THE EIGHT DIGIT MASTERPIECE!

Contemporary collectors voraciously bid for works offered at both Sotheby’s and Christie’s auctions this week, establishing a multitude of world records. The sales were just a fraction shy of perfection, with the sold rate exceeding 97 percent. Bids burst from every quadrant of the sales room as multimillion dollar results established the norm.

A new observer would have been perplexed by certain behavioral oddities such as the silence that greets the paintings upon their introduction and the sustained applause that accompanies the final bid. This “distortion of priority” is further reinforced as the gaze of the audience remains fixed on the bid board. Imagine that among these observers was a larcenous alien that concludes, not illogically, that the real art is the bid board itself as he contemplates its theft for inclusion in some faraway “Museum of Intergalactic Culture,” as a symbol of humanity. Of course, upon hearing of its inclusion, collectors would desperately seek to trade their prized paintings for the board!  Such is the folly of the times.

If collectors act in response to their innermost voice they are excused from my satirical commentary and no one may object to what they purchase, no matter how extreme the price. On this basis I acknowledge the worth and merit of contemporary art; however, I encourage collectors to focus on painters of generations prior as the disparity in valuations has created incredible opportunity. The present trends are weighted highest in the complex equation that determines preference; thus, contemporary work has a wider audience and extreme spikes in valuations––a pattern that has been repeated for centuries. But art transcends time and the current predilection for the ever-expiring present will inevitably decline. The passage of time eradicates price distortion and today’s astute collectors will find the greatest value in the paintings of the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

I extend an invitation to those of like mind to consider the timeless art of American masters of an earlier generation by visiting the gallery to see our present show, A Century of Innovation: American Art from 1850 to 1950, which runs through June 28^th 2010. Gifford and Heade, Bellows and Benton, Chase and Metcalf, Blakelock and Inness––these are the artists that dominated the headlines in their day and whose importance has endured over time.

Trust your innermost voice.

A FORCE BREWING

Louis M. Salerno

Perhaps we should be grateful that world events occasionally derail us from the deeply grooved course of modern society so that we are forced to consider our own journey. We seek a reference to gauge the nature of our own experience and art has a vital role in this process.  The economic disruption and disillusionment of recent times has increased our awareness of this quality and refocused our attention on the art that is personally meaningful.

As a dealer observing the ebb and flow of the American art market, I detect a fundamental change in the way collectors perceive the value of art. Many have begun to challenge concepts that have forever been held sacred such as the steadfast belief in allocating the majority of savings for the acquisition of stocks and bonds. The collapse of revered financial institutions and the revelation of widespread deception have cast a shadow over both the assets and custodians we so willingly entrusted with our resources. Even collectors that have not considered art as an investment have discovered that their confidence in art, as measured against a broad spectrum of assets, is increasing. The result is a greater willingness to commit capital to art and a desire to acquire the best examples. …continue reading or post a comment