The Most Expensive Art Work Ever Sold

The most expensive art work ever sold

Damien Hirst, For the Love of God, sold for $100 million USD

 Contemporary

art plays an increasingly prominent role in our culture

 Art’s

economic power is reflected in:

- Spectacular prices at international auctions - Increasing number of museums - Biennials and fairs becoming as necessary to the tiniest country as a local airport

What is Art?  The

process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions

A

mirror of a society

 What

is left as heritage for future generations

Chapter I

Defining “Contemporary Art”

 Loosely

used to denote the art of the present day and relatively recent past. Usually avant-garde in nature  Defined by blurred lines between traditional genres and the appearance of new multimedia techniques  Perhaps “contemporary” just means "art that has been and continues to be created during our lifetimes". In other words, contemporary to us

Chapter II

VS

Pablo Picasso,1937

Andy Warhol, 1962

Modern Art: Art from the Impressionists (1880) up until the 1960's or 70's  Contemporary Art: Art from the 1960's or 70's up until now  Contemporary Art Market 

- 1950’s and 60’s: Leo Castelli and his wife Illeana Sonnabend established crucial access for American artists to European museums and collectors - 1965: First major auction of contemporary American work at Parke-Bernet in New York

Serves as a replacement for something else for the label “modern”. Modern art always has been a mark of distinction and difference, as its definition was protected by gatekeepers in the West.  “Contemporary” has ceased to be a matter of simple chronology (recent or living art)… it becomes a type of branding.  “Contemporary” replaces the concept and the term “modern” (a label from the past), and creates a new space where global art can happen. 

Chapter III

 Most

important phenomenon in recent art: Globalization

 Biennials

and landmark exhibitions initiated the global turn in the art scene when, in 1989, free trade removed Cold War restrictions

 In

many countries, contemporary art has become an economic project including huge cultural districts with museums and art fairs

 Collectors’

and corporate museums are a result of the new clientele within the art market, which, today, extends to 58 countries

 In

the last 40 years, the market for contemporary art has undergone a fundamental overhaul: from a closed circle of aficionados to an industrialized market

 New

market caters to growing number of so-called High Net Worth Individuals who pursue an increasingly globalized life style

 1960s:

Major auction houses expand, triggers restructuring of art market

 Since

then: costly art fairs – the industry trade shows of the art world become the premier shopping malls for contemporary art and are surpassing auctions as major events for buyers

 These developments have major consequences on how art is created, marketed, perceived and consumed  A work of art becomes a branded commodity; the work’s value defined increasingly in monetary terms  Buying and selling art becomes a social competition between wealthy collectors  Part of the art world has turned into a trading floor for speculation.

 Global

art does not mean an inherent aesthetic quality which may be identified as global.

 One

should not confuse the means and ends…  Ultimate goal of economy: generating monetary profit  Ultimate goal of art: deepening the experience of our existence

Power List Top 10 

1. Hans Ulrich Obrist- Art critic, curator 2. Glenn D. Lowry- Director of MOMA 3. Sir Nicholas Serota- Director of Modern Tate 4. Daniel Birnbaum- Art critic, curator 5. Larry Gagosian- Gallerist 6. François Pinault- Collector 7. Eli Broad- Collector 8. Anton Vidokle, Julieta Aranda- Artists 9. Iwona Blazwick- Director of White Chapel Gallery 10. Bruce Nauman- Artist

Hans Ulrich Obrist -Swiss curator -Studied economics and politics, then turned to contemporary art - Organized extraordinary exhibitions internationally, often in spaces not previously used as exhibition venues - Curated exhibitions at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, at the Kunsthalle Wien, the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, the Serpentine Gallery in London, the PS1, etc.

Stats 

Top 100 by professions

Top 100 by nationality

Chapter IV

 Artists  Museums  Collectors  Galleries  Art

critics

 Curators

 Increasingly

begin their careers with Professional Training

 Average

income of artists consists of 3 different sources of earnings: from their art, from arts-related jobs (e.g., teaching), and from nonarts employment

 Only

1/3 of artists can make their living from their artwork

 Two

distinct markets for visual art works :

-

elite artists represented by prestige dealers and galleries, whose work is reviewed by recognized critics

-

general market for other artists.

 For

many contemporary artists, the main desire is greater control of the destiny of their works

 Greater

Opportunities for Early Commercial Success Alter Typical Career Paths

-

Persuaded by the successful use of marketing tools, many contemporary artists, especially the bestsellers, began actively promoting their work

 Less

commercially successful and less well-known artists (many lacking dealers) have also sought new ways of getting their work before the public either through alternative spaces or internet

 We

are in a world of “new artistic

territories”

Museum of Louvre, 8 million visitors per year

Museum of Louvre Abu Dhabi Will open in 2011

 Visual

arts works can be displayed, sold, and purchased in either the commercial (for profit) or nonprofit sectors.

 Museums

dominate the organizational profile of visual art 

Art museums have 5 traditional missions: -Collecting -Preserving -Studying -Exhibiting -Interpreting ….art objects

 Museums

are the principal preservers of the nation’s and the world’s visual arts héritage  Museums play a major role in establishing the legitimacy and artistic value of artists and their work through the process of exhibiting and collecting artwork  From 1982-2002, total number of art museum attendees has risen by almost half

 Museums’

operating expenditures constitute almost half of their total annual expenditures

 Given

the importance of overhead, development, and administration, programming typically faces tough competition for funding, creating tensions in museums’ multifaceted mission

 Tension

between art objects (the research and preservation functions) and people (the education and public involvement functions)  Museums’ wealth consists overwhelmingly of their physical capital  The 8 largest of these museums in the USA control almost 50% of the revenues of American non-profit visual organizations

 New

York’s advantage reflects its role as the center of the national/international arts market

 1/2

of American museums were created in the past 30 years

Museums…  Have

adopted a variety of strategies to increase attendance  Face increasing financial pressures  Turn to new types of directors and staff  Same important changes in the board of trustees  Have increasing links with other institutions and the corporate sector

 Increasing

concentration of revenues and assets in the superstar museums  Most common yardsticks to measure museum performance: attendance, membership, and number and marketability of major shows

How to define and measure success? The real measure ought to be the quality of the museum experience

« A collection is the work of a person. It is its limit and its greatness. It has to awaken the curiosity, the emotion of others. It is an artisitc adventure with a moral dimension, a disinterested commitment » Monique ­Barbier- Mueller- Swiss collector

Collectors  The

number of people who collect fine art is miniscule compared with the number of people who visit museums

 Though

income and education are closely related, of these two variables, education is the most important

Driving the increase in collectors:

 higher

incomes of the world’s wealthy

 more

collectors who are drawn to collecting not just as connoisseurs but also as investors

 more

geographically dispersed in past 25 years

Key Characteristics of Collectors  Wealth  International 

backgrounds.

For mega collectors: appetite for signs of distinction

 From

a survey: 21% of the population who own original art are older, highly educated, have higher incomes than the rest of population

Important Collectors in the History of Art  not

necessarily the very richest or most acquisitive  Instead, those who yield great influence  - a combination of connoisseurship and generosity  Important collectors: - Set standards for others by their example - Encourage interest in the art they collect - Share their colection with the public - Impact on the market

 JEAN

PAUL BARBIER-MUELLER (Tribal Art)

Nationality: Swiss Age: 77 Source of wealth: Property They opened the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneve.  ERNST

BEYELER (20th-century painting and sculpture)

Nationality: Swiss Age: 86 Source of wealth: Art dealer The Beyeler Foundation has nearly 400,000 visitors a year.

 ELI

BROAD (Post-war and contemporary)

Nationality: American Age: 75 Source of wealth: Property and insurance. The Broad Art Foundation (California) has donated $50m to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for a new extension

 AGNES

GUND (Post-war, mainly American)

Nationality: American Age: 69 Source of wealth: Banking inheritance. Based in New York, she served as president of the Museum of Modern Art from 1991 to 2002 and led the fundraising drive for its $858m extension, which opened in 2004



NASSER DAVID KHALILI (Islamic and Japanese Meiji) Nationality: British Age: 62 Source of wealth: Property. Altogether, the Khalili collection comprises 25,000 pieces. He will set up a museum in London



RONALD LAUDER (Early-20th-century Austrian and German Art ) Nationality: American Age: 64 Source of wealth: Cosmetics inheritance and media. In 2006 he made headlines when he purchased Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I for $135m, a record price for a work of art



PRINCE HANS-ADAM II (16th-to 19thcentury painting, sculpture and furniture) Nationality: Liechtenstein Age: 63. In 2004 he opened the Liechtenstein Museum in his baroque summer palace in Vienna, with renovations costing 25m euro

EUGENIO LOPEZ ALONSO (Latin American and international contemporary) Nationality: Mexican Age: 40 Source of wealth: Food processing. In 2001 he opened the Fundacion/Coleccion Jumex on the outskirts of Mexico City.



GEORGE ORTIZ (Antiquities) Nationality: Swiss Age: unknown Source of wealth: Inheritance



FRANCOIS PINAULT (Contemporary Art) Nationality: French Age: 71 He displays his collection, now comprising 2,500 works in Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana in Venice, which reopened in 2006. He owns also the auction house Christie’s.



VIKTOR PINCHUK (Contemporary Art) Nationality: Ukrainian Age: 47 Source of wealth: Steel. In September 2006 the Victor Pinchuk Foundation opened the Pinchuk Art Centre in Kiev, which is one of the largest public galleries for contemporary art in eastern Europe



LEKHA & ANUPAM PODDAR (Indian Art) Nationality: Indian Age: unknown; 34 Source of wealth: Paper industry and hotels. The Poddars are opening India's first non-commercial contemporary art gallery in New Delhi



DON & MERA RUBELL (Contemporary Art) Nationality: American Age: 66; unknown Source of wealth: Inheritance and hotels. In 1996 their Contemporary Arts Foundation opened a public space in north Miami, to show a changing selection of works in 27 rooms

CHARLES SAATCHI (Contemporary Art) Nationality: British Age: 65 Source of wealth: Advertising. Probably Europe's most powerful collector of contemporary art. Opened a museum in London



EUGENE THAW (Drawings) Nationality: American Age: 81 Source of wealth: Art dealer. Thaw himself collected drawings and oil sketches, many of which have been offered to the Morgan Library in New York



DAVID THOMSON (19th century English to contemporary art) Nationality: Canadian Age: 51 Source of wealth: Media. David Thomson was a very major donor to the Art Gallery of Ontario, to which he gave 2,000 works in 2002 (including Rubens's Massacre of the Innocents, for which he paid 50m [pounds sterling]), together with a $70m donation



GUY ULLENS (Chinese contemporary art) Nationality: Belgian Age: 73 Source of wealth: Food processing. In 2007 Ullens opened a permanent space in a restored military factory in Beijing, the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art



JAYNE WRIGHTSMAN (18th-century French art) Nationality: American Age: unknown. Source of wealth: Oil Based in New York, the couple made a series of donations to the Metropolitan Museum in 1969-77, and this led to the creation of seven galleries of French art in period rooms

 REINHOLD

WURTH (20th-century art )

Nationality: German Age: 73 Source of wealth: Hardware business Wurth runs an art museum at Kunzelsau

A case study

 Video

of Margulies Collection

 Top

20 collectors come from 13 different countries

9

out of the 20 biggest collections are contemporary art collections

 Most

have set up and funded their own public galleries

 Acquiring

objects that have some relation to each

other  Putting

those objects into the kind of order that reflects the collector’s response to them.

 Each

true collection achieves a personality beyond and apart from the sum of the objects. This personality is definable and has a value in itself. It is lost if the collection is dispersed or mutilated.

Crucial Traits for Intelligent Collecting  Instinct  Taste  Scholarship

- Studying books, visiting other collections, consulting experts, learning about condition and conservation, and, generally, developing experience and expertise

 Real

art collectors often feel the ability to apply their talents to any field of art.

Why Do Collectors Collect?  To

experience the object more intimately and more completely than even the most thoroughly attentive viewing at an exhibition.

A

mania to add, to refine, to put in order a collection of works of art.

 The

overwhelming majority of those who call themselves collectors collect contemporary art

 Be

guided by curiosity  Learn how to look at an artwork  Train your eyes: Art is about looking, looking and looking  Research the history of art  Visit and look at masterpieces of our civilization  Take the time to recognize their position  Understand the work from intellectual, cultural and emotional points of view

Accept that you need 10 years to be more independant in your decisions  Follow your instinct  Mistakes are inevitable but you grow through them  Go through a year of catalogues of auction houses  Be part of a social network of artists, curators, gallerists and other collectors but distinguish between the purely “social” aspect and the opportunity to discuss art  Choose your dealers very carefully 

Andy Warhol, Michael Jackson, 1984

Aspects to Consider  Description of the work?  What medium is used?  What Warhol says about it?  What are the main themes of

Warhol?  Why is Warhol considered so important?  What about pop art?  What is Warhol’s market?

   

A Chinese contemporary art collection created in 2005 A « University museum » approach aimed toward the production of knowledge Represents 90 of the leading Chinese avant-garde artists reflecting different regional art scenes An entity limited to 150 pieces opened to constant redefinition and regeneration

To build a collection in which established artists and emerging artists from all regions are represented  To collect, educate, and entertain  To create a strong relationship with major players of the Chinese art scene  To increase and deepen participation for a certain type of Chinese contemporary art 

 





To establish a strong and personal collection To attract an audience, particularly the 18-34 generation by mixing entertainment and education To reach curators, universities, art critics, museums and opinion leaders in China and internationally To develop an educational program

    

Strong personal commitment and presence in China Acquisition of content Funding of innovative websites Dsl website and its different display tools Public relations & Communications and E-marketing

Gu Dexin, 2005.03.05, installation, pole 26 meters, canvas 350 x 250 cm, base 150 cm, 2005

YANG Jiechang, I still remember, Ink on paper, 6 panels, each 300 x 173 cm, 1998-2006

Lin Yilin, Standard Series of Ideal Residences, installation: brick, iron, wood, 1991

Zhang Huan, Peace1, installation, 2001, H335 cm x L365 xPr 243 cm

Jia Aili, Untitled, 2007-2008, oil on canves, 296 x 400 cm



Statistics - In 2008, 300 million Chinese online users

- 68% are younger then 29 years old - 80 million blogs in China, 10 million in Japan - 8 million visitors in the Louvre, 11 million on its website

    

Dsl collection website Popular online social networks like Facebook, Xiaonei Ebook Blog , Twitter Virtual tools - Virtual museum - Zoomorama gallery - Dsl Cyber MOCA on Second Life

 

E-Marketing and Communication Exhibition of the works in museums

Virtual museum

DSL Cyber Moca

Zoomorama gallery

E-book

Text book, volume I Libreria Borges Visual productions

Dsl Voice Reader

Twitter

Facebook

Communication

Newsletter

Magazines

Events

Talks ShContemporary Art Fair 2008

Conclusion