Page 68 - Studio International - May 1968

Art prices current

George Savage

The turnover of the principal London sale-r00ms sarily have to hold them for anything up to ten rooms have been exploring new fields, such as
last year was more than £10 million, and that of years to realize a worthwhile profit, and in many objets d'art in the art nouveau style. There is little
Parke-Bernet in New York £4½ million. On these cases sales only take place when an estate has to be here to act as a guide to prices, but there has been
totals devaluation had little or no effect. dispersed. This, however, is becoming rarer. Even evidence of a desire on the part of the smaller
Devaluation of the £ was certainly expected in in England works of art are in some circumstances buyers to find an area where prices are not yet as
well-informed circles; Continental commentators exempt from death duty until they are sold, and high as in more conventional fields.
on financial affairs had been predicting it since there are other attendant advantages, while dona- The great names will continue to bring prices
1964. The size was a little surprising; about 30 tions in America to public museums and galleries which only the rich can pay. They are safe,
per cent was the anticipated amount, and it are usually advantageous to the taxpayer. To a although most of them may appreciate in value
leaves open the question of whether a further great extent, therefore, the increased turnover relatively slowly. It must be remembered that, in
devaluation of 15 per cent or so will be necessary reported by the sale-r00ms is the product of high many cases, a great deal of any increase is, in fact,
in or before 1969. My own opinion is that it is prices, and not of a significantly larger number of the response to depreciation in the value of money,
extremely likely, if not absolutely inevitable. works being offered for sale, although higher prices and does not represent profit in real terms. Minor
How will this situation affect the art-market? may tempt some owners to put their property on Impressionists and post-Impressionists are likely to
One effect is certain—prices will continue to rise. to the market. The temptation is not very great, appreciate at a faster rate because they are within
Nor can we expect any easing of prices abroad. since there is little else to attract investment capital the reach of more people, and one has only to think
The most noticeable feature of the immediate at present. of the appreciation during the past five years or so
post-devaluation period was the rush for gold, This situation necessarily leads to heavier pres- in the value of Marquet to realize the truth of this
which was the measure of the international dis- sure on available works, and since many of the statement. Good quality contemporary painting
trust of paper money generally and nothing to do best go to museums and can no longer return to the will probably tend increasingly to come into the
with a deep-laid plot by General de Gaulle. The sale-room, those of g00d quality become scarcer sale-room, and it will be interesting to see what
effect on the art-market was obvious to anyone every year, and minor sales tend to degenerate happens to some modern reputations when they
who takes an interest in its working—the im- into exercises in barrel-scraping. The fact must be meet the test of the hammer.
mediate rise in price-levels was extremely notice- faced, however, that even these works of relatively The Expressionists seem the most likely group of
able, and one sale brought prices 30 per cent above p00r quality will come increasingly into demand painters to appreciate sharply in the years to come,
those estimated when the £ was standing at $2.80. as the best disappears from the market, or achieves not only because they are becoming better known,
The rush to buy was part of the same movement as the dizzy heights where even millionaires have to but because most of the artists belonging to this
the demand for gold. pause and consider the cost. school seem to me always to have been under-
The value of works of art is fixed by what buyers The time must obviously come soon when the valued. q
in the international market are willing to pay, and works of artists now in favour will be so scarce, and
it cannot therefore be regulated. The increases in prices so high, that those contemporary or near-
value which have taken place since the war are contemporary works which now rarely make an
partly the result of some people wanting to own appearance will be needed to make up a day's sale.
works for their decorative value, and partly because It is noteworthy that both the major London sale-
others regard them as a safer investment than
`paper' assets, although most purchases are pro-
bably actuated by a mixture of both reasons. Henri-Joseph Harpignies Paysage en Auvergne 21 x 31¾ in. Sold at Sotheby's for £4,000.
Investment in art is a well-established custom,
dating back to before the eighteenth century, but
seldom in the past has it been so safe and so
profitable. It must be remembered that in former
times fashion played a far greater part than it does
today. Older works were always in danger of being
relegated to the attic because objects of comparable
quality were being produced. This, despite a few
exceptions, is hardly the case now. The market is
being almost entirely supplied, so far as high-
priced works are concerned, by those executed
before World War I, and the situation is not
likely to alter in this generation or the next. Since
1951 the value of Impressionist paintings, for
example, has risen, in response partly to inflation
and partly to additional demand, by more than
twice as much as share prices, with Monet and
Sisley leading the way, and the others following at
a varying distance behind.
This upward movement is not limited to London
sale-rooms, it can equally well be seen in Paris, and
in New York at the Parke-Bernet sale-rooms now
affiliated to Sotheby, while the Wall Street journal
recently commented on the upsurge in American
buying, expressing the opinion that a 'b00m' may
be on the way which will be greater than anything
yet seen.
There must, of course, be a limit to the flow into
the sale-r00ms. Investors in works of art neces-