Australian - Art Market Monitor

Marion Maneker0June 06, 2012

Australian Collectors Look Outward

The Sydney Morning Herald notes the strong presence of Australian collectors at ArtHK in Hong Kong and the growing number of galleries in Sydney selling international art. This is a sea change for the Australian market, the paper says:

the gradual infiltration of Sydney galleries by overseas work has been under way for a long time. Annandale Galleries has been one of the leaders of this trend, holding successful shows by artists such as William Kentridge, Leon Kossoff and John Virtue. Roslyn Oxley has hosted exhibitions by Yayoi Kusama and Wim Delvoye; Rex Irwin was showing artists such as Lucian Freud before they became art-market superstars. Ray Hughes was the first to acquire a taste for contemporary Chinese and even African art.

Last year, Andrew Jensen opened a gallery that took the commitment to overseas work a step further, with a stable that includes challenging abstract artists and minimalists from Europe and the US. Now we have the New Albion Gallery, a venture by auctioneers Deutscher Hackett, dedicated to showing well-known international artists who have never been exposed to the Australian market.

Foreign Affairs (Sydney Morning Herald)

Artists

Marion Maneker0February 19, 2012

Australian Banker Doubts His Whiteley’s Authenticity

The Australian art market is still dogged by the case of dealer Peter Gant who was accused of trafficking in fakes. Now comes the story of a disgruntled client who believes his Whiteley—bought for $2.5m after Whiteley’s prices had reached a new peak in 2007—was purchased from Gant and may not be what it pretends to be:

In November 2007, the banker turned to the well-known auctioneer and Melbourne art adviser Anita Archer to help him buy some serious art. In return for a commission, Archer was to identify works that would make a good investment. Archer soon told Pridham she could get him a large painting referred to as Lavender Bay, 1988, signed and dated ”Brett Whiteley 1988”. [...]

Now Pridham is suing Archer for selling him an “artwork that was not by the artist Brett Whiteley”, and for allegedly failing to exercise all the “reasonable care, diligence and skill” required to verify and advise him on the painting’s provenance, according to his statement of claim to the NSW Supreme Court. Pridham wants his $2.5 million back, plus money to cover the loss of the capital appreciation of the work, and what he spent insuring the painting and getting experts to check its authenticity. [...]

As Pridham tells the story, Archer told him the painting’s provenance was “impeccable”, that she had been trying for some time to buy it from the Village Roadshow director Robert Le Tet who had bought it direct from Whiteley in 1988 and had it hanging in his North Sydney office. Archer denies all this.

Pridham alleges Archer told him she had spoken to the original framer, Brett Liechtenstein, known for many years of collaboration with Whiteley, “who asserted that he could clearly remember framing the picture in 1988″. But Pridham goes on to say Liechtenstein refused to verify its provenance because he had not been shown the painting.

Big Blue Sparked by Doubt Over Whiteley Painting (Sydney Morning Herald)

General

Marion Maneker0August 17, 2011

Australia’s Shapiro Gets Herman Sale

Australia’s art market has been in a long contraction but the Sydney Morning Herald thinks there are signs of life in the upcoming September sales, including the Sept. 15th auction at Shapiro’s:

Shapiro’s drawcard is a Sali Herman collection that has never been on the market or exhibited before.

The managing director of Shapiro, Andrew Shapiro, started pursuing the Herman collection last October against competition from other auction houses. He secured it in May. The 17 paintings and three drawings, including some of the painter’s well-known inner-city street scenes, come from the estate of Andrew Curtis, a Holocaust survivor who did well in Australia and befriended Herman, who was also a Jewish refugee.

”It was very sought after because it is a full retrospective of his work from early to late career and some of his best work is in it,” Shapiro says.

”Are people spending? I’m not, but the luxury market is doing OK and someone always has money. In this market, what people want and what performs is a collection. Buyers want material that has not been on the market for 40 years so this is a real sale.”

At a Mossgreen auction held in June last year, Herman’s Argyle Place secured a record $137,425 for the artist’s work, including buyer’s premium. Shapiro’s cover painting is Terraces, Millers Point, a 1975 oil on canvas estimated to sell for between $30,000 and $50,000. Shapiro was excited to discover that the collection included the work Richmond Bridge, Tasmania ($20,000 to $30,000) and another Herman painting of which he had never heard, The artist’s studio with cat (self-portrait), ($30,000 to $50,000).

Auction Houses Paint a Rosy Picture (Sydney Morning Herald)

General

Marion Maneker2May 23, 2011

Aboriginal Art: Stop the Madness!

The Australian reports that one Aboriginal art auctioneer, Paul Sumner, is calling for a moratorium on the ever-expanding sales within the cratering market:

“The auction houses are putting too many works on the market,” Mr Sumner said. ”When Sotheby’s was doing it very successfully, they were doing one auction a year. It’s all about supply and demand, and demand sinks if you increase supply.”

Mr Sumner said his company, Mossgreen, would not stage an indigenous art sale this year on account of the arrival in Australia of the international auction house Bonhams, plus two annual sales each by Sotheby’s and D+H.

Over-selling isn’t the only problem facing the Aboriginal Art market. There’s also the prospect of increasing supply just as the market is glutted in this post from ABC News in Australia:

Tim Jennings, owner of the Mbantua Art Gallery, says the market will be tight for another few years. [...] ”The next generation are coming along and … the interest is more economic for them, where they can improve their living standards,” he said. ”I think the glut is coming in the next generation rather than the older generation.”

Aboriginal Art Market Paints Dismal Picture (The Australian)

New Generation Fuels Aboriginal Art Glut (ABC News)

Artists

Marion Maneker0April 27, 2011

Chinese Contemporary Up; Aboriginals Down

Art investing is something of a national sport in Australia though the buying is generally concentrated in Australian art. Now we get the first hint that the collapse of the market for Aboriginal art may be less connected to government schemes to make sure artists receive a royalty from secondary sales than competition from other regional schools.

Tamara Winikoff, director of Australia’s National Association for the Visual Arts, makes the connection between the decline in Australia’s market for Aboriginal art and the rise of Chinese Contemporary:

“Investment can be faddish,” she said. ”Certainly we know that there’s a very, very substantial interest in contemporary Chinese art. That seems to be presenting something of a challenge to Indigenous Australian art in terms of the major collectors.”

Chinese Art Infringing on the Indigenous Market (ABC News)

General

Marion Maneker0March 24, 2011

Australians Couldn't Care Less About Australian Art

Nicky McWilliam was looking for a gallery assistant for his Australian gallery only ti discover that no one has much interest in Australian Art:

At interviews, there were works on the gallery walls by significant Australian artists including John Coburn, Gary Shead, Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd, Brett Whiteley and Grace Cossington Smith. Only a handful of interviewees could identify any of the artists or works. Interviewees showed little knowledge of or interest in Australian art and art history; most said their courses offered Australian art only as an adjunct or secondary field of knowledge. [...] It is possible to complete a graduate and even postgraduate degree in fine art, visual art, arts administration or art theory at an Australian university without acquiring even the most basic knowledge about Australian art or art history.

Universities Are Letting Australian Art Down (Sydney Morning Herald)

Auction Results

Marion Maneker0January 04, 2011

Australian Art Market Looks Forward to Better Year in 2011

The Sydney Morning Herald reports some projections for this year’s hoped for Australian art market rebound:

Auction results have also been patchy. After dismal interest in its Aboriginal art auction in July, Sotheby’s Australia fared even worse last month, selling only $625,620 worth of indigenous art, against pre-sale estimates of $1.7 million to $2.4 million.

Australian art sales are expected to reach $105.8 million this year, says Australian Art Sales Digest, up on last year’s total of $88.1 million but below the $114.7 million of 2008.

Galleries See Red Over Sales (Sydney Morning Herald)

General

Marion Maneker0December 20, 2010

Australian Art Market Lags Western/Asian Rebound

The Sydney Morning Herald explains that Australia’s art market hasn’t rebounded in 2010 the way European and Asian markets have.

The Australian market, by contrast, is creeping back ever so slowly, and is far from the heady takings of 2007, when a total of $175 million in sales was made. This year, the total art auction turnover was $102.6 million – better than 2009′s $88.1 million but nothing to crow about.

As art market analyst Meaghan Wilson-Anastasios points out, when the $102.6 million figure is adjusted for inflation, it is comparable to the market’s size back in the late ’90s.

One reason for the falling numbers has been the confusion created in the market by the shuffling ownership of the Sotheby’s name and the aggressive move by Bonhams to defend their foothold in the country. Where that particularly comes to bear is the Aboriginal art market where falling sales volumes have weakened the overall market art market totals and Bonhams is launching an assault by creating a standalone Aboriginal department:

The Aboriginal art market endured a particularly onerous slump – the year’s total auction takings for Aboriginal art slipped even further from 2009′s low of $10.9 million to a mere $8.34 million. Adjusted for inflation, that takes the Aboriginal art market back to levels 10 years ago.

Art Auction Houses Feeling Stretched (Sydney Morning Herald)

Dealers

Marion Maneker0December 17, 2010

Australian Dealer Caught Between Finance Company and Auction House

Peter Gant has had a bad year in the art market. He got sued over selling some fake paintings and then tried to sell a Brett Whiteley work that seems to have been collateral on a mortgage. After the painting failed to sell at auction, Menzies bought it for A$825,000 but a finance company came forward claiming the work was collateral, according to the Australian:

Art auctioneer Rodney Menzies has said he had no knowledge of a mortgage on the work while he was trying to sell it for $1.25 million. Menzies yesterday filed his defence in the Victorian County Court against a suit brought by Questco [...] which claims it owns the mortgage and is therefore entitled to the painting.

Contentious art dealer Peter Gant allegedly borrowed money from Questco to buy the painting, View from the Sitting Room Window, Lavender Bay, in April 2007. Two years later Menzies agreed to try to sell it for $1.25m, with court documents arguing Questco did not mention the mortgage or try to get the painting back.

Court to Sort Out Ownership of a Whiteley (The Australian)

General

Michael Reid8December 13, 2010

Australian Art's Top 50 Influentials

The twin notions of “importance” and “influence” are similar yet distinct. To be important, to be of note and significance in your chosen professional field, indicates that you are a person of consequence and that your opinions and actions are to be considered. In the art world being important might mean that you sell a lot of art or give a lot of money to art institutions. You might own many paintings or manage a big art concern. There are many, many important people in the Australian art world.

However, to be influential is one step up. To be influential is to take your personal standing and direct it towards shaping the arts landscape. Influential people are important but, more significantly, they exercise power to make change. Influence can result from an individual’s own efforts or can come as a consequence of their job. But it is a fickle friend. More often than not when the job’s over, so too is a person’s influence and sometimes even their professional importance – an all too real crisis for many in the art world.

The 50 Most Influential People in the Australian Visual Arts in 2011 is based on the here and now. There have been substantial changes since it was originally published in 2009. Many once highly influential and active people (such as the Sydney artist Margaret Olley who cast a long shadow over much of the Australian art world for many decades) are no longer really part of today’s art scene to the degree that they once were. However, given the mercurial nature of power, those not on the list this year may well be on the list next year and vice versa. [Read more...]