Page 13 - Studio International - January 1965

Editorial

'If you want to invest 6000 livres in pictures. capital!' London in pre-1939 days for as little as £20 without
So wrote Voltaire to Bonaventure Moussinot. a priest finding buyers-such stories are not all apocryphal.
and Voltaire's man of business to whom he entrusted But how is the ·green' purchaser to know 7 He cannot.
his affairs while he was on forced exile from Paris on But if he makes an acquaintance with a dealer in a busy
27 March. 1737. Trust was certainly implicit in large gallery it is extremely unlikely that he will lose either
measure, for in the letter Voltaire expresses no choice money or time in buying works sold with the recom­
of the artists whose work he would favour. As. just mendation of the gallery director. But what 7 Beginning
recently in London. the Institute of Directors has been at the bottom he can acquire British prints-lithographs.
inciting its members to invest in the arts it might be of etchings. linocuts. in editions of up to a hundred for as
value to consider in what artists business and profes­ little as a few guineas from places like the Print Centre.
sional men might profitably and pleasurably invest in. Going into the international sphere for the same media
To begin with. they should eschew Old Masters and costs more but one can obtain signed lithographs by
even minor artists of the antique schools. To buy names Miro. Chagall and others of the ilk at the Redfern. the
is to earmark too much capital on too few objects. Grosvenor. etc. Drawings are unique and often the most
They should buy paintings and graphic works as well intimate revelations of the pictorial genius. Roland
as sculptures that are created by men or women who Browse and Delbanco. the Reid Gallery, the Leicester.
are alive today. If possible the works should be bought the Piccadilly, will offer you choice specimens by
by people who are acquainted with the artist. This is Rodin. Epstein. Herman or Lowry at a price and a size
not difficult. Most artists appear at their own private that is the most convenient for transporting visual
views; they are only too willing to talk about their treasure.
aims and intentions to anyone who is at all interested Nearly all modern galleries in London put on exhibi­
in buying and a personal talk with the artist can some­ tions by British artists both known and unknown as
time establish a sympathy and liking to a painting that well as French. American. Italian. German. Spanish.
taken 'cold' can fail to register at short notice even Greek and Dutch. The British artists generally come
part of the motive. In this way, too. the collector can cheapest for not many of the foreigners are without
even elicit the creator's feelings towards this or that reputations at home which come with them and inflate
canvas and. indeed. even between shows a collector the prices Therein lies the problem. To buy a young
can acquire direct from the studio something that no British artist who may never make a reputation abroad
one else may have seen. not even the dealer. (Naturally and thus lose the capital gain or take the best offered
dealers are averse to this procedure if they have an from a foreign artist who. one suspects. has already
artist under contract but if the price is one the dealer disposed of the cream in his gallery at home. But bold­
agrees and he receives his 33½ per cent commission or ness can benefit. Example: Kenneth Armitage's Little
whatever it may be the transaction is not so unusual.) Monitor in bronze. edition of six. width 15 inches.
Another important factor in buying is to be early and executed 1961 was bought by the late Mr. Walter Ross
be bold. Early in the sense of seeing as many first one­ from Marlborough Fine Art in 1962; at Parke Bernet
man shows as possible and even spotting winners in New York. on 21 October last it fetched $2.800
mixed 'accrochages.· Dealers themselves are frequently (£1,000). There are British collectors who reading this
on the look-out for talent at exhibitions such as those item can feel pleased they supported Armitage earlier
of the London Group. the Young Contemporaries and when he was producing even more interesting sculp­
even of prize winning and diploma works by students tures. Even the thief who stole his Woman with arms
of the Royal College of Art. the Slade and the Royal raised. a bronze thirteen inches high. from Gimpel Fils
Academy Schools. One Harley Street doctor is well­ Gallery where it was on view in October 1957 and
known for his compulsive purchasing of inexpensive priced at 150 guineas. must be regretting that he did
paintings-from Heath Street. Hampstead, 'against the not have the foresight to invest in it honestly.
fence.' from Hyde Park. the Flea Market and the Place Time and even politics can exert influences of
du Tertre in Paris. He has a great deal of junk but now importance. Kurt Schwitters who died in England was
and again he has a 'find'. At best. he buys a genuine laughed at by fellow artists not twenty years ago yet his
work of art for next to nothing. at the worst he provides Merz collages have soared in price. The vacuum left by
several square meals for an impecunious dauber. the Nazis in German collecting finds itself being filled
But not every one has his taste or the time to indulge by acquisitions of the works of the preceding Expres­
it. For the desk-bound City man-or woman-his sionists and even those 'degenerates· who painted in
resources must be channelled through a gallery or secret or in exile during the war.
galleries. of which there are many. Bond Street and its But the dealer is the key figure. Artists come to him,
environs are the centre in London's West End and here collectors must seek his advice. There are many good
you may buy the art of the world or covet it. For less ones. some brilliant. some safe. some speculative. If
than £100 you may buy a painting up to four feet you look ahead and think that Soviet art will become a
square by a young man who may well please even your sought-after commodity you will go to the Grosvenor
untutored eye. If you buy a painting such as this from Gallery, if U.S. hard-edge heraldic is to be a lasting
a good dealer you have the assurance that he is inter­ phase you cannot avoid the Kasmin. If you believe that
ested in establishing a reputation for his artists and Cornwall. having nourished Ben Nicholson and Barbara
inseparably for himself. It is not unknown for a dealer Hepworth. is not yet 'dry' you had better call at the
to comment somewhat ruefully that his collectors have Waddington. The list is legion. the pages of Studio
made enormous capital appreciation from what he sold International reflect the variety. The result is up to your
them while he has made only the commission on the eyes-and your feet. ■
sale. The same dealer can also point to occasions when
Studio International he offered collectors works that gained appreciably in
Volume CLXIX No. 861 value and neither party gained a penny. Paul Klee is a
January, 1965 famous example of an artist whose work was offered in