canvas of Picasso’s mistress Marie- Therese Walter came during the first few hours of FIAC’s VIP preview on Oct. 21. Gray is one of 10 international dealers exhibiting 24 museum-quality works in the new “Modern Project” section of the fair, held under the cast-iron and glass dome of the Grand Palais.

Demand Declines

FIAC follows Frieze in the U.K., where dealers last week reported more sales than last year. Demand for art has fallen since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed in September 2008. Auction sales of contemporary art have shrunk up to 80 percent, and prices dropped by more than 50 percent in some cases, the London-based research company ArtTactic said in a report last month.

Gray’s gallery is also offering at the “Modern Project” a 1929 Alexander Calder wire sculpture, “Portrait of Eduard Penkala,” that has been in another U.S. collection for 20 years.

“This work wouldn’t have appeared for sale if it hadn’t been for this exhibition at FIAC,” said Gray in an interview. “It should give the auction houses something to think about.”

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