FAB Market Insights
Stay informed with our art news and market insights.
Collecting + Investing, Auctions + Art Fairs, Market Reports
After 40 years working in the art market, I have met many highly successful people who, despite their life and work experience, were too intimidated when walking into an art gallery or auction house to discuss what they saw. On the other hand, there are even more examples of successful business people who aren’t apprehensive at all, and believe they can transfer their winning mentality to buying art. And there are other collectors or would-be collectors who simply don’t have the time or expertise to buy wisely.
Market Reports, Collecting + Investing, Auctions + Art Fairs
With much overdue institutional attention on important female artists, it's easy to think that the playing field is starting to become equal - but how far do we have to go to approach gender equality, and how is it measured and valued in the art world? What are the numbers telling us?
Market Reports, Collecting + Investing, Auctions + Art Fairs
Building an art collection should be an extremely satisfying and rewarding experience. But whether you’re looking to acquire art for decorative or investment purposes — for most new collectors it is usually a combination — it can be difficult to know where and how to start.
Auctions + Art Fairs, Market Reports
Our directors arrived back from Miami for a few days in New York before jetting off to London. Art Basel Miami Beach has been, as usual, the subject of much attention after a mixed auction season here in New York that resulted in record-shattering highs and some middling lows.
Auctions + Art Fairs, Market Reports
From a $40 million sculpture to a £37.5 million Francis Bacon portrait, the FAB team rounds up the news from our travels in Europe.
Auctions + Art Fairs, Market Reports
As the FAB team heads abroad for the London auctions and European art fairs, we take a look back at the May 2022 auction season and what it might indicate for the coming months.
Market Reports, Collecting + Investing, Auctions + Art Fairs
After two years of unprecedented change in the art market, with some sectors seeing enormous gains, all bets are off when it comes to making predictions about trends for this year. But as we embark on another year of activity at Fine Art Brokers, we attempt mission impossible.
Auctions + Art Fairs, Collecting + Investing
If it is your first time viewing or participating in an art auction, you’ll need a number of pointers about how to understand the many aspects involved, including the terminology used, how to bid, and the charges. Auctions can be both exciting and intimidating for the uninitiated, with many ‘experts’ and apparently well-heeled clients with their advisors making you feel the art world is a mysterious place. But don’t let this scare you, as with the right guidance and some preparation you can find the confidence to make informed decisions about your bidding. Auctions have an enormous variety of art to offer, online and in real life, and getting involved can be educational, rewarding, and sometimes even fun, once you have the experience and confidence. Doing your research, knowing what questions to ask, having a bidding strategy, understanding the players, and considering using a consultant are what you’ll need to prepare before bidding at auction.
Auctions + Art Fairs
The big auction houses have ripped up their usual autumn schedule and have packed October with a huge array of auctions, more a ‘eat all you can buffet’ than a carefully curated and planned series. As MutualArt blog wrote, the auctions are trying to cash in with as many lots as possible “in today’s half-certainty versus tomorrow’s uncertainty”.
Auctions + Art Fairs, Collecting + Investing, FAB Events
Fine Art Brokers is pleased to offer complimentary replay access to our latest webinar 'How to Buy Art Online with Confidence'. Join our CEO, Ray Waterhouse, for an in-depth conversation with Courtney Kremers (Sotheby's), Susanne Siano (Modern Art Conservation), and Liz Luna (Artsy) on online buying guidelines.
Auctions + Art Fairs, Collecting + Investing, Market Reports, FAB Events
Fine Art Brokers is pleased to offer complimentary access to the replay of our June webinar, Planning Strategies for Art & Collectibles: Managing the Disposition of an Art Collection. We hope you will enjoy this discussion with valuable insights on the art market during Covid-19 and many aspects of Art Advisory, Art Law, and Auction practice. For On Demand viewing please click here.
Market Reports, Auctions + Art Fairs
Fine Art Brokers hope that all our friends, clients, colleagues and peers in the trade stay well and healthy. As art market professionals, we have been approached by numerous collectors over the last month for advice and opinion on the effect of the global Covid-19 crisis on the art market. Here we outline our initial thoughts, although all of our experts in New York and London are happy to speak in more depth to collectors and consignors on a one-to-one basis.
Auctions + Art Fairs
Over the past 20 years, art fairs have become an increasingly important part of the art market. Many sell a particular type of art that suits the local clientele, while some have expanded into ‘destination’ fairs which attract visitors from around the world. But with the best fairs, which are few in number, the locality of the fair helps to define its character.
Auctions + Art Fairs
Bridget Riley has been a mainstay of the Modern British and Contemporary art market for many years but her secondary market prices have not always been so high. Over the last 2 or 3 years, we have witnessed a significant rise in her prices generally, which has been accompanied by a reappraisal of her later work.
Auctions + Art Fairs, Collecting + Investing
2019 saw a major retrospective of the Surrealist painter Dorothea Tanning at Tate Modern. Tanning’s retrospective is part of an upswing of interest in female Surrealists in popular media, museum exhibitions and the art market. Now is a good time to buy the works of female Surrealists, whose work has still not found an upper limit.
Auctions + Art Fairs
The principle three auction houses in London all held their major sales in Modern British Art last week. Although the auctions only represent one aspect of this thriving market it is still useful to analyse their results to take stock of general trends and collecting habits.
Auctions + Art Fairs
The most important single-owner sale ever to hit the auction block comes up next week at Christie's New York. The world-renowned collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller has a number of major masterpieces worthy of the best museums, and many other very high-quality works for which top collectors will compete.
Auctions + Art Fairs
Fine Art Brokers introduces Sotheby's and Christie's Impressionist & Modern evening sales, New York, 2016.
Auctions + Art Fairs
Bowie’s collection is as eclectic as its creator's musical output, a reflection of his modus operandi whereby he sought to ‘collect ideas’ above any fixed group or theme, although his core interest was clearly mid-century British Art.
Auctions + Art Fairs
Last Wednesday, October 26th saw the first fair run by The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) come to an end in New York, after a five day run. The reaction from visitors and exhibitors was very positive.
Auctions + Art Fairs, Collecting + Investing
The first part of an occasional guide, both informative and irreverent, to the art world’s usage and abusage of the English language, originally written by us in 1991 but still surprisingly relevant.
Auctions + Art Fairs
Between May 5 and May 15, the main New York auction houses will feature no fewer than 11 sales comprised of Impressionist, Modern, Post-War and Contemporary Art. Monet takes center stage with 10 canvases, four of which are estimated at or above $15 million, Giacometti and Picasso are also poised to break records.