Artelligence Podcast

David Norman looks at the results of the March 2017 auctions of Impressionist and Modern art at Sotheby's and Christie's. The surprisingly strong sales came in the context of a nervous art market wondering what the future might hold.

In part because of that uncertainty, few of the works on offer were considered the kinds of trophies that would motivate bidders to aggressively pursue these works. Nonetheless, they did. Buyers, especially from Asia, were out in force.

Although, as Norman points out, the bidding was tactical and sober. Buyers are keen on acquiring works of art but not at any price.

With that in mind, Norman follows up on the previous sales of many of the works and points out that very few of the works auctioned in this March cycle lacked market exposure. Some did well against previous prices; others fared poorly. But the market showed that it could distribute familiar material efficiently and with strong prices even if the sales lacked an estate or other fresh material that might excite "animal spirits."

Art storage is one of the most overlooked aspects of the global art market. Crozier Fine Art is one of the first dedicated art storage firms specializing in storage, transport and transaction support.

Simon Hornby discusses the firm's history and orientation toward serving the needs of collectors, dealers and museums. He also talks about the ways in which the art storage industry has grown into a custodial and service role to enable the new global art dealing that is based in art fairs around the world.

Firms like Crozier provide support to the professionals who manage legal and tax concerns for collectors, dealers and institutions. Finally, Crozier's recent acquisition by Iron Mountain, the document and records storage concern, has initiated a new phase of expansion for Crozier both geographically and into broader areas of tangible asset storage.

Mnuchin Gallery's founder, Robert Mnuchin, discusses the work of Robert Mangold and his gallery's show, "Robert Mangold: A Survey 1965-2003."

The exhibition begins with a selection of early works from the 1960s in which the artist inaugurates his mode of tracing hand-drawn geometric figures within the outline of a shaped support, and continues through the 1970s, featuring examples of Mangold’s Circle paintings and A Triangle Within Two Rectangles paintings. In the early 1980s, the geometric forms of the paintings’ interior compositions—in this case, Xs and +s—began to dictate the shapes of the canvases themselves. The show also includes examples of Mangold’s work from the 1990s and 2000s, including the Attic Paintings, the Plane / Figure Paintings, and the Column Paintings, speaking to the evolution of Mangold’s interest in art history.

“Sell as little as possible but as much as necessary.” --Loretta Wurtenberger on the Arp estate's guiding principle.

Loretta Wurtenberger is one of the founders of the Institute for Artists’ Estates (http://www.artists-estates.com/)and has been managing the estate of Hans Arp since 2009.

The prospect of managing artists’ estates has become a new topic lately, so we’re presenting the audio of Dr. Wurtenberger’s talk from the Keeping the Legacy Alive conference held in Berlin in September of 2016.

Entitled Back to Square One, Wurtenberger’s talk describes the seven-year odyssey the Hans Arp estate made from controversy over posthumous casts to a vibrant discussion of the artist in the academic world, museums and on the art market.

The talk begins with a brief biography of Arp, the conditions of the from Arp’s death in 1966 through the mismanagement of a German dealer and the controversies surround posthumous castings.

In 2009, when Wurtenberger took over the the strategic management of the estate, Arp was out of fashion. There was no academic interest; the Catalogue Raisonné was out dated; the last US exhibition of the artist had been in the 1980s; and Arp’s work was undervalued on the art market.

Wurtenberger helped the foundation focus on repositioning Arp through sponsoring academic research, enabling museum exhibitions not only of the best known blockbuster works by Arp but also of the lesser known works held by the estate, and by enhancing the artist’s market in Europe and the US.

Finally, Wurtenberger explains that the Arp foundation is not legally allowed to have an endowmen t. So it must sell from its holdings enough each year to cover the annual expenses.

Nicholas Maclean spent nearly a decade as the co-head of Christie's Impressionist and Modern art department along with his partner, Christopher Eykyn, before opening his own New York and London-based gallery, Eykyn Maclean, 11 years ago.

In this podcast, Maclean talks about the often overlooked private market where many substantial collectors who do not buy or sell through auction houses conduct a surprising amount of business that potentially dwarves the public art market.

Maclean also talks about the difficulties for dealers in acquiring new work in today's art market where the overall public sales volume has fallen substantially without having an effect of weakening prices.

In this climate, Maclean points to Italian Pop art as a potential area for collectors to find high quality work at prices that have yet to equalize with the rest of the global art market.

Finally, Maclean shares his thoughts on new collectors and their behavior in the art market.

Christy MacLear, former Executive Director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, speaks about building the Rauschenberg Foundation at the Institute for Artists Estates Conference in Berlin (http://www.artists-estates.com)last September. Rauschenberg put some thought into his own legacy before he died. From arts education to the environment, Rauschenberg wanted his Foundation to have an impact on several areas. It was left to MacLear to build a bridge between Rauschenberg’s interests and the community at large.

MacLear emphasizes the importance of understanding a foundation’s assets and creating create a “time horizon” in which goals should be accomplished. MacLear’s task was to understand the artist’s “values,” so she could, in turn, help the heirs and foundation decide what to do with the assets. I

In addition, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation chose to make Rauschenberg’s copyright open to public use keeping with their belief in “art as a communicative currency.”

"It's easier to know what bag to pick up for a lot of people than it is to know what art to pick."

Marisa Kayyem, program director for Christie's Continuing Education, talks about the ways in which art and fashion have grown to depend upon each other more and more.

In this conversation she talks about:

*Why brands are in search of the "new" and what they find in art.

*The trend toward luxury retailers using art to create unique spaces.

*Fashion shows as performance art.

* Historical links between fashion and artists like Schiaparelli and Salvador Dalí.

*The controversy surrounding Cecil Beaton's Vogue photoshoot in front Jackson Pollock's work.

David Norman delves into his 30 years experience as a top specialist in Impressionist and Modern art to discuss in this podcast sponsored by Christie's Education New York the results of the November sales in New York.

*Norman explains the backstory behind Wassily Kandinksy's Rigide et courbé and the not-easy decision to guarantee a post-Bauhaus Kandinsky at that level.

* Norman offers some of the market history behind Edvard Munch's Girls on the Bridge.

*We learn more about how the changing tastes have effected the prices for Monet's gainstacks.

*Also discussed here are many works that were previously offered nearly a generation ago that failed to find buyers but now achieved major prices, as well as surprises for Miro, Chagall, Picasso and others.

This edition of the Artelligence Podcast is the second part of a two-part conversation at Christie's Education between Vernonique Chagnon-Burke, Judd Tully and Marion Maneker.

Chagnon-Burke is the director of Christie's Education New York. She organized this panel to discuss the future of auction houses and the current state of the art market for students and guests at Christie's Education's Rockefeller Center location.

The discussion begins with a general take on the shape of the auction houses' businesses, how they differ and what their strategies going forward appear to be.

This edition of the Artelligence Podcast is the first part of a two-part conversation at Christie's Education between Vernonique Chagnon-Burke, Judd Tully and Marion Maneker.

Chagnon-Burke is the director of Christie's Education New York. She organized this panel to discuss the Art Basel in Miami Beach art fair and the current state of the art market for students and guests at Christie's Education's Rockefeller Center location.

The discussion begins with a general take on the state of the art market and the tone of the Art Basel fair. Artinfo's Judd Tully gave his impressions of the dealers, their inventory and the booths.

The discussion includes a brief exploration of the state of the Andy Warhol market and its effect on the broader Contemporary art market.

Part 2 of the discussion focuses on the landscape of the auction houses and their differing strategies.