Zilkens' News Blog

Zilkens‘ News Blog 21 2023

After the auction week in New York was a far cry from the results of the last two years, the famous in Germany and probably deeply rooted in the soul doomsayers come to the fore who get excited about the alleged paradigm shift in the art market and paint portents on the wall. Anyone who has observed the art market over the last few decades can only observe two things: It takes one or two years for upheavals in the economy to reach the art market and quality is always marketable and at the right value. The fact that some hypes are relativised in such times and speculation moves into the background should not be a paradigm shift, but a normal correction that every market experiences from time to time. This is also the difference between entrepreneurial risk and political hammock, which is particularly pronounced when one holds the right belief and thinks one is above the law because of moral superiority. The temporary retirement of a state secretary, who should have resigned for reasons of decency, costs the taxpaying citizens more than a million. Pension payments of EUR 5,000 plus per month reach the fewest who have to work hard for their daily livelihood.

Luck is a part of life - for example, an American saved two church windows from destruction with the payment of 6,000 USD, which after restoration now turn out to be from the Tiffany workshop. They are now being auctioned off for many times that amount. That's as nice as the many flea market stories we hear about from time to time.

Storms in Italy happen all the time. In 1966, the Arno burst its banks and flooded Florence, destroying many works of art. Now it has hit the Emiglia Romagna region and the mud masses are threatening Ravenna. It is to be feared that the old German farmer's saying: "Even if May is cool and wet, it fills the farmer's barn and barrel" will be turned into its opposite. Many crops were destroyed because the soil could not absorb the water due to the previous drought.

We are still thinking about the theme of the next Art Insurance Talk on the occasion of Art Cologne. There is a proposal to deal with the effects of inflation and the war in Ukraine on art insurance. There is a lot to be said about the former, and the only sad thing to say about the latter is that there are very few - not to say only one - insurers who are prepared to deal with the insurance of exhibitions there independently of reinsurers. One has the impression that one is facing a cartel and that leads one to fear that the podium will remain empty.

Art Asyl e.V., the association that managed the donations for last year's exhibition "Worth Fighting For" now needs money for a project it has been running for several years: "A boot full of instruments" - music for the children and young people of refugees housed in cramped accommodation. This is also culture and peace mediation that can only be supported. Donations can be made to Art Asyl e.V. IBAN DE19 3701 0050 0978 3215 04 and receive a donation receipt.

We wish everyone a musically stimulating week and next Sunday the necessary inspiration from the Holy Spirit - for those who no longer have it on their radar, this is the background to Pentecost and because Whit Monday is also a holiday, Kobel's Art Week and our news blog will not appear again until 30 May.

Stephan Zilkens and the team of Zilkens Fine Art Insurance Broker GmbH in Solothurn and Cologne