Fine Art Brokers News

The Spring Sales Review - 20th May 2013

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The Impressionist and Modern Art Sales may not have seen the same astonishing results as the Contemporary sales the following week night but perhaps that is due to the lack of great paintings available more than the willing to pay high numbers for the best kit.

Preview of the Impressionist and Modern Art Sales - May 2013

Tue, 7 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

This Spring's sales are as enormous as ever and though Sotheby's have the pick of the works in both the Evening and Day Sale categories there are plenty of great works for every collector's budget and taste. Without question the highlight is the Lewyt collection which is a real asset for Sotheby's who otherwise don't match the strength of the Christie's sale. However, the Lewyt works are so impressive that the biggest prices at the end of the week should be with Sotheby's. The competition between the houses is not so much over buyers but sellers. It is as much a seller's market now as it always has been.

Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sales Review

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The opening Impressionist and Modern art sales of 2013 showed yet more fervent buying at the top end of the market with strong results across the board for the day sales too. Sotheby's major highlight was an elegant though expensive Picasso of Marie-Therese Walter (lot 12) which made the irrevocable bid of 28.6m GBP (including premium) but no more.

The Future of Damien Hirst

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

In December Damien Hirst left Larry Gagosian. This is big news in the art world and poses the question: is Damien Hirst's star temporarily fading or has it burnt out forever? He was the pioneer of self-publicity and Art Marketing in the age of the working class anti-artist.

New York Impressionist and Modern Art Sale review

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Sotheby's and Christie's: 6th-8th November The sales last week fell a little flat in reaction to Hurricane Sandy and the election result, which it seems many in the financial sector took to be bad news. However, there were a couple of huge results in amongst the unsold lots.

Freize Masters - A Review by Oliver Shuttleworth

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Frieze has, for the last few years, been the jewel in the crown of London art fairs. The contemporary galleries that exhibit at Frieze do so with the knowledge that they will never be in a better position to expose their wares to the super-wealthy collectors of Russian, Middle-Eastern and European descent. London is now the cosmopolitan centre of the art world and it needed a new fair, selling old art, of serious quality.

June Sale Review: Impressionist and Modern Art Sales: 19th-21st June 2012

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Considering the murmurs around the trade of the poor quality of the two sales this term, we saw a fabulous amount of bidding in the salerooms this week. The top lot at Sotheby's, from Nahmad's stash of stunning Modernist works, was the Miro, Etoile Bleu which made far more than I thought it would. Acquired in 2007 for 11m GBP it sold for 23m GBP this week.

June Sale Preview - Impressionist and Modern Art Sales: 19th-21st June 2012

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The Impressionist and Modern Evening Sales at the two main auction houses this summer don't quite match up to the Sotheby's sale in May. That sale was a perfect storm of two great collections and lots of bidding. When you have an iconic picture (the Munch, Scream) on the cover of even the popular press it attracts everyone, including top end buyers.

New York: Impressionist and Modern Art May Sale Review

Wed, 9 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

This spring has seen a new record set for a work of art at auction - Edvard Munch's The Scream made the soaring price of 107m USD (119,900USD including premium). After two bidders fought it out the eventual buyer was on the phone with Charlie Moffet, a Sotheby's President whose exceptional expertise has led him to know every major US buyer, which makes me suppose that the new owner is from the US, not Russia or Doha as many have expected. This is guesswork however but one day we will know for sure. There were 8 bidders to 60m USD, one of which was on the phone from China with the head of Sotheby's Asia: Patti Wong. However, such enormous hype has been associated with this picture that is easy to forget the overall triumph of this sale week.

Art market trends - Contemporary versus Classic, and advice about whether to follow trends or buy against the market

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT

In the last 15 years cutting edge Contemporary Art has seen a meteoric rise in its status on the art market. It is seen both as a sector that buyers should have in their collection as well as an accepted alternative asset class.

February Sale Review: Impressionist & Modern Art and Contemporary Art 7-9th February 2012

Wed, 7 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Following a fabulous sale at Christie's on 7th February which boosted the morale of everyone in the art trade, Sotheby's fell somewhat short of expectations with a total sale result falling below the low estimate, even including premium.

February Sales Preview London - Impressionist & Modern Art and Contemporary Art

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The sales this February in London comprise a mixture of quality, the finest work is illustrated on the front cover of the Christie's Evening Sale: a 1914-15 oil by Juan Gris, one of the only true Cubists that managed to embrace colour and work it elegantly into such a composition-led movement. Yet it is run close by the Sotheby's cover lot - a 1901 Klimt of excellent quality.

Impressionist and Modern Art Sales Review, New York

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The news was good for the art market after one of the most successful mixed owner sales in history at Sotheby's and Christie's. The sale week got off to a shaky start when Christie's Evening Sale had much of their sale unsold and a horrible 'bought in' rate was not what the market expected, even given the Eurozone issues with the world economy.

November Sales: A Preview - Contemporary Sales

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:40:00 GMT

Sotheby's Contemporary sales feature an astonishing collection of works by Gerhard Richter from a Private Collection - these are being offered at the perfect time as Tate Modern in London is currently showing a major retrospective of Richter's work.

November Sales: A Preview - Impressionist and Modern Art Sales

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:40:00 GMT

It has been a long Summer in the Art world, with many dealers seeing the financial markets turn and fall following the euro crisis. That said this is now a fantastic opportunity for buyers, and one that we have not seen since either the early 2000s or following the Lehmann Brothers crash in late 2008. Many of the works at auction this fall will be available at lower prices simply because the competition will likely not be there, even for the best quality kit.

Oliver Shuttleworth reviews the Joan Mir� Retrospective (until 11th September) at Tate Modern

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:10:00 GMT

Tate Modern's retrospective of Mir�'s work was one of the most impressive displays that Tate Modern has put on, and in my view equalled the Paul Gauguin exhibition in the same space last year.

The June 2011 Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary Sales

Tue, 5 Jul 2011 12:00:00 GMT

The Christie's and Sotheby's sales this summer were two very different events in terms of lots offered and the sale strategy of the two houses...

The February Sales 2011 - a Review

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Following the staggering results of the November sales in New York it was always going to be interesting to see whether the London sales would generate the same sort of demand as they had in June 2010. As we thought, the globalised world of the top end art market saw a continuing upsurge in demand for top quality, world class pictures and sculptures.

The art market is back

Mon, 9 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Sales results at the New York Impressionist and Modern auctions in early November were strong. Christie's opened theirs was not a strong sale, yet still sold 70% by lot and 71% by value. The following night Sothebys sold 85% by lot and 93% by value. An exceptional result. As the Baer report put it: 'cash is no longer king and that commodities like art are a place that wealthy people are returning to place money'.

The art market awakens from the long summer

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The market is slowly awakening from the long summer. Galleries are all open again and good exhibitions will start at the end of the month, although the real auction season doesn't start until mid October.

Still a buyer's market

Mon, 8 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Despite prophesies, starting in the summer of 2008, of its impending demise, the art market is certainly still 'alive', although for sure not as 'kicking' as it was 18 months ago. The results of the New York auctions in May were solid, and improved in the London sales in late June when over 80% sold in the Impressionist and Modern sales, and in the Contemporary sales an astonishing 86% sold by lot at Christies and 97% at Sotheby's.