Christie’s showed a whopping $1.5B in auction sales in the first six months of 2009. 50% greater than Sotheby’s.  This can almost be solely attributed to the fantastic Yves Saint Laurent Sale results.
This result was still more than 50% less than 2008 results for the first half of the year which showed $3.2B worth of sales.

Rents and sale prices for commercial and retail space in major international cities are dropping and art galleries are coming to fill in these spaces.  A plethora of galleries in Los Angeles have taken more glamorous locations and buildings.  Gagosian Gallery is opening an 11,600 square foot gallery, designed by Michael Palladino of Richard Meier’s architect firm, on Camden Drive in Beverly Hills.  Also, Cherry and Martin doubled the size of its gallery.  There must be some action in the Contemporary market to support such huge buildings.

Traditionally August is the slowest month in the art world, but given the economic downturn galleries are working longer and harder this year during the summer months.  While this will be an abbreviated newsletter, there is much to discuss and there are more buying opportunities out there than ever before.  We think this is the beginning of a recovery for the art market as a whole and you can expect to see strong results in October.  The Impressionist market, due to its lack of availability, will continue to be strong and October/November Old Masters will remain desirable.  Unfortunately, the recovery for the Contemporary market will take longer, especially for Asian Contemporary art.

All the best,

David Benrimon

The board of the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University has sued the college to stop the sale of their impressive Modern, Pop and Contemporary art collection.  The lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts and will surely generate more publicity as the museum moves along in its deaccession process.  While we are sad to see the destruction of this magnificent collection and the desire of its board and donors trampled, the silver lining in the cloud will be the opportunity for buyers to acquire museum quality pieces!

When Art Capital landed on the front page of the New York Times on February 23, 2009, many speculated that they knew how this loan was going to end and that it would not be with a satisfaction document.  Anne would default, or Art Capital would find a way to make it seem like Anne defaulted and her homes, the rights to her pictures, and other worldly possessions would end up in the hands of Art Capital Group.  Well the court has yet to decide how much of the collateral, if any, American Photography, a subsidiary of Art Capital, will take from Anne.  One thing is for sure, Anne will be spending more time with her attorneys and in depositions than behind the lens as a result of this loan.  The ubiquity of this story (see here, here, here, here) demonstrates how important she is to Contemporary photography and pop culture but let it also be a cautionary tale. By the way, what is the conspiracy among all these news sources to find the very worst pictures of Ms. Leibovitz available?

The numbers look bleak.  Sotheby’s CFO William Sheridan called it the end of the art price slide and announced that sales have stabilized.  But do we ever really know when the market has hit bottom?  For example, ArtTactic said in May that the Contemporary art market dropped over 76% since May 2008—hardly insignificant.  But Sotheby’s was able to muster together some positive trends:

1. Sell-through rate for May was 81% compared to 64% in November 2008
2. Second quarter, commission was $21.30 for every $100 in auction sales; last year it was just $15.10 for every $100 in auction sales.
3. Sotheby’s also completed $134M in private sales the second quarter alone of this year, a 46% increase over the second quarter of last year.

The first six months also showed some serious deficits:

1. A $227.7M or 51% decline in operating revenue from 2008 to 2009.
2. Auction sales for the first 6 months of 2009 totaled just under $1B ($995 million)
3. Auction sales for the second quarter also declined 66%.
4. 87% drop in profit for the second fiscal quarter of 2009

In roughly a month, Sotheby’s show at Chatsworth in Derbyshire, England will bring together major Modern and Contemporary monumental in size sculptures for private sale.  We have seen and heard about a number of the sculptures in advance of the opening, one of which is an absolutely superb Igor Mitoraj sculpture.