THIS WEEK'S HOT TOPIC
In last week’s premium newsletter, we ran an op-ed by Dan Sallick—a Washington, D.C.-based art collector who serves on the boards of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Rothko Chapel—about the unique enrichments that come with supporting museums. Now, for NoReserve, we bring you a bit of wisdom from another premium collector.
This one comes from Robert Lehrman, who has assembled for us the core tips he’s picked up over more than 45 years of buying art. Find his advice in the section below.
3…THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ARTISTS’ ESTATES
1
When an artist dies and leaves behind a lifetime of work, an estate is established to manage that work and oversee the maker’s legacy. If the artist has a will, they may name a family member as executor. If nobody was named, courts may select an heir to administer an estate. A notable example of a family managing an artist's estate is Jean-Michel Basquiat. His father, Gerard Basquiat, originally administered his son's estate after the artist’s untimely passing; then, following Gerard's death, Basquiat's sisters took the reins. His legacy, under their management, is marked by soaring auction prices and numerous commercial collaborations. This approach has kept the artist’s work in the public imagination, but also garnered skepticism of over-proliferation.
2
A foundation may also be founded following the death of an artist, which is fundamentally different from an estate in its intentions and actions around an artist's legacy. The most critical difference between the two is that foundations are nonprofit organizations (or charitable trusts) whose revenue must be used for "charitable purposes," while estates can generate income for beneficiaries (heirs, or people who own rights to artworks/images). For a foundation, any revenue earned from the sale of artworks, the licensing of images, or any other money-making activity must be used to advance a public benefit rather than make private entities money. As a 501(c)(3), a foundation commonly falls under a completely different tax structure than an estate as well. Foundations are frequently tax-exempt organizations, whereas estates can be liable for federal income and estate taxes.
3
Estates can complicate an artist's legacy too. Consider the case of Robert Indiana. Following the artist’s death in 2018, his estate became embroiled in a series of lawsuits with the Morgan Art Foundation and the publisher Michael McKenzie over the latter’s use of Indiana’s iconic "LOVE" series and other works. It's a sad tale, and also a cautionary one—a reminder that it's always better to have an official plan.
A NUMBER TO KNOW
3
The number of Hilma af Klint works that will have reached auction after Bukowskis offers Ser III No. 5 (1920) in Stockholm on November 19. No matter where the final price lands relative to its roughly $600,000–$800,000 estimate, the painting speaks to the complications that can sandbag the market for a posthumously rediscovered artist.
Af Klint, a formally trained artist and spiritualist (Theosophy, if you’re wondering) who lived in Sweden from 1862 to 1944, only became an art world sensation in recent years. Her path to stardom began with a 1986 survey of spiritual abstraction at LACMA, but it took subsequent retrospectives at the Moderna Museet in 2013 and the Guggenheim in 2018—both of which obliterated attendance records—to transform af Klint into an icon.
The timing was vital. As a woman who painted ethereal, often large-scale abstractions earlier than celebrated male mavericks like Wassily Kandinsky, her story has resonated powerfully amid the 21st-century effort to reassess the art historical canon with an eye toward gender and racial equity.
So why has her output been so scarce at auction? “Af Klint’s foundation has sought to tightly control how her work is shown, which is why it is rarely made available for sale,” wrote Alex Greenberger in ARTnews. The foundation attests that the artist made it known before her death that her practice should “not be commercialized,” he added.
Still, the market has occasionally found a way. A 2022 af Klint show at David Zwirner resulted in a series of paintings being acquired by the private museum Glenstone, and two other works did manage to reach auction, per Bukowskis. Ser III No. 5, consigned by the heir of a private collector, is the next to break containment—and even without intervention from the afterlife, the competition could be otherworldly.
—Tim Schneider / The Gray Market
ASK: ACCESS SOPHISTICATED KNOWLEDGE
ASK: What are the key lessons you’ve learned over your collecting career?
Robert Lehrman for NoReserve: When you buy a work of art, three things can happen: 1. It goes up in value, and people will think you are smart. Great! 2. It holds its value, meaning you got a "good deal." Not bad, since most things we buy devalue. 3. It goes down in value. But if you love it, does it matter?
Here's what is helpful: First, do your homework! Look at as many works by the artist as you can and learn to ascertain for yourself which of them are good, better, and best. While this is subjective, there are metrics, standards, and resources you can use to help make that assessment. Look at museum catalogues to see what works by the artist were considered worth acquiring by knowledgeable curators. Look at auction sales comps to see how the market values that artist’s work.
Make sure that the work you buy is of the highest quality that you can find, because the "best" examples are the most likely to appreciate financially over time. That means that you have to be informed, patient, and discriminating. And be prepared to pay a premium above a high price to get what you believe is a significant work by the artist.
But the real bottom line is this: BUY WHAT YOU LOVE. That's what I've learned in the art market.
Have your own question for the NoReserve team? Reply to this email or reach out to us on Instagram, @no.reserve. Readers whose submissions we choose get a special prize—six free months of our paid newsletter, The Baer Faxt.
NR+
The newest episode of The Baer Faxt Podcast, dropping later this week, is special. Josh Baer sat down to discuss A.I. and creativity with Liv Boeree, a leading game theory and A.I. strategist who is also a World Series of Poker champion and the host of the Win-Win podcast, and Adam Brown, a theoretical physicist at Stanford who leads Blueshift, the research team at Google DeepMind. Catch a teaser of the conversation below, then enjoy the full thing this Thursday, November 12, on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
WANT MORE?
Want more from The Baer Faxt? Click here to request a free sample of our premium newsletter or view our subscription pricing tiers for artists, students, and nonprofits. Subscribe today to join the leading global arts professionals and enthusiasts who receive our weekly and monthly digests on the most important news and events in the industry.
Forwarded this email and not a subscriber to NoReserve? Sign up today—it’s free!
|
