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Third Chapter

The Market:

(1) Meaning and Evolution

Van Gogh on Art & Market:

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Have terrible lucidity at moments when nature is beautiful. I
el
am not conscious of myself any more, and the picture comes to
me as if in a dream.

It is no easier to make a good picture than to find a diamond

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or pearl. It means trouble, and you risk your life for it.
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“I cannot help it that my pictures do not sell. The time will

come when people will see that they are worth more than the price
of the paint.”

This is a clear reflection of what ‘Market in Art’ means or how

important market can be for an artist, afterall the survival of all arts
and fine arts in particular is dependant on the market.

Van Gogh11 was one of the most famous painters of all time, a
great master in the history, but he was not even able to earn

11
Vincent Willem van Gogh (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch post-
Impressionist painter whose work had a far-reaching influence on 20th century art for its vivid
colors and emotional impact. He produced more than 2,000 artworks, consisting of around
900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches during his life time.
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enough for himself. Let alone living a comfortable life, he was not
even earning enough to pay the rent for his small room which he
had hired. No body was interested in his art during his lifetime so
much so that he remained a pauper throughout his life. His works
now are considered masterpieces and are worth a fortune but this
did not happen during his lifetime. He suffered from anxiety and
increasingly frequent bouts of mental illness throughout his life,
and died largely unknown, at the age of 37, from a self-inflicted

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gunshot wound.
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Vincent van Gogh-“Starry Might” (June 1889). One of the most famous painting.
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Vincent van Gogh,”The Church at
Auvers” (1890), Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
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Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)- heat_Field_with_Crows_(1890)

This was a tragic end of the life of a person who was worth millions
but could not get a penney, a burning example of wht can happen
if the market for a particular work is not there.
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Now a days art is so much dependent on market that everybody

aims at getting his share of pie for the rich and affluent people who
are the main buyers. These prospective buyers govern the market
and also have a great impact on the type of work that is produced.

We don't have art movements any more. We have market

movements.

ar - Walter Robinson
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(2) Present State of the Market:

As we all know the recent slow down, in the market all over the
t
world, has effected everything adversly and fine arts is not an
exception in that. But still the things are improving fast and there is
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a silver lining visible on the edge of the dark clouds.

Despite business slowing down due to the economy, many new

buyers are less apt to purchase art for the first time. However the
experts advise:

“for new art buyers and buyers purchasing on a small budget, this

is a great time to buy.”

- BJ Kocen

This advise follows the belief that “evry dark cloud has a silver

lining.” So the market analysts predict that it will be worth buying

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it if you are into fine art sale and purchase business. In the long
run this investment is going to pay dividends whereas in these
days of slow down one gets a good art work comparativly cheaper,
as compared to normal times. So it makes sense if one can invest
and wait for things to nornalize.

Kocen noted that “these economic times have caused art prices to

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remain steady,”. This doesn’t mean that the prices have remained
intact (steady) but that the prices must be kept the same (by
artists) as they used to be a year earlier. Normally there is an
increase of 10% every year in international market but that same
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rule does not apply now, at least for the time bneing.

On one hand it does not mean that every body has to fix a lower
price but on the other hand it advises to be judicious about pricing,
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especially if the artist is new. Established artists may still continue
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with their way.

An interesting thing is that two types of markets always exist . One

can be called the Premium Market and the other Secondary
Market. The first type is reserved mostly for big names and
corresponding buyers, the buyers who are affluent and have
enough money to spend for the sake of a name. The second type
is for the new commers or less established artists whose works are
majorly purchased by the common man or the general masses, the
masses who have a limited budget. Due to the slow down many
buyers from the prime market have turned to look at the secondary
market. Since they are ready to pay higher prices for a good work,
than the common man,
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Furthermore, the secondary art market— where buyers are able to

purchase works at better prices verses the standard increase that
occurs over time— has found a wider niche with new collectors,
creating long term investments which are productive for the art
market. This means that “the seller is getting a decreased sale

price. But in turn buyers who enter the secondary market are
getting prices less than the value. This means the new buyer of the

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art is getting a great deal.”

This is just one side of the coin, though there has been some
decline in the value of art works dut to slow down yet it is not going
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to last long, nor has it effected evry corner and nook of the world.
Forgetting this temporary phase the art market has been going up
with great speed. Painters are earning millions for their work.
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(3) List of the costliest paintings:

The earliest sale on the list is of Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers

(1888 ) by Vincent van Gogh was sold in1987 at a whoppingly
high price that broke previous record by three times set only two
years before and introducing a new era in top picture prices.

The sale was also significant in the sense that for the first time a
"modern" painting (in this case from 1888) became the record
holder, as opposed to the old master paintings which had always
previously held it. Since that time sales of the most valuable
paintings have usually been made at auctions, though that had by
no means always been the case before, and the list below still
shows some "private sales", including the three most expensive.
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The current record price was paid for a work titled “No. 5”
(1948) by Jackson Pollock sold at US$140 million in 2006,
(approx. $150.6 million in CPI-adjusted 2010 US dollars).

No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock, the

most expensive painting

current price $151.1 million

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(Rs. 680 Crores)
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Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers (1888)

Vincent van Gogh, One of the world’s
costliest paintings
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“Golden Adele“, by Gustav Klimt, 1907, sold for $ 87.9 million (current Rs. 395.5 Corores)

(4) India's top-earning artists:

ndia's economic boom has not only enabled Indians to buy houses
and cars, but also to purchase expensive art.

"This interest in art is nothing but a lifestyle change we

are witnessing," said art critic Manasi Majumdar, speaking to

rediff.com. "Now young entrepreneurs and industrialists are

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spending a huge part of their income in buying art.

Reason: art has a unique status of its own. Purchasing art
is a way of saying that one has arrived in life," said

Majumdar.

Indian art market, therefore, is quite hot. So who are the maestros
whose works are in big demand and how much does one need to

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invest to be able to own a masterpiece?

Master painter Maqbool Fida Husain recently joined the million-

dollar club with one of his paintings on slain theatre artist Safdar
Hashmi going under the hammer for over $1 million.
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An unidentified art collector won the keenly fought bidding at an
auction organised by Emami Chisel Art Auction House in Kolkata
on February 25 to bag Tribute to Hashmi for Rs 4.4 crore (Rs 44
t
million).
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Tyeb Mehta, “Untitled”(1984), Rs 8.2 Crores

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The same bidder also added Tyeb Mehta's Kali-III to his collection
for the same amount. Mehta's painting had the highest reserve
price of Rs 2.5 crore (Rs 25 million) for the bidding.

Ten years ago, no Indian artist dared to even dream of getting

such hefty sums for their works. But today the exorbitant prices
come as no surprise to either the collectors or the artists,
especially for the likes of Husain, Mehta, F N Souza, Sakti Burman
and Jogen Chowdhury.

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F.N.Souza remains the most expensive Indian artist till date as
his painting “Birth” was sold for Rs.11.25 Crores by Christies.

The first multi-crore deal in Indian art market happened, in 2002,

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when a non-resident Indian (originally from Hyderabad) bought a
painting by Husain (Horses) for Rs 2 crore. At that time it was the
highest price ever paid for any painting in India. Husain's another
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high was when he sold 22 paintings of a series called Paris Suite
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to a London-based collector for $1 million.

Corporatisation of art work may be common in the West, but the

The most expensive Indian Painting “Birth” by Francis Newton Souja

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phenomenon struck India for the first time in September, 2004,

when Mumbai-based Swarup Group of Industries paid a mammoth

Rs 100 crore for 125 paintings by Husain. Some called the deal
'vulgar', others 'excellent' but there is no denying that Indian art
market had never witnessed anything like this before.

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Global auction house Sotheby's had put on display contemporary
Indian and Asian art worth $10 million in Mumbai on February 28,
2010. "It is becoming increasingly clear that India and
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Indian collectors globally are an important force for
Sotheby's existing and future international business.
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Sotheby's is thrilled to be bringing a group of highlights
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from key sales in New York and London this spring to

Mumbai," Henry Howard-Sneyd, deputy chairman of Sotheby's,

Europe and Asia, said.

(5) Art Market players:

Christie’s & Sotheby’s:

Every year, in New York and London, the prestigious Impressionist

and Modern Art evening sales or Contemporary Art sales at
Sotheby’s and Christie’s are the high points of the global auction
season. They are always a great spectacle, boasting catalogues
stuffed with the market’s most exceptional pieces. Between them,
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these two auction houses now virtually monopolise sales of a

million dollars and over. In 2006, of the 810 million-plus lots sold,
81 went under the hammer at these two leading venues.

In the current growth phase, competition between Sotheby’s and

Christie’s is having a dynamising impact on the wider market. Of
the 9,200 fine art auctions recorded by Artprice in 2006, the big
two hosted 842. This is 80 more than in 2004. But, despite having

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just 9.15% of total auction numbers, Sotheby’s and Christie’s
handled 76% of the global fine art market’s turnover. The average
price of lots sold at the two market leaders, who arrange the most
prestigious sales, was $ 91,805. This compares to an average at
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all other auctions houses of just $ 7,156.

(6) Asian Market :

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China moves up to the number 3 position in the global art market.
In geographical terms, France traditionally takes third place in the
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global art revenue ranking behind the United States and the UK.
However, in 2007 it was relegated to fourth position by China
where annual revenue, boosted by the major international auction
companies, reached a higher level than in France. In 2007, the
Chinese market generated no less than 75 sales above the million-
dollar line with a top price of HKD 66 million (USD 8.5 million) for a
work by Cai Guoqiang - an absolute record for a work of Chinese
Contemporary art - followed by two Modern artists, XU Beihong
(HKD 64 million) and ChHen Chengbo (HKD 45 million).
Henceforward, sustained by rapidly growing domestic demand and
rising star artists commanding rocketing prices, China is capable of
competing with New York and London on sales of Fine Art,
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frequently generating revenue figures reaching into 8 figures. And

last year, the most prestigious sales were not the exclusive
privilege of Sotheby’s and Christie’s...

The Chinese art boom is also reflected in the number of auction

houses and the volumes negotiated. China’s arrival as a major
player in the art world has proved even more spectacular on the
particularly buoyant and highly competitive Contemporary art

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segment. In 2007, 36 Chinese artists featured in the Artprice index
for the top 100 Contemporary artists by sales revenues, with in
second place, ahead of Jeff Koons, the extraordinary Zhang
Xiaogang12.
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“Tulips” A Sculpture by Jeff Koons

12
excerpt from: Art Market Trends 2007
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(7) Precariousness of Prices in Contemporary Art:

While the 1991 crisis made auction sales considerably more

difficult, that of 2008 implies a greater degree of selectivity on the
hottest segments of the market: Post-war and Contemporary art,
particularly on the so-called ‘emerging’ Asian markets. Th e new
generation of collectors has invested en masse in contemporary
artists with whom they feel most in sync, but they have also

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focused much of their cash on the most speculative signatures of
the moment.

This phenomenon is reflected in our ranking of the Top 10 artists

of 2008 with two living artists parading alongside the world’s
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biggest revenue earners: Damien Hirst and Gerhardt Richter. In
2008, Post-war art (i.e. by artists born between 1920 and 1944)
and Contemporary art (artists born after 1945) represented 32.3%
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of global Fine Art transactions and close to 35% of global art
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auction revenue. In fact, during the year, the most recent art was
more likely to fetch six figure bids: whereas 3% to 3.3% of
transactions in the combined segments of Post- War, Modern and
Contemporary art fetched over $100,000, this ratio rises to 6.5% in
the Contemporary segment alone. The same proportion of Old
Masters also fetched over $100,000; but the overall number of lots
was substantially smaller (20,000 vs. 50,000 in the Contemporary
segment). As the most volatile sector of the market, Contemporary
art is the first to suffer from the crisis and it has already seen some
very sharp price adjustments: Artprice’s global art price index
shows that Contemporary art works lost 34.4% of their value in
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2008 – the sharpest contraction of all the segments – back-

pedalling 2 years of speculation to 2006 levels.

(8) The popular segments of the market:

The market’s structure is evolving as the contemporary art and

photography segments are becoming more popular than other
market sectors.

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Thus, the contribution of living artists to Fine Art auction sales
jumped from 7.9% in 2000 to 17.6% in 2005. Prices in this
segment (in dollar terms) climbed 12.5% in 2005 compared with
8.2% for Modern Art, -2.4% for 19th century paintings and 8.7% for
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Old Masters works. Furthermore, on 12 May 2005, Christie’s set a
new record for a contemporary art auction by generating $ 31.7
million over and beyond its 2004 record of $ 102 million. And it
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only took 65 lots to attain this result! The auction owes its success
to the strong interest among buyers in the major post-war works on
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offer. The most expensive lot was Edward Hopper’s painting, Chair
Car, (1965) which fetched $ 12.5 million.

Edward Hopper’s Chair

Car (1965)
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Close on its tracks was Willem de Kooning’s Sail Cloth which sold
for $ 11.7 and thirdly a 1964 work by Mark Rothko which went for $
9 million. The photography segment is now extremely popular
among collectors. In 2000 this sector only accounted for 3.4% of
sales in volume terms, and $ 50 million (1.7% of the market) in
value terms. The segment has become very important with an
annual turnover of more than $ 93 million. In October 2005,
photography works in New York had never been so lucrative. In

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seven auctions, Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips together made $
28.9 million in turnover. They also set an increasing number of
records, the highest for the portfolios of Edward S. Curtis (1868-
1952): The North American Indian fetched an impressive $ 1.2
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million, thereby doubling its high estimations.
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Edward S. Curtis

'A smoky day at the Sugar

Bowl' (photograph), Hupa
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(9) List of most expensive photographs:

(i) Andreas Gursky, 99 Cent II Diptychon (2001), the most

expensive photograph ever sold., $3,346,456, February 2007,
Sotheby's London auction. A second print of 99 Cent II
Diptychon sold for $2.48 million in November 2006 at a New
York gallery, and a third print sold for $2.25 million at Sotheby's

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in May 2006.
(ii) Edward Steichen, The Pond-Moonlight (1904), $2,928,000,
February 2006, Sotheby's New York auction.
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(iii) Dmitry Medvedev, Kremlin of Tobolsk (2009), $1,750,000,
January 2010, Christmas Yarmarka, Saint Petersburg.
(iv) Edward Weston, Nude (1925), $1,609,000, April 2008,
Sotheby's New York auction.
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(v) Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe (Hands) (1919), $1,470,000,
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February 2006, Sotheby's New York auction.

(vi) Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe Nude (1919), $1,360,000,
February 2006, Sotheby's New York auction.
(vii) Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy) (1989), $1,248,000,
November 2005, Christie's New York auction.
(viii) Edward Weston, Nautilus (1927), $1,082,500, April 2010,
Sotheby's New York auction.
(ix) Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey, 113.Athènes, Temple
de Jupiter Olympien pris de l'est (1842), $922,488, 2003,
auction.
(x) Gustave Le Gray, The Great Wave, Sete (1857), $838,000, 1999.
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(xi) Eugène Atget, Joueur d'Orgue, (1898-1899), $686,500,

April 2010, Christie's New York auction.
(xii) Robert Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol (1987)[12] $643,200,
2006.

The Establishment:
The first Academy of Art was founded in Florence in Italy in 1562

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by Giorgio Vasari who called it the Accademia del Disegno.
There students learnt the "arti del disegno", a term coined by
Vasari, and included lectures on anatomy and geometry.
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Another academy, the Accademia di San Luca (named
after the patron saint of painters, St. Luke), was founded a decade
or so later in Rome. More so than the Florentine Accademia del
Disegno, the Academia di San Luca served an educational
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function and was more concerned with art theory.
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The Academia di San Luca later served as the model for

the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture founded in France in
1648. The French Academy very probably adopted the term "arti
del disegno" which it translated into "beaux arts", from which is
derived the English term "Fine Arts”13.

(1) Propagation of Career

If we look back into the history that this market existed in the initial
stage too i.e. before the man became civilized, just the look was
different. The barter system, where man used to exchange goods

13
Professor Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe.
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for some other goods and services, was primary stage of the
market. As man progressed he became more and more aware of
his surroundings and availed of the opportunity he got by being
able to produce better quality and better looking things than his
group members.

Later in the Classical Period initially religious groups and then

wealthy men started supporting fine art and they became the first
patrons of art. Due to this the works being done was greatly

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influenced as artists were commissioned by these patrons. There
were other factor too, influencing the market.
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‘Ophelia’, Odelon Redon
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Before we go further let us

consider the case of
painting Ophelia. It was
originally painted in upright
state as a Flower-Vase study as shown here. Later the artist had
an insight and adding a face with closed eyes he turned it the other
way round giving it the title. It was originally painted in upright state
as a Flower-vase study as shown here. Later the artist had an
 79

insight and adding a face with closed eyes turned it the other way
round giving the title – “Ophelia”; depicting the suicide scene from
Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Let us, however not forget that she did not
die standing or

sitting down, but by drowning in a stream under a flowering tree.

The artist here tried to turn into an illustrator from a painter. He, in
practice, normally painted entirely two different types of pictures:

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semi-Impressionist vases of flowers, animals, or landscapes, and

also highly imaginative drawings, lithographs and paintings of
fantastic subjects. In this instant he simply tried to convert one into
the other. Initially he was an illustrator, but as a symbolist painter
he was leader of a group known as ‘Nabis’14. He was thus catering

14
Les Nabis (pronounced nah bee) were a group of Post-Impressionist avant-garde artists
who set the pace for fine arts and graphic arts in France in the 1890s.
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to the market as well as

expressing himself through
his purely creative
pursuits.

It will, however, not be out

of place here to mention
that on the subject of
‘Ophelia’ the famous

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“PRB”15 founder and painter Sir John Everett Millais (1829-96)
went to the extremes and took great pains as a painter to create
his canvas on the same theme in most realistic way. He first
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studied the scene in Hamlet, he then went on a spree to find a
location akin to the scene in the play; and that he found in a private
property. He took months to paint the precise scene in most
realistic manner and then, in his studio made a girl to lie down in a
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bath tub to paint Ophelia. He was later even sued for trespassing,
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just in his attempt to paint the suitable stream under the tree, and
then again for causing cold exposure to the girl whom he had
made to lie in a bath tub full of water warmed merely by burning
candles under the tub. All these troubles he took just to achieve
perfection and realism. There was in fact a reason for that.

Coincidentally all this has a very deep rooted significance

and relationship with the selected topic of this thesis ‘The Artist,
the Market and the Establishment’. Redon was, on his part,

15
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (also known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of
English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett
Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The group's intention was to reform art by rejecting what
they considered to be the mechanistic approach first adopted by the Mannerist artists who
succeeded Raphael and Michelangelo.
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purely an artist living on his own almost leading a retired life. He

was initially known as a leading Symbolist, later a prominent
colourist and finally Surrealists regarded him as there precursor.
By the end of his life he had become a distinguished personality,
yet still living a private life. Thus in him we do have a perfect
example of ‘Artist’.

The case of Millais, on the other hand is entirely different.

He went through all the three stages, sequentially. Initially he was

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a child prodigy, hard working as well as naturally gifted and
became youngest ever part of the ‘Establishment’; student of
Royal Academy School at the age of eleven.
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The presentation of two ‘Ophelia’ cases has got its specific
pertinence in present context. In the case of Redon it was a
diversion from market to creativity, but in the case of Everett Millais
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the case was entirely different. During the course of his studies at
Royal Academy he detested much academic art and despised
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‘anecdotal’ genre paintings and went for Italian art that predated
“Renaissance”. He rebelled against the system, forming a group in
collaboration with D.G. Rossetti (Dante Gabriel Rossetti) and
Holman Hunt; calling it “Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood”, to the
extent of writing on their works “PRB”. The extreme end of this all
was that all the three stalwarts finally parted their ways. Millais
became court painter the British Crown, finally achieving
Baronetcy; Rossetti turned to painting ‘femmes fatales’and joined
hands with William Morris and Burn Jones becoming a partner in
decorative art firm known as “Morris & Co.” Only Holman Hunt
remained to the last true to his faith with PRB. He earned fame as
popular painter. But his popularity channel was again selling
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engravings of his giant size paintings. Thus we find all these three
great figures of European art world switching over from ‘Art to
Market’. Though, contrary to this the great colourist Redon took a
turn the other way round to remain a Symbolist rest of all his life.

At this juncture let us give a backwards glance not leave far

behind our third factor; the ‘Establishment’; as all the three
combined together create the equation of eternal triangle; like our
classical Indian concept of ‘Trinity’to perpetuate the production

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of art to infinite limits, regardless of race, region or period factor; as
it has been for thousands of years; from prehistoric times to
present “Post-Modern” era where anything goes.
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(2) The Indian Connection:

The origin of ‘Establishments’can be traced back to the tradition of

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‘Guilds’. Even though according to western thought the guilds have
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a medieval origin, having to do with training and trading

associations of various professions, crafts and trades. In India it
dates back to at least Second Century BC. We had the world’s
biggest guild of craftsmen at Takshshila, Bihar especially known
for stone carvings that is why the name “Taksh-shila”. There were,
however, also workshops of wood carving, iron smithy and ivory
carving etc. Gandhar style of sculptures was born there with the
intermingling with Greek culture.

In Europe guilds started with older and accomplished artists

collecting a bunch of apprentices who worked for them as part of
their learning and training; very much akin to the ‘Gharanas’ in
Indian classical music. Most often these Guilds/Gharanas kept
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their specific secrets closely guarded reserved only for their family
members or favorite ones. As long as these artists stayed with

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Gandhara Sculptures
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their master, they were not regarded very highly in the society till
they emerged as masters by themselves.

During Renaissance there was a conscious effort to elevate

both the social as well as the intellectual standing of the artist and
for this purpose the first artists’ academies were formed around
1760s;The Academies, however, lost their original purpose of
functioning as national schools of art. Differences, however, crept
in due to the difference between the terms; elevating the
“Standard’or the ‘Status’of the artists’. The artists felt that it was
given more to the latter than the former as the inducting was
limited to a number of thirty six, then the person had to be a
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professional artist and was given a privilege of writing RA after

their names.

By late 19th century the reputation of the Academies,

therefore, sank very low. The teaching and training part therefore
was taken over by starting Schools of Design around mid 1830s;
and going through several evolutionary steps finally in London it
ended up as ‘Royal College of Art’. Thus we find that the
‘Establishments’played a significant role in the evolution of all arts.

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