The Financial Market Vs. The Art Market

The Financial Market Vs. The Art Market, by Artfinding

At first sight, the financial and the art markets don't seem to have much in common. The first is a very pragmatic and down-to-earth field animated by mathematical models and short term speculation, whereas the second relies on passion or feelings animated by art lovers who more often follow their gut rather than decide by empirical evidence.

However, the art market counts a growing number of art dealers who come from the financial industry and manage to deal with these two antagonistic fields in concert. Fréderic Sioufi, the Parisian 18th and 19th Centuries furniture and works of art dealer, worked for 15 years as a financial trader in Paris and Tokyo. Christophe Hioco, an expert and dealer in Indian Hinduist and Buddhist statuary, spent 27 years working with the prestigious business bank JP Morgan with which he still maintains close relations.

We, at Artfinding, believe that the financial and the art markets have much more in common than one could think.

First of all, many of the major art collectors are financiers: Vladimir Lopukhin (Russian Business Banker), Bonko Chan (Vice-President of China Assets), Ignacio Liprandi (Vice-President of Merill Lynch Argentina), Richard Kramlich (CEO of an investment company), Jean Bonna (Banker), Petr Aven (President of Alfa Bank)... to cite a few. So people can work in the financial industry and still have a strong interest in the arts.

The recent burst of the contemporary art market bubble have revealed the hidden tip of the iceberg: speculation. This dynamic consists in purchasing risky investments that present the possibility of large profits. The financial market is driven by speculation. Similarly, ever since the 80's, many art "collectors" have literally invested in several fields of contemporary art - which is much more volatile than ancient art - in order to make profits. But in 2009, the global crisis has broken the chain and without new buyers, prices of contemporary art have dropped anywhere from 20% to 50%. As Mr Sioufi admits, “lots of wealth managers advise their clients to diversify their risks by investing 1% to 5% of their assets in the art market, mostly in the contemporary art market". So all together 5% of these assets present a huge amount of money, which creates without fail a speculative bubble. On the other hand "antique arts are less speculative and a safer investment", agree Christophe Hioco and Fréderic Sioufi. In a nutshell speculation certainly is a key feature that the financial and the art markets share in common.

Last but not least, a growing number of people are starting to apply financial & mathematical models to the art market. “As a trader, I am familiar with the financial dynamics and I often apply them to my art business. For example, as I ask myself whether a particular piece might be a good investment in the future, I often look at the recent performance of similar pieces as a strong indicator”, says Christophe Hioco. As most antique dealers don't usually consider art as an investment, the strategy used by Mr. Hioco seems to be the one to follow: in 2009, in the middle of the global financial crisis, Mr Hioco's company's (which has two activities of financial advising and art trading) profit increase was 40% in one year!

The art market deals with billions of dollars each year, fluctuations in trends can offer great business opportunities, ... and many other reasons will encourage a number of financial players to get more and more involved in the art market. One single rule needs to be followed if one wishes to invest in art, in addition to clever advice by an art market specialist, the first buying motivation of a work of art should be passion. Investing in what you love is a safe value guarantee.


Fréderic Sioufi (Galerie Atena)
2 place du Palais Royal
75001 Paris - France
Tel: +33 (0)1 42 61 79 72
http://www.galerie-atena.com

Christophe Hioco (Galerie Hioco)
12, rue de Penthièvre
75008 PARIS - France
Tel : +33 1 53 30 09 65
http://www.galeriehioco.com


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Pierre Dumonteil, expert in contemporary sculpture

Pierre M. Dumonteil

Pierre M. Dumonteil is an expert in modern and contemporary sculptures. He answers to the Artfinding's exclusive interview about his specialty and vision of the art market.


ARTFINDING: can you present yourself?

PIERRE M. DUMONTEIL: the gallery was created nearly 30 years ago in 1982. We are specialized in 20th Century figurative sculpture: from the end of WWI up to tomorrow's artists since half of our artworks have been made by contemporary artists.


AF: what do you like so much about sculpture?

PMD: I am into sculpture for three major reasons: first of all I think this art is above the others by its volume, as Bourdelle used to say. This three dimensions sensitive aspect is very important to me, because this is obviously what a flat two dimensions picture lacks.
Second point is related to my personal family background, which has to do with tapestry. This art mixes both pure artistic creation and craftsman skills. So same as tapestries, a sculpture is an art of transformation. And this idea of multiple actors in the creation process is very important to me.
And finally the last reason is that as an art dealer, I must be useful to art History. As I created my business, no one was interested by figurative sculpture and have and still make sure this art will be appreciated as a major one.


AF: you launched your gallery in China in the middle of the Chinese art market's crisis, why?

PMD: there isn't any relation between the opening of my new gallery in China and the collapse of the Chinese's contemporary art market. We are into China because Asia is in our culture, since my wife is from Asia, and China isn't a business opportunity, but a cultural and intellectual one. So we wanted to move in Asia and have chosen China, it's center and Shanghai, it's major door.
We are totally disconnected from the Asian market's evolutions : we only go there to promote our own modern and contemporary occidental artists, and if we happen one day to deal in Asian artists, the criteria will exclusively be based on our personal taste. We do exhibit all around the World in major art fairs, because clients are not present in a single Country. So we present our artworks to all the Countries where we feel like we will find strong and interested collectors. Same for our Chinese gallery we didn't created for opportunistic reasons, we don't sell to Abu Dhabi or Moscow because we will find money there, but because we will meet art lovers. This is part of what we owe to our artists as art dealers.


AF: how do you see the next years in this art market crisis?

PMD: what crisis? First of all there isn't a general crisis of the market, only a few aspects of the art market are affected. Fortunately our specialty is very protected because we are just a few dealers specialized in such a field and we deal with a very large demand. So we haven't been affected by the crisis. The even better news is that we have witnessed lower prices, and the come back of many clients who left for speculative artists, and decided to focus on more artistic and financial sure values. So this clientele is clearly coming back in our galleries.

Read more on: http://www.artfinding.com/News/Pierre-Dumonteil-expert-in-contemporary-sculpture/201.html

M&N Uzal Gallery, 19th Century furniture expert

Marc Uzal

The 19th Century furniture is not limited to the Louis XV and the Louis XVI styles. There has been many creations at this period and not only copies of the past Centuries. The M&N Uzal Gallery based in France and Belgium is specialized in such creations.

The Parisian gallery's manager reminds us that the major private and public collections are mostly focused on these creations rather than Louis XV and Louis XVI copies, because these are totally new shapes, designs, techniques... "the 19th Century has rediscovered techniques such as the enamel which was totally forgiven before this Century makes its come back in 1830". Same for aluminium that is used for the first time in 1860, and is considered as the high-tech of this period as it was more expensive than gold.

The 19th Century is clearly the base that modern designers used for their creations with the notion of art and industry. "This specialty is very rich, still unknown and should soon come on top of the market because there are still many masterpieces to discover or to rediscover", says M&N Uzal Gallery.

Find more about the gallery and the 19th Century furniture and works of art market by watching the exclusive video interview of the M&N Uzal Gallery.

Read more on: http://www.artfinding.com/News/M&N-Uzal-Gallery-19th-Century-furniture-expert/200.html

Jacques de la Beraudière, expert in modern art

Jacques de la Beraudière

Jacques de la Beraudière, expert in impressionist and modern masters, answers the Artfinding's exclusive interview about his specialty and vision of the global art market.

Specialized in the Masters of the 19th and 20th century, with a keen eye for excellence and an uncompromising demand on quality, Jacques de la Béraudière and his team opened the doors of the Geneva gallery in January 2009.

Following the success of his previous space on Avenue Matignon in Paris, where he and his partner, the late Philippe Cazeau, practiced their work with devotion, the gallery is now ideally situated in Switzerland at the heart of the European art market and aims to offer primary market museum quality painting and sculpture to demanding collectors and institutions around the world.

By participating in Art Fairs such as the Tefaf Maastricht, Art Basel, the Pavilion of Art & Design in London or the Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris, the gallery continues to animate the international art market.

Jacques de la Béraudière also offers a service of Expertise and Consulting and answers to specific requests in the field of his specialties.

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Konrad Bernheimer, expert in Old Masters Paintings

Konrad O. Bernheimer

Konrad O. Bernheimer, expert in Old Masters Paintings, answered the Artfinding's exclusive interview about his specialty and vision of the global art market.

Celebrating its 250th anniversary this year, Colnaghi is the world's oldest commercial art gallery and the only survivor of the grand Old Master galleries in London's Old Bond Street. Paul Colnaghi established the gallery with his partner Anthony Torre in Paris in 1760 and then in 1783 took over the London branch in Pall Mall. As a result of the French Revolution the business was transferred to London, becoming printsellers to King George IV. By the end of the 19th century the firm had begun dealing in Old Master paintings and drawings and was instrumental in the formation of some of the most important American collections, including that of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Mellon. In 2002, the Old Master paintings dealer Konrad O. Bernheimer acquired Colnaghi and joined forces with the renowned Old Master drawings dealer, Katrin Bellinger. Colnaghi continues to operate as one of the world's most important dealerships, specialising in Master paintings and drawings from the 15th to the 19th century.

Read more on: http://www.artfinding.com/News/Konrad-Bernheimer-expert-in-Old-Masters-Paintings/198.html

Michele Beiny, expert in European ceramic

Michele Beiny

Michele Beiny Harkins started her own gallery in 1987 in New York specializing in 18th and early 19th century English and Continental porcelain and European faience, as well as French furniture and decorations, and objets de virtue and sèvres porcelain. She has been exhibited at many international antiques shows including TEFAF Maastricht in Holland, The Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair and The International Ceramics Fair and Seminar in London, The Winter Antiques Show in New York, the International Fairs in Basel and Munich, and the Paris Biennale. She is the founder and President of the Board of the American Friends of the Wallace Collection. She is also a member of the N.A.A.D.A.A.: The National Antique & Art Dealers Association of America, Inc and the C.I.N.O.A: Confédération Internationale des Négociants en Oeuvres d'Art.

She has a realistic vision of buyers towards the ceramic market, especially concerning French clients:
“In general English porcelain collectors and English silver collectors aren't chauvinistic. The English and the Americans would collect everything, the French won't collect English porcelain but they will collect German porcelain as much as French one, as the German factory is more fashionable that others. The Russian will focus on Russian porcelain and early 19th Century German and French porcelain because they are very similar to Russian productions.”

Let's do a historical revue of porcelain:

Meissen porcelain was developed in 1708 by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. After his death Johann Friedrich Böttger took on his work.The production of porcelain at Meissen, near Dresden, started in 1710 and became one of the most famous porcelain manufacture. Its logo is repesented by the mark of the crossed swords is one of the oldest trademarks in existence.

Another well known manufacture is the Sèvres. But before talking about it we must refer to the Vincennes manufacture. Sèvres is very close from the Russian porcelain design because Russian has been inspired by this fashionable style.
In 1740, the Vincennes manufactory was created, with the support of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour. It moved to Sèvres in 1756, near Madame de Pompadour's Bellevue Palace. It became a royal factory in 1759.
Louis-Simon Boizot and Alexandre Brogniart were its representatives figures between 1773 and 1847.

According to Jean-Gabriel Peyre, an expert in ceramic, in the art market, it is Contemporary art that sells the most artwork. “I am member of the SNA as well, and we have well realized that of the 18th century artwork, only the exceptional pieces will always be sold, whereas in Contemporary art even the middle-quality artwork can be sold.” Crises have always existed, and this one is greater, but people will not sell their pieces because of that. A collector is impassioned by his collection and will keep its artwork. Collectors buy artwork because they enjoy them, and do not invest.”

The trend that the 18th century artwork is less sold than Contemporary art is present, but with ceramics, the trend comes because old collectors disappear, collectors own practically everything of the manufacture and look for the rarest pieces. There is however disaffection in ceramics, But not for all manufactures.

We can add that English ceramic that has been disliked in the past so underestimated, is know rediscovered by American whom buy it... more demand equals higher prices, so English 18th and 19th ceramic is definitely a safe investment!

Read more on: http://www.artfinding.com/News/Michele-Beiny-expert-in-European-ceramic/197.html

Koopman Rare Art, expert in antique silver

Lewis Smith

The firm of E.& C. T. Koopman & Son Ltd was founded in 1958 by Eddy and Jacques Koopman. Since the '70s and '80s it is the largest firm of antique silver dealers in the UK. The gallery introduces several collections including the Mahdi Al Tajir collection and the Packer collection.

Since 1993 the company is successfully ran by Lewis Smith and contain Rare Art. The gallery place items of importance into museums as well as the homes of some of the most discerning collectors worldwide. It specialise in silver and all old silver between the 16th to the 20th century.

The company has clients from all over the world, as said Lewis smith there are no rules on the art market, no one will judge on the origin, all is about quality. But American are the best clients for any silver. “It's interesting to see how people don't necessarily buy silver produced in their own Country. The market is really about quality, and less about origin; my American clients could buy German or English silver. In the World silver art market, English silver has a cachet and is therefore more collectable than other silver. The major places for silver trading are America, the Netherlands through TEFAF Maastricht which brings clients from all over the World and London.” Lewis Smith

Historically, we know that the shapes of ceramic have been inspired by silver's shapes. It is also interesting to see how the percentages of the buying intentions for European ceramic (24.58%) and for silver (23.35%) are similar. In general English porcelain collectors and English silver collectors aren't chauvinistic. The English and the Americans would collect everything, the French won't collect English porcelain but they will collect German porcelain as much as French one, the Russian will focus on Russian porcelain and early 19th Century German and French porcelain because they are very similar to Russian productions.” Michele Beiny

read more on: http://www.artfinding.com/News/Koopman-Rare-Art-expert-in-antique-silver/196.html

Simon Phillips, expert in English furniture

Simon Phillips

Simon Phillips, from Ronald Phillips limited is an expert in English 18th and 19th Centuries furniture. His furniture includes styles such as Queen Anne, George I, George II, George III, George IV and the Victorian period. He answered the Artfinding's exclusive interview about his specialty and vision of the global art market.

His gallery located in London, includes a wild range of amazing English furniture. According to Simon Phillips, among all the styles of English 18th Century furniture the Chippendale style is without a doubt by far the most fashionable. The Chippendale style took its name from Thomas Chippendale, a 18th century cabinetmaker, who got specialized in mixing English, Gothic, and Chinese decoration.

The 19th English furniture is not disregarded in England like the French 19h century's style is in France, mostly because the largest part of French 19th Century furniture is a copy of the previous Century's styles. Therefore the French collectors use to disregard the 19th Century Louis XV & Louis XVI styles since they are manufactured and are simply bad copies of the 18th Century's masterpieces.

But all the 19th Century French furniture is not disregarded by the French market; a few artists such as Beurdeley, Lièvre or Linke decided to create totally new designs. These artworks exhibited by major Parisian galleries such as M&N Uzal and Michel-Guy Chadelaud reach amazing prices and clearly lead the 19th Century furniture market. These artworks are bought mostly by the "Russian, Chinese and Middle-Eastern collectors", says Michel-Guy Chadelaud.

You can contact The Ronald Phillips gallery at:
26 bruton street
W1J 6QL London
+44 20 7493 2341
advice@ronaldphillips.co.uk

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Michael Cohen, expert in asian and export ceramics

Michael Cohen

If you like Asian ceramic or simply the Asian style you can't miss the Cohen and Cohen gallery.
Michael Cohen, expert in Asian and export ceramics, answers to the Artfinding's exclusive interview about his specialty and vision of the global art market.

The leading Countries for Chinese export porcelain are America, Brazil and Portugal. English isn't a major place, since English collectors are mostly focused on English 19th Century porcelain, with pieces made while England was the most important porcelain producer. Portugal enjoys the Chinese style since it has been one the of the first European country to trade with the Asian continent; thanks to the “Portuguese East India Company”. America is the leading country in the art business, including Asian ceramics; and Brazilian collectors are big fans because of their Portuguese culture and financial power common to any emerging market.

Chinese collectors aren't much interested in Chinese export porcelain; they are collecting imperial porcelain which reaches amazing prices. Chinese export is definitely a great investment, since Chinese will soon have supply issues with imperial porcelain and will start collecting export porcelain which is technically and graphycally as valuable. "For the Chinese porcelain, we surely take advantage of the emerging markets such as China and Brazil, because of their historical and cultural attachment to this field. Chinese collectors and museums are buying back their own porcelains, even the ones created in the 18th Century for the export market". Jorge Welsh.

The gallery focuses much more on the historical value of the pieces displayed: “We are much interested with pieces which have a history rather than pieces that look great.” Michael Cohen.


PO Box 366
Reigate RH2 2BB -
Tel.: +44 (0) 1737 242180
Fax: +44 (0) 1737 226236
Email: cohenandcohen@aol.com

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Gregg Baker, expert in asian arts and screens

Gregg Baker

Gregg Baker, expert in asian arts and Japanese screens, answers to the Artfinding's exclusive interview about his specialty and vision of the global art market.

“London has more dealers in Asian arts than any other western capital I know. In 1985 when I opened my first gallery it was the bubble of the Japanese market: a hugely successful period, all you had to do was to buy and you could sell it.”

Nowadays things have changes, prices also. The Japanese have fallen off the market, but they are still buying high level of ceramics and other works of art. Americans are very active on the market, and obviously the Chinese whom buy their works of art back from their heritage, and hugely chasing anything decent around the World.

London has some of the greatest Asian Art museum collections in the word – The British Museum has the Sir Percival David Collection, the Victoria & Albert Museum and The British Library has a world famous collection of Chinese manuscripts including The Stein Collection of early manuscripts from Dunhuang.”

London is the original home city for the 3 leading auction houses, Sotheby's, Christie's and Bonhams. It is also well known as the centre of Asian Art because of the sheer quality of dealers covering art from many countries.

Jessica Curtis from The Asian Art in London gave us some background: “Historically London had the leading dealers in Asian Art – Spink & Son, Bluett & Son and John Sparks. There are numerous learned societies in the field of Asian Art e.g. Asia House who regularly hold lectures from scholars around the world.”

At the end of the 80's, it has been a big economical crisis and a long recession concerning all countries and particularly Japan and the Japanese market. That crisis had lots of consequences on the art market aswell because people were no longer investing on that field because it was too insecure.

Contact :

142 Kensington Church Street
Kensington
London
W8 4BN

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7221 3533
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7221 4410

Email: info@japanesescreens.com

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Eric Frank, expert in modern photography

Eric Franck

Eric Franck, expert in modern photography, answers to the Artfinding's exclusive interview about his specialty and vision of the global art market.

“There are several fields in photography: 19th Century photography which is collected by museums and a few collectors and that can go to very high prices; there is normal reportage photography of the 20th Century; and there is contemporary photography which could also reach great prices for major artists such as Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman and this is a totally different market from fine art photography. India, China and Russia have a new client base for my specialty, but traditionally the business comes from the USA and Europe. The new Countries tend to first buy their inheritance that was sold to other Countries, and than come into the contemporary market.”

“Regarding the separation between classic 19th Century photography until the 50's, and contemporary photography, there is a first difference in sizes and the focus of it, even if at its beginning, the photographs tried to find a substitute to paintings; and these photographs used to be painters, so they used the same methodology and pictorial criteria.” Beaudoin LeBon

Nowadays the 19th Century photography is less searched for since 10 years, probably because it was very speculative for both big and smaller prices. So the little collectors couldn't collect any more... The entire specialty collapses; although there is a rarefaction of these pictures, so prices should rise. There is also a generation problem that explains the collapse of classic photography: all the major 80's and 90's collectors were well educated persons since such a specialty requires a certain amount of culture and curiosity. And today the global mass is more attracted by zapping, strong pictures, strong colors; the historical aspect has no importance.

“I have to confess that as a dealer I am afraid by such things because I don't think that anything can justify that a price can naturally follow such a rise. Or I would be OK with it if I could see the same rise for classical artists who are much more known. Today man can buy a masterpiece from Le Gray for 20 000 €, and 600 000 € for a Gursky! So there is a shift that I can't manage to accept.” In terms of the crisis, I think the market will be tough for the rest of 2010. 2011 should be better but I can't tell in which way the market will restart. This is a pretty exciting thing about the art market, nothing can be predicted, the market has its mysteries. Beaudoin Lebon

Paris is a major place for photography lovers, thanks to Paris Photo created in the 90's by Rick Gadella and galleries such as Baudoin Lebon, Blanca Bernheimer or Magnum Gallery that made photography become famous on the Art market. It has been also a successful period of auctions at Christie's and Sotheby's in the UK and in the USA, which are the two leading places for contemporary photography. Modern photographs are more fashionable that in Paris, therefore more expensive. For example; The Pond Moonlight" by Edward Steichen sold 2 928 000 $ in February 2006 at Sotheby's New York or "Los Alamos" by William Eggleston, sold 1 022 500 $ in October 2008 at Christie's in New York.

ERIC FRANCK FINE ART
61 Willow Walk
London, SE1 5SF
UK

Tel: +44 20 7394 9743
Fax: +44 20 7394 1956
Email: office@ericfranck.com

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Jean-David Cahn AG, expert in Ancient Art

Jean-David Cahn

Jean-David Cahn AG is based in Basel, with large exhibition spaces at Malzgasse 23 which can be viewed by appointment. The gallery at Via Maistra 11, in the centre of St. Moritz, was inaugurated in 2006 and is open for the winter and summer seasons. Jean-David Cahn is expert in Classical Archaeology. He answers to the ARTFINDING's exclusive interview about his specialty and vision of the global art market.

The Artfinding Poll Center reveals a relatively slow evolution in prices for the Egyptian, Greek & Roman antiquities between 2007 and 2008, while in the meantime the contemporary art prices have experienced a very huge rise. Same for the 2009 financial crisis, the decrease of classic antiquities suffered of a much less important decrease than the contemporary art field. Simple reason: Ancient art is very less subject to speculation.

The reason why the antiquities market isn't speculative is because its buyers are usually well educated. They have "a logical thought of buying the piece for its artistic and historical values", says Jean-David Cahn. They buy the object because they love it, so they will cherish it. In their opinion, when they possess it, it is as if they possess a piece of history. Furthermore, the field of Greek, Roman and Egyptian art has been very conservative in the price developments in the last decade since its "the oldest collection field since the Renaissance, and so took the test of time through all the cultures".

Provenance of the piece is very important especially in archeology. Let's do a quick reminder of what is a provenance in Art: a provenance is the place the piece or masterpiece is coming from or the person it was belonging to in the past. The more the person was popular or known as a great collector, the more the pieces rise in value, therefore in price. For example if a piece has belonged to Napoleon 1er, you can sell it several times more that a piece from an unknown provenance. Most of the time, the provenance can guarantee the quality and authenticity of a piece. Its can therefore prevent from frauds.

The market of Greek, Roman and Egyptian ancient art is mostly in wealthy countries. China and ironically Italy, Greece and Egypt are not major centers of ancient art trading. China because it is not historically related and for the time being, Chinese collectors are focused on their own civilization. The three others because of strict restrictive laws who keep the dealers to export all the "National Treasures". Easy to import, difficult to export: very bad for the business. "I believe the market needs both a strict control, but also make sure for the collectors to feel free to buy and to sell art", says Jean-David Cahn.

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