The Guardian (UK) is reporting that a Parisian entrepreneur will soon open the first art stock exchange, were investors can purchase ownership interests in traded pieces of art, just like stocks and other commodities. The minimum purchase will be 10 euros, and the prices will be indexed and reported publicly. Initially, the art exchange will trade in only 19th century through contemporary works, including paintings, sculpture, photography and video installations.
The article reports there is much skepticism about the proposed art stock exchange.
The Guardian reports
To read the full article, click HERE.The project, expected to launch in January, has been secretive about its opening art works. The first pieces for sale will include a 2006 installation by the German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer, who is based in the south of France. Also on offer is Irregular Form, a 1998 oil painting on paper by the late American artist Sol LeWitt. Those pieces are owned by galleries, but the scheme is also negotiating directly with the French painter and sculptor Richard Texier for one of his works.
The company's founders are initially working with about six Paris galleries but are seeking to expand in the UK, China and across Europe. They hope to attract financiers and investors who might previously have been wary of the art world's volatile and sometimes confusing prices. The scheme is also hoping to attract investors tempted by French tax breaks on art.
The idea has been lampooned by some cultural commentators, who warn that treating art like a financial commodity debases an artist's work. Patrick Bourne of the London-based Fine Art Society said the idea was a "stinker". But Pierre Naquin, the 26-year-old French entrepreneur behind it, argued that new investors in the art world would be "reassured" by a marketplace that copied the financial mechanisms they were used to. He said: "Just because someone makes an investment in art, it doesn't mean they lose the emotional tie to the work.
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