Kobel's Art Weekly

Kobel's Art Weekly 47 2023

At the beginning of his review of Art Cologne for the FAZ, Georg Imdahl is not sparing with his criticism: "When a fair like Art Cologne endeavours to raise its profile, but over the years tends to stagnate instead of making decisive progress, the industry likes to say that it simply "realistically reflects the German market". For its current 56th edition, this means that it is once again looking behind internationally strong participants and has shrunk to 170 exhibitors. In terms of numbers, this is particularly noticeable in the field of classical modernism, which is continuously losing importance in Cologne - while in contemporary art, many international and Berlin galleries are giving the traditional fair the cold shoulder."

Michael Kohler draws a similar conclusion in the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger: "In fact, Ropac is one of the last world-class participants who harbour no sentimental feelings for Cologne and yet swear eternal loyalty to the fair. This is simply taken for granted in the case of home-grown names such as Sprüth/Magers, Buchholz or Greve. The situation in Cologne has long been such that sales are very good, especially in the lower and middle price segments, but the big million-dollar deals are made elsewhere."

Rüdiger Heinze transfers the trends of the international art market to Art Cologne in the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung: "The overall situation therefore remains very unclear, dependent on individual situations and fluctuating. Perhaps it can be put like this: Those with a regional, national or international name and solid quality have a good chance of winning, those without one and without their own artistic world view are at even greater risk than before. The gap is widening. This was also evident until Sunday evening at the Art Cologne art fair with around 170 exhibitors. There was a lull in visitors at some of the smaller gallery booths, while the faces and red sales points of the big names in the trade with established artists were shining." To implicitly accuse smaller galleries of a lack of quality and a lack of artistic world view (whatever that means) is hopefully just clumsy wording.

I was in Cologne for the Handelsblatt and Artmagazine.

The final sales at Sotheby's in New York marked the end of a mediocre auction season, Carlie Porterfield writes in The Art Newspaper: "Although the two sales each performed well enough to tiptoe into their respective presale target zones, they generated only modest excitement along the way-a fitting conclusion to an autumn auction season that proved the market remains relatively soft and selective."

Scott Reyburn summarises in the New York Times: "A dip, or a trough, or just a blip? Traders and collectors were left asking this question after two weeks of sales in New York stress-tested the top end of the auction market for modern and contemporary art. [...] 'We were expecting a very difficult couple of weeks,' said Philip Hoffman, chief executive of the Fine Art Group, an international art advisory company. 'Apart from a very few lots, there weren't many second bidders,' Hoffman said, commenting on a first week dominated by the Fisher Landau sale. 'There were no sparks. But Sotheby's and Christie's are still managing to sell paintings for very high prices.'"

Barbara Kutscher conveys a somewhat more positive perception in the Handelsblatt: "You could almost hear a collective sigh of relief. The New York evening auctions for Impressionist art up to the present day, which were eagerly awaited by dealers and collectors alike, proved that the market is surprisingly robust at the upper end - and at every price level. However, the three multinationals had also put together carefully composed offers and endeavoured to dampen the exaggerated expectations of the consignors. 'It sounds like a cliché, but quality and conservative estimates made for a bidding war,' says Kelsey Leonard, the person responsible for Sotheby's Contemporary evening auction on Wednesday evening." Anne Reimers was relieved for the FAZ: "The New York prestige auctions of modern and contemporary art had been awaited with nervous tension. After their conclusion, Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips can breathe a sigh of relief: a finely calibrated programme, well-tempered estimates, many guarantees and the top-class collection of Emily Fisher Landau at Sotheby's ensured a satisfactory conclusion to the season - despite a global environment shaken by political upheavals."

The auction of a collection at Nagel in Stuttgart illustrates the change in taste, explains Susanne Schreiber in the Handelsblatt: "The special catalogue, comprising only 24 lots, achieved a total result of 380,000 euros. The change in taste from Baroque to contemporary art is very clearly noticeable here. Mülhens had bought from renowned dealers in the heyday when Old Masters meant prestige and were correspondingly sought-after and expensive."

Charlotte Cotton explains for Artnews that and how the fashion and art industries are becoming increasingly intertwined: "Exchanges between art and fashion have long been seen as transactional in nature, a trade-off between the former's cultural preeminence and the latter's broad visibility. But the platforms and audiences for both are evolving into an expansive, accessible, algorithmically shaped viewing sphere that is pulling both art and fashion out of once-rarefied worlds. There has been a flattening effect, where the many talents involved in both arenas now form a shimmering pool of multi-hyphenate creatives."

Using two smaller galleries expanding in Manhattan as an example, Jillian Billard attempts to describe a trend for The Art Newspaper: "Yet multiple veteran mid-market and mid-major galleries in the US are doing exactly that in Manhattan. Their plans call into question both this autumn's dominant art market narrative and long-standing assumptions about the inner dynamics of the private art trade." The article actually mentions exactly two (2!) galleries.

Robin Pogrebin and Emmanuel Morgan have identified a new group of collectors for the New York Times: "Professional athletes have grown more serious about buying art in recent years - not unlike other people with new wealth who become collectors. But their fame has helped make them tastemakers, with the ability to help drive interest in contemporary art and particularly in Black artists and other artists of colour. Now many sports figures are being courted by galleries, auction houses, art shows and museums."