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The Curious Case of the Latin American Art Market: LowVolatility, Undervalued Stars, and Tenacious Collectors
Courtesy Christie'sFernando Botero's "Reclining Nude"More Voices
The Curious Case of the Latin American Art Market: Low Volatility, Undervalued Stars, a...http://www.artinfo.com/print/node/8047501 of 35/18/12 10:52 AM
 
by
Shane FerroPublished: May 17, 2012Is Latin American art one of the few remaining categories left for the truly passionate collector?Earlier this week, at the
Artvest
art finance conference in New York, Latin American art was often brought up as an example of a market thatproduces modest returns, but also boasts low volatility. Despite steady growth, Latin American art is, it seems, one of the few categories thathas remained isolated from the frenzy that motivates hedge fund managers and Russian oligarchs to bid eight and nine figures for trophies byblue-chip modern masters. As such, the speculators and "art investors" are kept out, and great pieces of art from Latin American artistscontinue to be an attractive buy for collectors.According to
Virgilio Garza
, the head of the Latin American art department at
Christie's
New York, "the nature of our market is verynon-speculative. People are really passionate about this field — they don't sell things that easily or that often, so we see steady but upwardsgrowth." As an example he pointed to one of the highest-estimated works in the upcoming sale, an abstract painting from 1944 by the Chileanartist
Matta
. It was executed during one of the artist's most important periods and has never before been sent to auction — two very goodreasons for collectors to salivate over it. "La révolte des contraires" has been traded privately, but has only seen two or three owners, meaningeach kept it for upwards of 30 years. Despite the fact that Garza refers to the work as "one of the best [Mattas] that has ever been offered," it isestimated to fetch $1.8-2.5 million — the price of a third-tier
Picasso
, or 1/60th of "The Scream."
Fernando Botero
is perhaps an even better example. In the May issue of Art+Auction,
Julia Halperin
referred to him as "Latin America'swealthiest and most recognizable artist." There are more than 30 Botero lots coming up for auction next week, and last November, many of theworks sold by him nicked the high end of, or surpassed, pre-sale estimates. Yet, the best examples of his work sell for $1-2 million, nowherenear his contemporaries from Europe or the United States, and not far above where his prices were 20 years ago.In November, the best result for a work by the artist was the gigantic sculpture "Dancers" (2007), which Christie's placed outside itsRockefeller Center headquarters for the few days before the sale. It hammered down for $1.76 million (est. $1.5-2 million), a record for theartist's sculpture. Compare this to stars in the contemporary market, artists who are around the same age: the record for a
Lucian Freud
workat auction is $33.6 million. For
Gerhard Richter
it's $21.8 million, set at last week's contemporary evening sale at Christie's. Botero's work —at least the paintings of his signature corpulent figures — have been fetching more than a million dollars at auction since the early 1990s. Backthen, Richter's work was still in the mid-six figures.But is the Latin American art market set for an explosion? It's possible that in the near future it will catch fire just as other 20th century artcategories have. "You still have undervalued artists, you have opportunities, but it is not the same as 10 to20 years ago," noted
Alejandro Zaia
,the chairman of the Latin American art fair
PINTA
, which is held annually in New York and London. Slowly but steadily, prices are headingup. A rare
Diego Rivera
work is estimated to sell for $4-6 million next week at
Sotheby's
. Even better,
Axel Stein
, a Latin American artspecialist and vice president of business development at the auction house, told ARTINFO that work by
Frida Kahlo
, the Mexican artist whowas once known only for being Rivera's wife, has sold privately at Sotheby's in the last year for above $10 million.
The Curious Case of the Latin American Art Market: Low Volatility, Undervalued Stars, a...http://www.artinfo.com/print/node/8047502 of 35/18/12 10:52 AM
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