Kobel's Art Weekly

Kobel's Art Weekly 25 2025

As in the USA and London, the auction week in Germany was mixed. Grisebach in Berlin will be rethinking its strategy, according to Jan Kohlhaas in the Handelsblatt: ‘High hopes had been pinned on the ’19th Century Art" auction for the appeal of a private Dresden collection featuring Romantic masterpieces, but they were dashed. Of the 22 works, almost half were returned, and all four top lots in the six-figure range failed to sell (...) Von Schacky told Handelsblatt that they would be discussing the future of the department. Signs of fatigue in the 19th century had been observed for some time, and now it was time to react. A few years ago, the house had a similar experience with its photography department and has since significantly reduced its offerings. Overall, however, the results of the summer auctions were very satisfactory. The Evening Sale in particular delivered everything one could hope for from a successful auction: a packed hall, international online and telephone bids, exciting bidding battles and spectacular price increases. Ursula Scheer emphasises the positive aspects in the FAZ: "Just under a quarter of the 87 “selected works” did not find buyers. In the remaining auctions, which were divided into categories, the sales rates ranged between around 45 and a good 60 percent. This did not affect the total turnover: Grisebach reported an increase of 54 percent compared to the previous year and a half-year turnover of 22 million euros. In 2024, it was 18 million."

Things did not go entirely according to plan at Ketterer either, as Sabine Spindler observed for the Handelsblatt: "But not everything went as hoped. A chill descended when there was no sign of interest in Alexej von Jawlenski's 1913 portrait of the dancer Sacharow, either in the auction room or on the telephone. The colouristically exaggerated, expressionist head of the Russian, created four years after the androgynous portrait in Munich's Lenbachhaus, was expected to fetch at least 1.5 million. “There are only one or two interested parties left for works like this today,” Robert Ketterer commented on the decline in an interview with Handelsblatt. And if they don't go along, a significant work will fall through, according to the auctioneer. Top lots were also rejected by the market [...] Insiders noted on the sidelines of the auction that this was a sign of the withdrawal of pure art investors and investment buyers and pointed to a more cautious, even more strictly calculated acquisition policy among this clientele in the million-euro sector. Brita Sachs sees mainly positive developments for the FAZ sees mainly positive aspects: ‘As the auction progressed, many works in the five-figure estimate range exceeded expectations; only in the case of works worth millions did some estimates fall short of the hammer price.’

The market for the top segment of design, on the other hand, is robust, believes Karen K. Ho of Artnews: ‘Even in a sluggish auction market, the design category—in particular when boasting notable works by Tiffany Studios, Les Lalanne, and Alberto Giacometti—continues to be a bright spot at auction, with Christie's two recent sales totalling $23.6 million. ’You're also appealing to such a broad range of collectors. You’re no longer just in this like, niche group of people,” Carpenters Workshop senior sales associate Betsy Beierle told ARTnews. “Even in a hesitant market, when something’s rare and when something’s scarce, that is definitely going to outweigh any kind of sluggish performing that’s going on.”

Annie Armstrong looks at Sotheby's new fashion line with amusement at Artnet: ’I've spent more time than I'd like to admit pondering the implications of the collaboration. Is Sotheby's going for a more youthful branding? It did just hire celebrity art advisor Ralph DeLuca as its new “vice chairman of popular culture,” which must signal something. The Artnet News Pro team has reported exhaustively on how Sotheby’s has been struggling financially lately, and maybe they’re looking for new revenue streams by way of $400 terry cloth robes.” The timing of the auctioneer really doesn’t seem ideal, as the traditional company is currently in the midst of a deep crisis.

Angelica Villa reports at Artnews on the opening of another Frieze property, this time in Seoul: ‘A spokesperson for Frieze said the new Seoul space will follow a similar model to London's No. 9 Cork Street, a gallery space in Mayfair that rotates pop-up shows. The fair franchise launched it in 2021.’

Melanie Gerlis asks in The Art Newspaper whether Ari Emanuel's purchase of Frieze was a smart move: "Frieze has done well to secure a culturally engaged owner prepared to put a very confident price out there when times are feeling tough. It is a profitable business, so we are told, and the brand is strong—which is where much of its potential worth lies. But the current art fair format does not look like an engine for rapid growth. Frieze is banking on Emanuel being much smarter than everyone else."

Have millennials killed the art market, asks Melanie Gerlis provocatively in the Sunday Times: "The cracks in the art market are impossible to ignore. After a post-pandemic bump, the total value of art sales fell by 4 per cent in 2023 and then slumped by a further 12 per cent last year. Further havoc has been caused by the prospect of President Trump's tariffs. Art may be exempt from these tariffs under American laws, but its wealthy buyers are grappling with unknown implications, which means they are at best distracted and at worst losing money. That art might not be such a good investment has begun to hit home.

Jo Lawson-Tancred sees London Gallery Weekend at Artnet at a crossroads: "Now in its fifth edition, LGW has become a highlight of London's annual art offerings. The appeal comes from a genuine sense of camaraderie between galleries big and small in what is one of the largest and most competitive art centres in the world. But can everyone expect their moment in the spotlight given the increasingly crowded London arts calendar? To wit: A modest number of trendy, younger galleries from last year's programme chose not to participate this time around, including Union Pacific, Guts Gallery, The Sunday Painter, and Xxijra Hii. Word on the street is that an ever-busier events calendar, often not shared in advance, has led to scheduling conflicts that typically give priority to high-profile events organised by well-known galleries in more central locations. Anne Reimers took a tour of the participating galleries for the FAZ.

Artnet and Morgan Stanley have taken a close look at the photography market: "From one vantage point, the picture is one of stasis over the two-decade period. In 2005, the photography auction market saw $113.4 million in sales, and in 2024 it saw $116.9 million, an increase of just over 3 percent. (Painting sales values over that time increased by 76.2 percent, sculpture by 109.2 percent, prints and multiples by 145.8 percent.) Adjusted for inflation, this is a drop of some 36.7 percent for photographs. Average prices have also declined, even as the number of lots sold has increased."

The dispute over the Hohenzollern inheritance and its resolution is summarised by dpa: "The historic deal over the art treasures of the House of Hohenzollern is final. The agreement between the descendants of the last German emperor and the public authorities cleared the final legal hurdle on Friday – the German Historical Museum gave its approval, as did all the other institutions involved. [...] However, this decades-long negotiation saga was by no means always smooth sailing. The most important questions and answers..."

Tamara Wendrich at Legal Tribune Online also looks at the lawsuit filed by Disney and Universal against the AI image generator Midjourney from a German perspective: "In a 100-page statement of claim, the studios accuse Midjourney of “stealing” copyright-protected material to generate AI photos. Under American copyright law, only the studios, as copyright holders, are entitled to control and market their creative works, they argue. For this reason, Midjourney is prohibited not only from creating images based on the originals, but also from distributing these images in its gallery. For the media giants, one thing is clear: the misuse of their intellectual property could easily be stopped. According to the statement of claim, the AI start-up itself selects the content with which it trains its software. Technical protection mechanisms are also conceivable, as the platform has already taken measures to prevent the distribution and display of violence or nudity, for example.

Werner Remm reports on the closure of the renowned Kunstforum Wien at Artmagazine: "The Kunstforum Wien of Bank Austria in the Palais an der Freyung in Vienna's first district will close permanently at the end of June. This was announced by director Ingried Brugger and Wolfgang Schilk, chairman of the association, at a press conference. [...] Wolfgang Schilk said that the new owner of the building cannot be blamed for wanting to make the best possible use of the property. In addition, Bank Austria no longer wants to run an exhibition institution itself, but instead wants to concentrate its sponsorship on supporting cultural events. The budget planned for the Marina Abramovic exhibition will now be made available to the Albertina by Bank Austria. For Olga Kronsteiner from Der Standard, the closure of the Kunstforum is symptomatic of how corporations deal with their cultural commitments: "The future promotion of the art scene will therefore be on the back burner. And that fits in with the image of an industry that once liked to present itself as patronising by building up art collections and, in some cases, even operating its own exhibition spaces. The Bawag Foundation, founded in 1974 and which came to an end in 2013 as Bawag Contemporary, was one of the first victims of strict restructuring programmes in the banking sector. The Bawag collection has long since been sold off, and German banks have also begun to cash in on their art assets in recent years. As is well known, Unicredit threw the biggest chunk onto the market between 2019 and 2021, having amassed almost 60,000 works of art over the years through various mergers with European banks. The much-vaunted corporate cultural responsibility is often nothing more than lip service.

Gallery owner Kamel Mennour is donating 180 works of art to the Musée d'Art Moderne (MAM) in Paris, reports Karen K. Ho on Artnews.

Jerry Gogosian now wants to be called Hilde. American art world starlet Hilde Lynn Helphenstein recently buried her alter ego Jerry Gogosian in an Instagram story and deleted the account on the same day. Alex Greenberger has dedicated an obituary to it at Artnews. In an email, Helphenstein writes: ‘Looking back, my journey on social media has been one of profound growth. I emerged from a significant illness and faced my struggles with addiction, ultimately finding sobriety. Along the way, I embarked on a fitness journey and fell in love. I moved to Connecticut, bought a house, and began my Executive MBA. I have also shared my sorrows and confusion. Sometimes it got messy. I feel like I grew up in public.’ It seems that her therapist has put his foot down. However, she has left herself a back door open: her website still exists, and she has announced that she intends to remain in the art world, although she does not yet know in what form.