Kobel's Art Weekly

Kobel's Art Weekly 11 2024

A certain shyness towards discourse, which she calls "timelessness", characterises the Arco in Madrid, writes Ursula Scheer in the FAZ : "Abstract painting and minimalist approaches are much more prominently represented than the figurative art that dominates elsewhere. [...] ARCO 2024 radiates timelessness, far removed from ideologically charged debates and wrestling with one's own past, which were by no means alien to the fair in the past. Its motto now seems to be stimulate instead of excite." Uta M. Reindl took a closer look for the Tagesspiegel: "A lot of intensely colourful painting, a lot of sculpture and object and installation art can be seen - often with fabric, textiles or other organic materials, but less photography and video art. Committed works tend to deal with subjects such as migration, ecology or feminism, but not with the globally threatening war scenarios. Only at second glance, for example, does the work of Spanish artist Laia Abril at Set Espai D'Art reveal its harrowing political dimension." Vivienne Chow at Artnet asks whether Madrid could even overtake Miami: "Judged by its scale and the number of accompanying VIP events, Arco Madrid is much more modest than Art Basel Miami Beach. However, with an increasing number of affluent Latin American collectors making the city their home here, thanks to an investor-visa scheme, it may not be an overstatement to compare the two. Some have reported choosing Madrid over Miami, and prices for its housing properties have been on the rise." Otherwise, the Anglo-American specialised press largely ignores Arco. Christof Habres has also observed the general uncertainty in the art market in Madrid for Parnass: "A German gallery owner puts it bluntly at the beginning of the ARCO preview. At a time during a major international art fair when optimism is normally conveyed among the galleries. 'The past few months have been anything but motivating - there was often the impression that nobody wanted to buy any more pictures,' he continues, explaining the drama of the current situation. But he doesn't want to be rattled and is banking on Madrid: 'We have always sold well here and the mood in Spain is better than in the rest of Europe due to the economic situation,' he says, explaining his (residual) optimism. He was not alone in his assessment at the preview: the tension and excitement could be clearly felt in many places and heard in conversations. [...] As the hours of the preview progressed, the situation eased somewhat". I was in Madrid for Artmagazine.

Scott Reyburn in The Art Newspaper takes a critical view of the flirting of Tefaf, which is now controlled from New York, with post-war modernism and contemporaries: "But of course, more emphasis on the cool and the new at Tefaf, whose brand has always been associated with top-quality old art, does risk alienating its core exhibitors, who are typically paying between €50,000 and €100,000 for their stand rentals alone. The leading Old Master dealer and Tefaf co-founder Johnny van Haeften, the tribal specialists Entwistle and Galerie Meyer, and the leading Asian art traders Littleton & Hennessy are among the major sellers of the classics that have dropped out in recent years." Michael Huber places the strict quality criteria of the Tefaf in Maastricht at the centre of his report for the Kurier (paywall): "Clarifying the claims of heirs can make a work of art "marketable" again - and the TEFAF (the abbreviation stands for 'The European Fine Art Fair') derives its position as the world's most important fair for old art to a large extent from the fact that it examines the histories of the exhibited objects more meticulously than any other fair. The knowledge of what is at stake also prompted the Viennese dealers Wienerroither & Kohlbacher (W&K) to withdraw an early Klimt painting planned as a TEFAF highlight from the programme at short notice on the eve of the fair: A solution had been worked on with the heirs of previous owners, but was then not finalised in time for the fair, said Andrea Glanninger-Leitner from W&K. However, if everything goes according to plan, the work could be offered soon. [...] If something is categorised as 'not worthy of the fair', sellers may find an empty spot on their stand after the two-day deadline: The works are then taken down and locked up for the duration of the fair. 'It's about buyer protection. That's why museums go shopping here,' says Glanninger-Leitner." Kira Kramer writes in the FAZ presents a whole range of the works on offer: "Some of the 270 exhibitors from over 20 countries boast big names and impressive prices. Bowman Sculpture (London) trumps with a 7.5 million euro version of Auguste Rodin's sculpture 'The Thinker' from 1903. Solomon Lilian from Amsterdam has an oil painting by the Dutch painter Frans Hals from 1635, and Galerie Koetser from Zurich has a second painting from 1625/26 (prices on request). The current exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has increased interest in works by the old master." However, her list does not come close to Gloria Ehret's summary in WELTKUNST. The fact that someone can still write 20,000-character trade fair reports today is almost admirable. I was in Maastricht for the Handelsblatt.

The London auctions left a mixed impression on Stephanie Dieckvoss, despite some successes, especially for art by women. For the Handelsblatt she also meticulously records withdrawn and failed lots: "All in all, it is a confusing market in which anything seems possible. Prices are generally moderate, which is good for buyers and explains the high sales figures. There is enough money in circulation and bidders do not shy away from expensive work. This season at least, however, the hype surrounding the very young artists seems to have cooled somewhat. Instead, it may be the year of the women. It will be interesting to see what the auctions in New York will bring in May." George Nelson, who experienced a fairly tame auction for Artnews, comes to a similar conclusion.

Ketterer in Munich is offering a work by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner that is known to scholars but was considered lost, and which appears to have an impeccable provenance, in its auction in June. A press release is available as a PDF.

Career and motherhood are still hardly compatible in art, but fatherhood is, warns Sascia Bailer at Monopol: "The picture is reinforced when we look at the ten most successful male artists on the [Capital] list: These include nine fathers with many children; together they have 32 kids. [...] In contrast, the ten most successful female artists on the list have a total of only five children; those who are mothers have a maximum of one child. According to the list, the Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist is the most successful contemporary artist who is also a mother (all graphics here). A quick look at the figures clearly shows that parenthood is not valued equally by mothers and fathers, as fatherhood hardly seems to be an obstacle among successful artists, while motherhood is less common among successful female artists and is fraught with structural hurdles and traditional role clichés."

It was really only a matter of time before the first knights of the Order of Self-Righteousness actually comitted acts of iconoclasm after the initially largely non-destructive colour and food attacks on art by climate activists. A historical portrait in Cambridge has now fallen victim to the carpet knife, in the name of the liberation of Palestine, reports Der Spiegel with agency material.

Catherine Hickley explains the overdue revisions to the Washington Principles for dealing with Nazi-looted art in the New York Times: "The new 'best practices' presented today lift the burden of proof from the claimant, stating that any art sale 'by a persecuted person during the Holocaust era between 1933-1945 can be considered equivalent to an involuntary transfer of property based on the circumstances of the sale. Olaf Ossmann, a Swiss lawyer who works on art restitution cases and helped to draft the new guidelines, said: 'Now it's up to the current holder to prove the exemption from this general rule'. The 'best practices' also refine the Washington Principles' call on governments 'to create an independent expert body' to 'adjudicate cases of art and cultural property. The new guidelines specify that 'unilateral access' to such panels should be available, meaning heirs should be able to submit claims for evaluation without needing the consent of the current holder." So far, German institutions in particular have tried to sit out restitution claims by simply ignoring them.

The NZZ has swallowed the collectors' network Independent Collectors, according to a press release: "The acquisition of Independent Collectors by the NZZ at the end of 2023 is a strategically important step towards the new art offering. This will strengthen NZZ's connection to the art market and the art community, especially in the growth market of Germany. The Berlin-based online network has access to almost 7,000 collections from around 100 countries and is optimally networked with private collectors, galleries and artists. In future, companies that are passionate about art will have the opportunity to position themselves more strongly in this environment and become involved in innovative ways via the new NZZ art ecosystem." The last sentence is perhaps not absolutely necessary for everyone to realise what this is all about.

What the art market can do to people is impressively demonstrated by wheeler-dealer Stefan Simchowitz, who, in the course of his Senate candidacy for the Republicans, pulls inhuman slogans out of the "Your poverty pisses me off" box in an interview with Suzy Weiss for The Free Press: "We need a centralised, entrepreneurial government that makes hardcore leadership decisions that are maybe socially unpopular, like rounding up 150,000 homeless people in California and putting them in MASH camps run by the military." After the corresponding headwind, he complains in a whiny Instagram post about the evil press, which takes everything out of context and that his statements were actually meant quite differently. Yet he picked out and posted this exact quote himself.

The French judiciary has finally convicted the Wildenstein clan, reports Aurelien Breeden in the New York Times:
"Guy Wildenstein, the international art dealer, was found guilty in France on Tuesday of massive tax fraud and money laundering, the latest twist after years of legal entanglements that have unravelled the secrecy that once surrounded his powerful family dynasty. Mr Wildenstein, 78, the Franco-American patriarch of the family and president of Wildenstein & Co. in New York, was sentenced by the Paris Appeals Court to a four-year prison sentence, with half of it suspended, and the other half to be served under house arrest with an electronic bracelet. [...] The seven other defendants - who had also been previously cleared - were also convicted of their varying degrees of involvement in the tax fraud."