Art & Finance Newsletter #10
While preparing this newsletter I was reminded of a meeting in Shanghai from four years ago.
A colleague of mine invited me to assist in a pitch to an ambitious real estate developer for an extensive museum consulting contract. The project was vast; three separate museums, two separate theatres all located on a single plot of land in the south central city of Changsha. Ground had been broken and was in the process of being developed, but no plan for "what & how to do" had been made.
In the pitch I spoke on my experience with museum development in Beijing and Shanghai and how the developer had the opportunity to create a one-of-a-kind experience not only for the local population, but for the worldwide creative and cultural industries.
We can't forget that in China the opportunities are great, but the missed opportunities are far greater.
Now four years on I wonder what has come of that project. I'm sure concreted was poured and the buildings were erected. Local companies are quite skilled at these steps. It's the follow through in implementing substantive programming and sustaining that programming in an ever changing environment that seems to be the demise of such grandiose creative ventures in China. Save for a small handful of projects.
To describe my hypothesis on why this prevalent issue will remain in place in the foreseeable future would undermine the brevity of this newsletter.
On to the art market...
On Private Museums
A biting opinion piece on the surge in private museums around the globe.
The art business has become so large and globalised through the expansion of museums, auction houses and private galleries that its aesthetic has been commoditised. If you aspire to be the new Henry Clay Frick (the 19th-century US industrialist and art patron) there is a global supply chain of architects and curators eager to make it happen.
The question is, what is it all for? One answer is urban regeneration, along the lines of the Guggenheim effect in Bilbao. Art draws tourism of a useful kind — people with money who stay in hotels, eat at restaurants and so forth. No town would protest if a drugs company built a research campus there, so why not an art foundation instead?
Financial Times - On Private Museums
Conservators Keep Sculptures Safe
This past week I was privileged enough to speak with North America's foremost expert on fine art installation, storage and materials. Often times such basic elements of an artwork are over looked. Yet appropriate management of these elements should top line on the risk management plan.
When an artwork’s creator is deceased, conservators rely on their estates for guidance. To maintain outdoor sculptures by Anthony Caro and Alexander Calder, the Hammer Museum consults with the artists’ archives, which specify the correct type of paint for each work.
Sometimes, an artist’s estate has more pressing business than consulting with conservators. Seborg Anders noted that one of her most demanding tasks at the New Orleans Museum of Art’s Besthoff Sculpture Garden is conserving Love, Red Blue (1966–97) by Robert Indiana. “The colors are faded significantly,” she said. As the estate has been “dealing with other things” (a raging legal fight over Indiana’s $28 million legacy, perhaps), Seborg Anders has developed a short-term plan to address issues of paint flaking and a long-term plan for repainting. She’s hesitant about taking more aggressive steps. “What level of damage [means it’s] too much to fix locally, and do we have to resurface?” she said. “Those are irreversible decisions that will also establish the protocol for the future preservation of the works.”
Artsy - Conservators Keep Outdoor Sculptures Safe
Coordinated Global Art Heist?
A ripping investigative article on what is suspected of being a coordinated effort to "repatriate" Chinese antiquities. Who is behind these art thefts; individuals, corporations or a government? If you are familiar with China you would know that the CCP has gone to great length to condense the three into being understood as one and the same...
The patterns of the heists were evident only later, but their audacity was clear from the start. The spree began in Stockholm in 2010, with cars burning in the streets on a foggy summer evening. The fires had been lit as a distraction, a ploy to lure the attention of the police. As the vehicles blazed, a band of thieves raced toward the Swedish royal residence and smashed their way into the Chinese Pavilion on the grounds of Drottningholm Palace.
A month later, in Bergen, Norway, intruders descended from a glass ceiling and plucked 56 objects from the China Collection at the KODE Museum. Next, robbers in England hit the Oriental Museum at Durham University, followed by a museum at Cambridge University. Then, in 2013, the KODE was visited once more; crooks snatched 22 additional relics that had been missed during the first break-in.
GQ - Coordinated Global Art Heist?
Chinese Art Auction Market Report is Out!
The Chinese Art Auction Market Report produced by Artnet recently was released. Some interesting findings in this years report and we will touch on these in the next newsletter.
A teaser finding that has the art market scratching their heads - buyers defaulting on successful bids in auctions at an alarming rate. More on that next time.
This week I am in Hong Kong for a round of meetings. If you are in the city please feel free to drop me a line! Always a pleasure to meet with folks face to face.
And finally the reminder to tell your associates and colleagues about this newsletter!
Until next time,
Blake