Art industry recovering from bleak year

Hit hard by the global economic crisis, the Korean art industry suffered practically all year. To make things even worse, it was hit by scandals.

The biggest was probably the series of allegations that art was used in lobbying by the National Tax Service executives.

Han Sang-ryul, the former NTS chief, stepped down from his post in January in the wake of news reports that his wife may have given an expensive painting, titled "Hakdongmaeul," to the wife of his predecessor Jeon Goon-pyo in January 2007 before Han was named NTS chief. The scandal got bigger as suspicions rose that he might have also lobbied the president's elder brother to retain his post.

Han is currently in the United States, denying all accusations against him. The prosecutors have investigated all the figures related to the case to date, except for Han.

Another scandal involving NTS soon followed. An NTS official named Ahn Won-goo left his post in July after he was accused of forcing companies to buy paintings from Gaain Gallery, which his wife runs, at extremely high prices. The gallery is the same one Jeon's wife consigned to sell "Hakdongmaeul."

Public opinion is that more scandals are bound to rise, as Ahn, currently in prison, is providing information about more NTS corruption.

Meanwhile, a two-year-long dispute over the authenticity of "The Washing Place" ended in April when the court said the painting was in fact done by the late Korean painter Park Soo-keun.

The court also rejected a damages suit filed by an art auction company against a biweekly magazine that had first cast doubt the painting's authenticity, saying such suspicion was part of the role of the media that should be protected by law.

In the Korean antique art market, controversy rose about a Goryeo cheongja or blue porcelain that Gangjin-gun, South Jeolla Province, had bought in October 2007 for 1 billion won. As some complained it was too expensive while others thought it was appropriate, the controversy resulted in a re-evaluation and Gangjin-gun is taking its steps to litigation.

These incidents highlighted a need for establishing a proper valuation and assessment system in the local art industry.

Besides the scandals, several art fairs and blockbuster exhibitions this year left huge scars in the Korean art industry as only few of them were successful.

Although more people visited the events compared to last year, the total sales of most art fairs decreased about 20 to 30 percent. In case of blockbuster exhibitions, several of the companies that organized them even went bankrupt.

The figures announced by the nation's major art companies show how much the market has suffered this year.

Local auctions' total sales in the first half of the year reported about 35.9 billion won, 46 percent lower than the same period last year. Some auction companies even shut down altogether this year.

Art insiders, however, find relief in the fact that the sales in the latter half are much better than that of the same period last year.

For example, K-Auction, one of the largest auction houses in Korea, marked 18.5 billion won in sales this year, which is 40 percent lower than that of last year's 29.5 billion won.

But total sales of its two auctions in the second half was 10.1 billion won, up by 8.4 billion won from the same period last year.

"The auction market really hit bottom in the first half of this year, but is reviving little by little as it is gets near the end of the year," said Lee Sang-kyu, an official of K Auction.

For the art market to revive, the essential part would be talented artists and qualified works that lead the market. In 2009, unfortunately, not many stood out in Korea.

Many design festivals were held throughout the year, such as "Seoul Design Olympic 2009" or "Design Korea 2009," as Seoul was designated the World Design Capital for next year by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design.

They did introduce many whimsical designs, but did not achieve their aim of making Seoul chic and many Koreans still find "design" unfamiliar. Opinions are that more efforts should be made next year.

The efforts by national museums this year, however, did bring out some good results.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Korean museums, some 20 national museums throughout the country held extensive events and exhibitions.

The highlight was the exhibition "Yeominhaerak," which means "to share enjoyment with people," held at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul. It featured many relics rarely shown to the public during the last 100 years.

"Mongyudowondo," a painting of paradise by Joseon dynasty artist Angyeon, was one of them. It currently belongs to Tenri University in Japan, and was borrowed for nine days during the exhibition period. An average of about 10,000 people per day visited the museum during those nine days to see the work.

The National Museum of Contemporary Art also made some historical changes, too, like the appointment of a former IT minister as new director of the National Museum of Korea on February.

Bae Soon-hoon, who was at the time vice president of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, was also president of Daewoo Electronics for four years and had never held a job related to art.

It was controversial for such a person to get the post, which had been always dominated by high-profile art figures.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that it believed Bae's experience as a CEO would be beneficial, especially since the culture ministry plans to establish a Seoul branch of the museum in the old Defense Security Command site in central Seoul.

And now, actually under Bae's command, the project to establish the museum's Seoul branch is smoothly proceeding.

The Seoul branch, which will open in 2012, will be the museum's third branch, completing the National Museum of Contemporary Art trio along with the existing ones in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province and Deoksugung, central Seoul.

Many say that the art industry's long-cherished wish is finally coming true, as they have always wanted a large and high-tech museum in the heart of Seoul. Some had complained that the Gwacheon branch is too isolated to attract visitors.

The museum recently offered a preview of what kind of museum the former DSC complex in central Seoul would become through the exhibition "Beginning of New Era."

About 60 artists, ranging from veterans to rookies, showcased some 300 original and fun exhibits that made viewers ponder the limits of contemporary art.

(claire@heraldm.com)
By Park Min-young

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Sotheby’s, Christie’s Contemporary-Art Sales Total Drops 75%

Annual sales of contemporary art slumped 75 percent at the two largest auction houses’ evening sales in 2009 after they abandoned price guarantees to sellers.

Sotheby’s and Christie’s International made a combined total of $482.3 million with fees from their five regular “Part I” sales of high-value art in New York and London this year, according to figures compiled by Bloomberg News. In 2008, the same group of flagship auctions made $1.97 billion. That compares with a record $2.4 billion in 2007, and $1.1 billion in 2006.

Worldwide auction sales of contemporary art grew more than eightfold between 2003 and 2007, according to France-based database Artprice. Demand contracted in the fourth quarter of 2008, after the September collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., with Sotheby’s and Christie’s losing at least $50 million and $40 million respectively as artworks failed to achieve prices guaranteed to sellers. Phillips de Pury & Co. also stopped providing guarantees before its fall series of sales.

“As soon as guarantees were taken off the table, sellers became uncertain,” said Philip Hoffman, chief executive of the London-based Fine Art Fund. “Clients don’t want to see big- ticket works go to public auction and fail. A lot of people turned to discreet private sales at the auction houses.”

Private sales of contemporary art raised more than auctions at Christie’s in the first half of 2009, said the London-based auction house. Sotheby’s would not comment on private sales.

Demand Declines

Demand declined at smaller evening auctions in London and New York during the first half of the year. Christie’s February sale in London raised only 8.4 million pounds ($13.6 million), the lowest total at an evening event in the U.K. capital since 2004.

During the first six months of 2009, no single work sold for more than $10 million. The top price was the $7.9 million paid at Christie’s, New York, in May for David Hockney’s 1966 painting, “Beverly Hills Housewife.”

“At the time, people didn’t know what the art was worth or what they themselves were worth,” Francis Outred, Christie’s European head of contemporary art, said in an interview. “They were looking at each other in the saleroom and waiting for someone else to bid.”

As the slump continued, auction houses cut estimates by 50 percent or more from 2008 levels to shore up selling rates.

Richter Low

At Christie’s London in July -- where 88 percent of the reduced 40-lot offering found buyers -- a 1974 Gerhard Richter color-chart painting sold for 1.4 million pounds, at the low end of estimates. Another version from the same series fetched $4.1 million at Sotheby’s New York in May 2008, also near the lower estimate.

Following reports of improved levels of business at contemporary-art fairs such as Art Basel in June and Frieze in London in October, selling rates and prices increased at evening auctions in the final quarter of this year.

On Nov. 11, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index closed at a 13-month high. Three hours later, Sotheby’s held a $134.4 evening auction of contemporary art in New York at which only two of the 54 offered lots failed. The total beat both a high estimate of $97.7 million and the company’s $125.1 million tally in November 2008.

Warhol Bills

Andy Warhol’s 1962 painting “200 One Dollar Bills” became the most expensive contemporary work sold this year, when five bidders pushed the price to $43.8 million. Entered by London-based collector Pauline Karpidas, it had been attractively estimated at $8 million to $12 million.

“It was the most significant event of the season,” Tobias Meyer, Sotheby’s worldwide head of contemporary art, said in an interview. “Up until then, nothing was trading above $20 million in the market.”

The policy of lowering estimates to generate high success rates had proven to sellers that the market for contemporary art “was alive and well at a recalibrated level,” Meyer said.

The success of the Warhol, together with a general stabilization of prices, is encouraging collectors to offer works publicly, said auction-house specialists.

“It’s balancing from private toward auctions again,” said Outred, of Christie’s. “It’s like the difference between night and day. The phones are ringing and people are interested in selling.”

The auction houses are aware that the market remains acutely price-sensitive.

“We need to continue to be conservative with estimates,” said Meyer, of Sotheby’s. “The market will be completely determined by supply at the right level. If sellers become overconfident, it will freeze again.”

By - Scott Reyburn

(Scott Reyburn writes about the art market for Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.)
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg)

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Indian art mart churned – and moved on

Flashback 2009

New Delhi, Dec 15 (IANS) Art has always been an enduring bet. The Rs.2,000-crore (Rs.20-billion) Indian art market managed to hold its own despite a 30 percent drop in prices in the first and second quarter of 2009.

Purging mediocre art and small-time investors, the market corrected artificially inflated prices, found new ways to reach out to buyers and distilled itself to cater to serious collectors and dealers with quality works by modern masters and established contemporary artists.

The handful of new artists who managed to survive the churning were the ones whose works showed promise.

Even the nature of art exhibitions in Indian metros changed by showcasing the works of leading artists in groups instead of solo shows.

Asian art experts at Christie’s and Sotheby’s said the market started picking up post-Diwali in November and hopes to be on a stable track again by March 2010.

But at the end of the volatile swings and transformation of the market, investors are cautious, buyers more discerning and the internet has made deeper inroads in educating buyers about art.

Art magazines and publications, a spate of which has flooded the market – like Artetc, Art India, Art & Deal and India Art Summit Newsletter India ArtConnect – are also playing an important role in informing buyers about “good and unusual art”.

“Till early this year, no big ticket art was selling. It was a shock after a three- year boom that began in 2005 and lasted till the middle of 2008, till the markets woke up to a downslide,” Vikram Bachhawat, director of leading Kolkata-based auction house Emami Chisel Art, told IANS.

Works by younger artists with start-up prices of Rs.2 lakh shot up to Rs.1 crore in six months “because of inflated bids by some galleries in auction houses,” the auctioneer said.

The meltdown ripped the lid off.

Mahesh Chandra, a leading Delhi-based collector, said: “The prices of contemporary art fell by at least 50-60 percent while those by modern masters fell by 30 percent”. He quoted estimates by ArtPrice, an art market chronicler.

“Money was flowing freely and the same artists – 15 to 20 of them – kept appearing in every auction commanding high prices,” he said.

The price and the hype bubble have burst, said entrepreneur-author and art connoisseur Pavan Malhotra.

“But for Indian art to carve a niche for itself globally, the top 10 collectors will have to seriously start collecting Indian art. Most of them collect Chinese art,” Malhotra said.

Ashok Vajpeyi, chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi, feels the financial meltdown has made art affordable for buyers. But several galleries also shut down, he said.

The Mumbai-based Bodhi Art Gallery, for example, closed down its Delhi, London, Berlin and New York branches.

Maithili Parekh, the country head of Sotheby’s which partnered the India Art Summit 2009 in New Delhi, said the market had seen a period of exponential growth over the decade.

“Indian artists were represented by top galleries and renowned museums across the world curated exhibitions of Indian art. Every new auction set price records till the recession brakes were applied and the market was forced to re-adjust its values,” Parekh said.

“However, it allowed us to step back, recalibrate, separate good art from the less than good art and regroup,” she said.

The art market, Parekh said, has “moved on at the close of 2009″.

There was a steady flow of quality and cheaper art like video art, digital works, mixed media art, sculptures, installations, serigraphs and digital prints of works by masters which were authenticated and signed.

“Artists, especially the younger ones, devoted more time to their work to improve quality during the lean money patch,” artist Anjolie Ela Menon said.

The exhibitions became interactive – inviting community participation in public domains to engage people in art rather than sell it upfront to consolidate a long-haul market base and opening up Indian mindsets to “latest trends in Western contemporary art”.

The high point of the year was perhaps the India Art Summit that traded art works worth Rs.26 crore (nearly 50 percent) with a display hamper of 400 art works from across the globe by 57 galleries.

Neha Kirpal, associate director of the India Art Summit, said “The Indian art market has redefined itself -

post-meltdown – with a “new lot of young and first time buyers, revival in art by high-end collectors, realistic prices and the entry of Korean and Chinese buyers and investors into the market.”

Article by Madhushree Chaterjee
Link - http://www.sindhtoday.net/news/1/81972.htm

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Art Basel: The Art World’s Back, Baby!

As the Art Basel Miami art-fair bacchanalia heads into the weekend, there are some big buys — and even bigger buyers. One or two dozen of the Forbes 400 are here, plus their friends, relatives, art advisers, and seemingly every 20-year-old New Yorker who thinks porkpie hats are still in fashion. Val Kilmer’s buying art — specifically, a huge piece you may remember from the roof of the Met — Sylvester Stallone’s selling it, and the U.S. Federal Marshals stopped by to seize some paintings from a Zurich gallery’s booth in a legal dispute.

Confetti aside, this is all about selling art, and never has the scene been so competitive. The dozen or so concurrent rival fairs, once gentlemanly, are scheduling events head-to- head and as far away from each other as possible. Art Basel’s black VIP card, formerly giving Über-access across town, is spurned as events stop accepting each other’s credentials, slowing the lemminglike migration from party to party. There are perhaps a record number of events and dinners from sponsors like Sotheby’s, Swarovski Crystals, Vanity Fair, Audi, Cartier, and UBS — all those simultaneous — but they’re, by and large, smaller than in previous years. (Overheard, often: “You don’t have a plus one!”)

Amid all the chaos, the art this year, for a change, is actually far better than the parties. Roxy Paine, whose twisting stainless-steel garden, “Maelstrom,” took over the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s rooftop last summer, is the main fair’s art star. Actor Val Kilmer, a relatively new art collector, is here in Miami and has arranged to purchase the huge sculpture that the Met had on display, people familiar with the matter say. James Cohan Gallery, which represents Paine, won’t confirm this, but Jane Cohan notes that Kilmer “recently met the artist and is really excited by his work.” As for Kilmer, chatting tableside at the W Hotel with John McEnroe last night, he didn’t comment on the purchase but did say “I’m building the world’s biggest sculpture garden at my ranch in New Mexico.” The price was undisclosed, but Eli Broad, the collector who has his own building at the L.A. County Museum of Art, bought a smaller Roxy Paine from the gallery, this one for about $500,000.

Sculpture is hot in general, along with Indian art and classic twentieth-century contemporary pieces, which are now at more “realistic” prices, says Larry Warsh, head of AW Asia and probably America’s biggest collector of Chinese contemporary art. (He swore he wouldn’t buy more this year, but is eying a Subodh Gupta.) Simon de Pury, chairman of Phillips de Pury, is usually selling art, but here bought a “fantastic installation” by conceptualists Wade Guyton and Kelley Walker from Greene Naftali Gallery — and added that Miami pied-piper collector and socialite Rose de la Cruz already had one in her private museum.

The scene is hushed but moneyed: Steve Wynn went fair shopping with a Sotheby’s vice-chair, stopping to chat with Stallone, who was offering his own paintings (three sold). Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, and several designers and architects have also been spotted in fair booths, along with CEO types (or their kids) from Toys-R-Us, Berkshire Hathaway, and Bed, Bath & Beyond. Real-estate developer Aby Rosen, whose partnership owns Lever House, went shopping at an art show of Bruce High Quality Foundation artworks curated by Vito Schnabel and bought one. "Is the art world back?" we asked him. “Yes — but, you know, it was never really gone.”

By: Alexandra Peers
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/12/art_basel_the_art_worlds_back.html

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K-Auction sells off 73 pct of catalog in Hong Kong

A leading Korean art auction house sold 73 percent of all artworks offered during its recent auction in Hong Kong, K-Auction said Monday, despite the lingering impact of the Wall Street-sparked financial turmoil on the Asian economy.
According to Yonhap News, K-Auction sold 28 artworks from the 40 on the block during the Nov. 29 Asian Auction Week in Hong Kong, including U.S. pop artist Andy Warhol's "Marilyn," which was sold for about $150,000, the art house said in a press release.

Although many art dealers in Korea and neighboring countries have been turning their eyes to relatively cheaper pieces following the outbreak of the global economic downturn last year, local auction houses have managed to remain afloat by offering "safer investment" materials.

Korea's two leading auction companies -- K-Auction and Seoul Auction --, managed to sell off 60-70 percent during its auctions this year. Seoul Auction holds a market share of 58 percent.

K-Auction also said it will put on sale 197 artworks, including a landscape painting by renowned Korean artist Lee Jung-seop, in an upcoming Seoul auction on Dec. 9.

The bidding for the painting by Japan-studied Lee, who died in 1956, will start at 450 million won, or about $380,000.

Items offered by the Seoul-based art house will also include calligraphy by the late Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chul, the art house said.

Source - Koreaherald.co.kr View blog reactions

Classical paintings shine at Christie's in Hong Kong

Sales of traditional Chinese paintings and old masters notched up firm results at Christie's autumn sales in Hong Kong, outshining Chinese contemporary art.

Christie's, hit by anemic spring sales due to the financial crisis, had been banking on the current autumn sales in Hong Kong, now the firm's third biggest arts hub after New York and London, for a reversal of fortunes.

In the fine Chinese modern paintings sale, 84 percent of lots were sold including a world auction record for Chinese artist Fu Baoshi, whose "Landscape inspired by Dufu Poetic Sentiment" was hammered off for HK$60 million ($7.7 million), a price market experts said was around four times higher than its 2006 price.

"The market has been quite good," said Hangzhou based Chinese dealer and collector Tao Xiaomin, who was bidding at the sales.

"In the first half of the year, (traditional) Chinese paintings have experienced a boom and records have fallen."

In recent sales in Beijing by leading Chinese auctioneers Poly International, several works exceeded or neared the 100 million yuan mark including Wu Bin's "18 Arhats" that sold for nearly $25 million, a world record for any Chinese artwork.

"The classical Chinese paintings market is dominated completely by Chinese buyers now," said Taiwan collector and dealer Michael Wang.

"The best works are now being sold in China, with the Chinese auction houses having overtaken Christie's and Sotheby's for traditional and classical works."

In Hong Kong, another highlight was "Vertige Neigeux" of a snowscape in the Swiss-Alps by Chinese 20th Century artist Chu Teh-Chun that made $5.8 million, an auction record for Chu.

A clutch of abstract works by established Chinese master Zao Wou-ki also achieved firm prices including "19-11-59" that went for $3.9 million, almost three times its pre-sale estimate.

However, in a possible sign of the broader market's continued fragility, one in five paintings went unsold in the evening sales of Asian contemporary and Chinese 20th century, including Chen Cheng-po's Alishan, a stirring landscape of Taiwan's famous peak with giant cypresses and a sea of clouds.

For Chinese classical paintings, meanwhile, 24 percent went unsold, but, as has been the case throughout the downturn, there were strong results for exceptional works including Ren Renfa's "Five Drunken Kings Return on Horses" that made $6 million.

Chinese contemporary art, whose feted artists like Zhang Xiaogang and Yue Minjun once trailblazed the rise of Chinese art before the crisis, saw few outstanding results in Christie's sales.

Japanese artist Masami Teraoka was a rare standout for Asian contemporary art, whose Cloisters/Venus and Pope's Workout" sold for US$622,000.

(Reporting by James Pomfret; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
HONG KONG (Reuters Life!)
Source - Thomas Reuters

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Royal treasures shine at Russia sale, others flop

By Mike Collett-White
Source - Thomas Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Rediscovered royal treasures from Russia broke records at a London auction late on Monday, but a separate sale of paintings fell well short of estimates.

The Sotheby's auctions pointed to ongoing uncertainty in a market that has grown virtually from nothing in the last 15 years as newly wealthy Russians and former Soviet tycoons sought to buy back art taken out of the region after the revolution. The sales also underlined the importance of provenance, with imperial links apparently the most desirable of all.

The so-called "Romanov Heirlooms," which had been lost to posterity for over 90 years before they were discovered in Sweden in 2009, fetched 7.1 million pounds, around seven times expectations.

An auction record for a Faberge cigarette case was set when an imperial jeweled, four-colored gold example went to a private U.S. buyer for 612,000 pounds ($1 million) including premium, nearly six times its pre-sale estimate.

Several other cases smashed the previous auction record of 433,600 pounds set in 2006, including a jeweled, three-color gold work that fetched 601,000 and also went to a bidder from the United States.

"WHITE GLOVE" SALE

Every lot at the auction was sold, making it a rare "white glove sale" for the auctioneer. All but one of the lots on offer sold for amounts in excess of their pre-sale high estimates.

"The extraordinary results of this evening's sale ... are tributes to the exquisite quality, outstanding provenance and romantic story behind this remarkable collection," said Olga Vaigatcheva and Darin Bloomquist, Sotheby's Russian art specialists in charge of the sale.

"Successful buyers in tonight's sale have, without doubt, acquired a piece of Russian imperial history." The objects on sale originally belonged to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and her late husband Grand Duke Vladimir, brother of Czar Alexander III.

In grave danger after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, the duchess, a renowned socialite, fled Russia and organized for her treasures to be collected. They were deposited at the Swedish Legation in St. Petersburg in two pillow cases.

Less impressive was the evening sale of Russian paintings, which raised 4.1 million pounds, well short of expectations of between 7.8 and 11.1 million pounds.

Despite the disappointing total, Sotheby's said it set a new auction record for a work by leading 20th century female artist Alexandra Exter, whose bright-colored "Venice" went for 1 million pounds including commission, in line with expectations.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

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