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In times of global crises and economic hardship, such as the current one, the art market provides a safe haven. Investors tend to distrust financial products and turn to assets that are less affected by market volatility, including in the luxury and art industries. Investing in luxury goods and works of art decreases the risks and ensures value in the future. In the pandemic, this is also an easy solution following physical distancing rules.
During the past few months, the popularity of online art sales kept growing under physical distancing measures. According to a recent report by Art Basel and UBS, collectors holding financial assets worth at least $1 million increased their art purchasing during the ongoing pandemic: “almost all HNW collectors (92 percent) added at least one work of art to their holdings in the first six months of the year, and despite global instability and hits to their stock portfolios, a sixth of collectors (16 percent) spent more than $1 million.” Auction houses and marketplaces swiftly adapted tο virtual solutions, profiting from the current momentum. Read more..
2. COMINGS & GOINGS
Judge Orders Restitution of Derain Paintings
A French court has ruled that two French institutions must restitute three paintings to the heirs of the Jewish art dealer René Gimpel, who sold the works under duress before he was killed in the Holocaust. The works, by the Fauvist painter André Derain, are held by the Modern Art Museum in Troyes and the Cantini Museum in Marseille.
3. FOR ART’S SAKE
Artists Rights Group Hopes Election Will End Travel Ban
Ahead of the US elections on November 3, the Artistic Freedom Initiative is drawing attention to President Donald Trump’s 2017 executive order that placed a travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries, including Iraq, Somalia, and Sudan. The group will produce a series of Instagram live interviews with banned and displaced artists in the lead-up to Election Day.
4. Art Industry News:
Spanish Scholars Divided Over Murillo Painting
Painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s canvas in a Seville Church is at the center of a debate in Spain. The work, which depicts the Immaculate Conception and dates to the 1640s, arrived at the church under “mysterious circumstances.” But is it really by Murillo’s hand? One skeptical scholar said the piece “lacks the characteristics that are present in youthful works by Murillo.” Another defended its attribution, saying it “is a work that no other Sevillian painter of that time [was] capable of doing.” (ARTnews)
5. CONTEMPORARY ART
While Mumbai is known for its art scene, Pune recently added a contemporary art gallery to its list of cultural institutions. Iranian-Canadian curator and gallerist Vida Heydari launched the Vida Heydari Contemporary art gallery in the trendy neighbourhood of Koregaon Park. The inaugural show, "Origins of a Perennial Bouquet", is curated by Bose Krishnamachari of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. The group show will display works by well-known contemporary artists like Sudarshan Shetty, Benitha Perciyal, Manish Nai, Sumedh Rajendran and Tanya Goel in the 800 sq ft gallery space. The works are priced between ₹1.2-65 lakh.
6. ART MARKET
While the Western art market is still in recovery mode, the Asian market is forging ahead. Frantic bidding in Hong Kong in December saw new records set at Phillips and at Christie’s for young artists, from Salman Toor, Nicolas Party, Amoako Boafo, Shara Hughes, Dana Schutz and (predictably) the late Matthew Wong, as well as strong prices for older names such as Yayoi Kusama, Yoshitomo Nara and Bernard Frize.
Particularly notable were the strong sales in Hong Kong, when Christie’s 2 December 20th-century, Hong Kong to New York relay auction was far more buoyant in Asia than in the US. And Phillips’ savvy link-up with the Chinese state-owned auction house Poly racked up $66m, its highest total ever in Hong Kong.. Read more..