The Business of Art
Art and beauty don’t usually appear in the same sentence as corporate and funds. Many see them as two distinct and irreconcilable spheres.
Much has changed, however, in recent times. Modern art is now very much a thriving business thanks, in some part, to the partnerships which fostered during the Nineties between artists such as Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and other Young British Artists and shrewd business-minded gallery owners and dealers such as Charles Saatchi and Jay Jopling. Evidence that this particular art bubble is very far from bursting was shown this week when Lucien Freud became the world’s most expensive living artist selling his portrait of his friend Bruce Bernard for £7.62 million. This record only lasted a single day until Damien Hirst sold his Lullaby Spring pill cabinet for £9.6 million at Sotheby’s.
Taken in context with the prices achieved this year for legendary names such as Warhol, Rothko and Bacon, and I am sure many investment funds that focus on art as a commodity will rubbing their hands with glee. At the end of May there was a conference at the London Business School devoted to treating art as a serious alternative investment option and highlighting its strong performance in recent years. Yet those who have invested will almost certainly bear in mind the sharp correction that came at the end of the dotcom boom. The question is – will they diversify at the right time or leave it one auction too late? Perhaps there will never be a real answer!