5/02/2010

Optimisim in the Art Market

Carol Vogel of the NY Times wrote a good article about the optimism that is prevailing feeling for the art market. The next two weeks will be revealing as their are many major auctions offering high profile pieces. Perhaps the most important, or a the lot being most closely monitored is the Christie's sale of Picasso's “Nu au Plateau de Sculpteur (Nude, Green Leaves and Bust)”. There is speculation the sale of the Picasso could break the auction record for a piece of artwork recently set with the selling of the Giacometti Walking Man Bronze at $104.3 million. The pre sale estimate for the Picasso is $70-$90 million.

Vogel states

Everyone is betting on the market’s continued strength, realizing that collectors with money to spend are feeling more secure parking their cash in art than in volatile financial markets. Even so, buyers, no matter how rich, are price conscious and want to think they’re getting a bargain. The idea this season is to keep estimates low enough to encourage bidding.

“When you have something great, then the challenge is to convince the consigner to put an estimate that is 10 to 15 percent below the retail price,” said Tobias Meyer, who runs Sotheby’s contemporary-art department worldwide. “It’s all about playing the game of low estimates, and getting people who trust us to play too.”

The estimated price for “Nu au Plateau,” for example, is $70 million to $90 million, though many are banking on it making considerably more.

“Nu au Plateau” has been publicly exhibited only once since 1951. The year it was painted, 1932, is considered a magical time in Picasso’s career because he started creating a series of large-scale, luscious canvases of Marie-Thérèse that were unlike anything he had done before, bigger and more sensual.
To read the full article, click HERE.

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