INCLUDING WHAT’S ON TM UMBERTO ALLEMANDI & CO. PUBLISHING EVENTS, POLITICS AND ECONOMICS MONTHLY EST. 1983, VOL. XX, NO. 227, SEPTEMBER 2011, UK £8.50/Europe €12.50/US U$16.99/ROW £10.50 FROM OUR TEN YEARS AFTER OUT OF THE BOX: PRE-RAPHAELITE THE TOWERS FELL: HIRST MARKET CORRESPONDENT: THE REBUILDING IN A SPIN ABOUT ROSSETTI’S LETTERS OF GROUND INCOMPLETE COMPLETE, P51 ZERO, PP31-34 SETS, P57 Economy Japan Art market jitters over financial turmoil Kapoor’s Nervous investors have rushed to safety in gold and the Swiss franc but art looks more volatile concert hall LONDON/NEW YORK. Fears are Safe as houses? when the banks started collaps- rounds of uncertainty is that art is In a reaction to the financial Mobile space growing about the potential im- ing. Then the [art] market recon- a genuine form of capital,” he crises, gold has hit a new record for disaster region pact of this summer’s renewed Others say that some of the figured as the rain washed out added, comparing it to tradition- price, nearing $1,830 an ounce as global economic turmoil on the lessons learned since the 2008 some of the speculators and short- ally safer investments such as we went to press, with silver and art market. The 2008 financial financial crisis are reasons to be term engagers,” said art advisor gold. This, he said, is reinforced other precious metals up in con- crisis sharply hit art sales across more confident in the art market. Allan Schwartzman. “What has by the near-zero interest rates cert. The Swiss franc, seen as one all sectors, but the market “There was much more of a shock been validated in the last few in the US. of the most reliable currencies, bounced back quicker than many reached an exchange rate high of others, particularly for blue-chip $1.28 and nearly equalled the works. At issue now are two euro for the first time. diverging premises: that art is a Leonardo: it’s all in the hand of the master All agree, however, that one luxury brand, as sensitive to key factor underpinning the stock markets as high-end fash- potential health of the art market ion and first-class flights (this is is whether or not the emerging Inside the inflatable the view of those looking at the economies, such as China, could art market from the outside); or pick up any slack should the LONDON. Anish Kapoor is that it represents a safe invest- more traditional markets falter. designing a mobile concert hall ment, sought after in troubled to bring music and performance times much like gold and the Bets on China arts to the areas of northern Japan Swiss franc (the view of those devastated by the earthquake and with more vested interests). The major commercial players tsunami earlier this year. The are certainly banking on the po- structure is being built in collab- Dark clouds tential: Sotheby’s chief executive oration with the Japanese archi- Bill Ruprecht said on the auction tect Arata Isozaki. Since art market professionals house’s most recent conference Kapoor will design the shell went on their summer break, the call to Wall Street analysts that it of the building, a “pneumatic widening European sovereign was cutting back investment in structure” made of an elastic debt crises and Standard & Poor’s Europe in favour of initiatives in material such as PVC that can be downgraded opinion of the US China (see p59). White Cube has erected quickly by inflating debt triggered fears of a “double become the latest big-name west- it with air. dip” recession, which saw stock ern gallery to open in Hong Kong, The hall will be constructed in markets fall worldwide. its first overseas venture. pieces so that when the structure The wealthy, especially in But on 9 August, the day after is dismantled each section can be cities such as London and New stock markets in Europe and the folded and transported by truck York which rely heavily on their US collapsed, Hong Kong’s Hang and delivered to each region. financial centres, all now have Seng index fell nearly 6% with The building will be used to less to spend. The hedge fund other Asian stocks (most notably stage music performances of all SAC Capital, run by the art col- in South Korea). Many economic kinds, as well as artistic projects lector Steve Cohen, was down 4% commentators are also concerned from around the world. for the first week of August alone. about China’s unsustainable trade An artistic committee, which In the luxury goods sector in surplus. “If there is a market dis- includes conductors Claudio Courtesy Witt Library, Courtauld Institute of Art, London Europe, share prices are down Photograph: Tim Nighswander location as in 2008, even sectors Abbado and Daniel Barenboim, between 15% and 30%. “We see LONDON. The hand of Christ was among the clues that led scholars to accept the newly rediscovered of the art economy driven by rel- Chinese pianist Lang Lang and significant potential downside if Salvator Mundi (Saviour of the World) as a Leonardo (see pp38-39). After it was bought by a New York atively healthy economies such as Japanese cellist Tsuyoshi Tsut - the crisis mimics 2008,” said dealer, crude overpainting and discoloured varnish (some visible in a 1908 black-and-white photograph) China and Brazil could be im- sumi, among many others, has Julian Easthope, a research ana- were removed. Minor changes in the composition were noted, suggesting that it was not a copy (as had pacted. But the emphasis is on the been set up to plan the program- lyst at Barclays Capital in London. been assumed), but the lost original. The thumb of Christ’s blessing hand was initially more vertical than severity of a downturn,” said ming, which is due to begin in He looks closely at stocks, in- in the finished picture. Specialists now accept it as an authentic Leonardo of 1498-1506. It will be Artvest’s Michael Plummer. ■ spring 2012. ■ cluding France’s PPR, founded by unveiled at London’s National Gallery in its Leonardo show (9 November-5 February 2012). ■ M.B. Melanie Gerlis Cristina Ruiz Christie’s owner François Pinault. Sotheby’s stock has certainly felt the pinch: since 7 July, it has lost 37% of its value (falling from Paintings missing after Oslo bombing $47.8 to under $30, as we went to press), wiping over $1.2 billion OSLO. Concern is mounting about including Munch, Christian Krohg’s painting I Leden, the ministry of finance, along Koro, the government’s agency off the value of the company. This the fate of large numbers of works Krohg and Anne Katrine Dolven. 1892, was damaged when sever- with 24 undamaged works, for artin public spaces, the where- reduces the money available to it of art owned by Norwegian gov- Some 43 pieces loaned by the al pieces of glass from shattered including Munch’s Vinter ved abouts of 76 are unknown. Ten of at a time when competition with ernment ministries or lent to them Nasjonalmuseet are missing, in- windows struck the canvas. “We Fjorden, 1915. A large relief by the missing works were installed Christie’s is already eating into by the Nasjonalmuseet (National cluding works by Krohg, Dolven will be able to fix it, but it will Carl Nesjar, based on sketches by in the areas closest to its profits. In the fight for the best Museum of Art, Architecture and and Jakob Weidemann. A further take lots of time,” said Kari Picasso, on the building which the blast. works, both auction houses need Design) and Public Art Norway 60 were undamaged. “It is too Greve, the head of conservation houses the ministry of education, It remains too dangerous to to offer increasingly attractive (Koro), following the terrorist early to give an overview,” said at the Nasjonalmuseet. appears to be unharmed, but the enter some of the damaged build- terms to consignors, which is re- attack in Oslo on 22 July. The a spokeswoman for Statsbygg, Less severely damaged was fate of a smaller relief in the ings, owing to their possible ducing Sotheby’s profit margins buildings damaged in the bomb- the government authority re- Lise Nicolaisen’s Sne, 1969. foyer is unknown. instability and asbestos. ■ (see p59). ing contained works by artists sponsible for the buildings. Both paintings were on loan to Of the 93 works installed by Clemens Bomsdorf Rare English and Continental Silver. Antique Jewels and Miniatures. Fine Snuff-Boxes. Edwardian silver model of a seal by Brook & Son, Edinburgh 1911 139 New Bond Street London W1A 3DL Length 20cm Tel.: 020-7629 6261 Fax: 020-7495 6180 38 Features THE ART NEWSPAPER, No. 227, SEPTEMBER 2011 Exhibition Your first chance to see How the National Gallery negotiated a record eight loans By Martin Bailey ow does one borrow a Leonardo? The process of negotiating loans is normally shrouded in mystery (except for those involved), so we have delved behind the scenes of the National Gallery’s forthcoming Hexhibition. Since the gallery maintained its usual discretion, we put together the pieces of the puzzle to discover how it has assembled “Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan”. Opening in November, it looks set to be the most important exhibition of the year in London—and possibly in the world. The National Gallery faced a formidable challenge, since there are so few paintings by Leonardo. Although specialists disagree on the precise number, curator Luke Syson puts the figure at 15.