pompidou

Lucian Freud at the Pompidou Could Boost Prices

Filed under: Art

Lucian Freud is coming back to the Centre Pompidou for the first time since his first retrospective was held in 1987 – at the same museum. Historically, these exhibitions have been great for collectors of Freud's work, according to Artprice.

A 2002 Freud retrospective at the Tate kicked off a nearly immediate 185 percent increase in the index for this artist, and by 2004, he became a staple at prestigious auctions, and his sales revenue surged 450 percent. In 2005, the Freud price index, according to Artprice, gained 41 percent, and demand for his work was substantial. He debuted on the list of top 10 artists at auction, with an aggregate total of $33.7 million for the year.

Of course, the 2005 results paled in comparison to 2008, in which Roman Abramovich made Freud the most expensive living artist (seizing the title from Jeff Koons) with the $30 million purchase of "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" – a familiar enough topic for anyone who's looked for some help from the human resources department. Yet, the upside was short-lived.

No piece by Freud crossed the $1 million mark in 2009, and with only $405,000 in auction results, he ranked 1,327th at auction, just above ... someone who is likely irrelevant in the global art community. The auction houses couldn't try to sell the good stuff, though, because nobody would put it on the block. Only prints and drawings were offered.

Did the Sotheby's auction last month signal a turn? Both "Self-Portrait with a Black Eye" and "Guy and Speck" crossed not just he million dollar but the million pound threshold, though the hype around Freud failed to materialize. Maybe Freud will lag the market in recovering, but that's probably because the art market is showing such a robust return.

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Tags: art, art market, ArtMarket, france, Jeff Koons, JeffKoons, lucian freud, LucianFreud, paris, Pompidou, PompidouCenter, roman abramovich, RomanAbramovich, tate modern, TateModern

Abramovich, Paltrow, Ganek Seen at Frieze Art Fair

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Celebrity Shopping, Art

david ganek The Frieze Art Fair is drawing the right kind of people this year, even if the art market is showing little more than hope (and even that's debatable). Roman Abramovich - billionaire, Francis Bacon fan - has been seen scoping out the merchandise. Gwyneth Paltrow is at the show, too. Both were at the VIP preview (separately), and David Ganek made an appearance as well. Ganek is a hedge fund manager and art collector, and his wife, Danielle wrote a god-awful novel about the art business in Manhattan.

The Frieze Art Fair runs through October 18 and occupies 70,000 square feet in Regent's Park. In attendance are 165 gallery owners from 30 countries, all eager to take advantage of collectors excited to be at Europe's largest art fair. But, they have their work cut out for them. Auction sales are down between 70 percent and 80 percent from last year, and that's usually a pretty good sign of how the art market as a whole is doing.

There is some action at Frieze this year. Artist Jim Hodges has an exhibition at the Pompidou Center in Paris that's captured the attention of a museum. Stefan Edlis, Jean Pigozzi and David Roberts - all prominent collectors - have been seen at the fair. Art dealer Marianne Boesky moved 13 paintings from a new series of 15 watercolors by Barnaby Furnas that depict the capture and execution of John Brown, the Civil War abolitionist. Prices ranged from $25,000 to $30,000.

After the dismal situation at Frieze in 2008, there's a collective desire for this year to be better. While wishing for an art market recovery probably won't make a difference, the sentiment itself is comforting.

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Tags: abramovich, art, art dealer, art market, ArtDealer, artist, ArtMarket, artwork, barnaby, david roberts, DavidRoberts, england, francis bacon, FrancisBacon, friezeartfair, gwyneth paltrow, GwynethPaltrow, london, pompidou, pompidoucenter, roman abramovich, RomanAbramovich, united kingdom, UnitedKingdom