From Manet to Manhattan: The Rise of the Modern Art Market

"That’s for sure. Manet to Manhattan , which is an excellent book, stops in 1990. In 1990, the art market suddenly collapsed due to a number of forces, including a collapse in the real estate market in several countries and the invasion of Kuwait. But that was a time when Japanese collectors were buying. He tracks the buildup to the sale of Van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr. Gachet , which, by the way, has disappeared. It made this colossal price at the time, and nobody knows where it is now! Very possibly! Manet to Manhattan does track that conversion of the auction house from being a wholesale operation, and so an insider’s operation, rather secretive, to becoming, as you say, the spectacle. It’s very interesting that in today’s world, we’re living increasingly in an event-driven society. People are more attracted now by events than they are by product in many ways. This absolutely ties in to what the auction houses have become, the site of this extraordinary spectacle. Take for example Leonardo Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi . Christie’s had it travel around the world. They took it to Hong Kong, London, New York. There were queues outside to see this fabled ‘lost’ masterpiece. It was superlative event management! Of course, the evening sales themselves are a spectacle, so it’s no surprise that there’s been a big shift in the way these companies are run. Tad Smith, Sotheby’s CEO, comes from Madison Square Garden, the concert and sporting event stadium in the heart of New York City. It is all about showmanship. He’s not an art person. Before, it would have been de rigueur to have the art historical credentials to occupy a position like that. The convergence of these two worlds is actually a growing trend. Many of the emails I get today are about some form of investment in art. I get things about art funds, and, of course, the growth of freeports and art warehouses, which I cover in my book also signals this desire to buy art not for its aesthetic values and its symbolic values, but to buy it for its investment potential. I have to say that this is something I regret deeply. At the moment, the big buzzword is Blockchain . I’m getting lots of questions about how Blockchain can be used to innovate in the art market."