NY Art Dealer to Retire

Lindsay Pollack reporting for Bloomberg states that New York art dealer Bernard Goldberg plans on closing his Madison avenue art gallery. Goldberg claims he is retiring because of age, and not for business reasons, as he sees the future of the art market only getting better. His entire gallery collection will be sold at several upcoming Christie's sales, and the pre-sale estimates indicate the collection is worth near $10 million.

Pollock reports

Goldberg’s works will be offered in six separate auctions during Christie’s spring and fall sales. Goldberg, who has two daughters and funds a program in Israel to train women as advocates in rabbinical courts, didn’t say how he will spend the sales proceeds.

Among Christie’s projected top lots is a 2-foot-tall graceful Jacques Lipchitz 1914 cubist “Spanish Dancer” sculpture, expected to fetch between $400,000 and $600,000. Goldberg had been retailing the bronze for $850,000 at the gallery. “Is it going to bother me if it sells for $400,000? Absolutely.” said Goldberg. “There are things I paid top dollar for and will not get those prices today.”

Goldberg’s landscape of Central Park by American Impressionist Frederick Carl Frieseke will be sold Sept. 28. Goldberg paid $40,000. Christie’s estimate: $15,000 to $25,000.

He is best known for selling American art dating from 1900 to 1950, and these works span a range of styles, from Ashcan to Modernism. The auctions will include everything in his gallery, even those Goldberg says he’s tempted to keep.

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