Here we go … everyone is going to jump on the Yusaku Maezawa bandwagon. Please tell me why the actions of one young and very wealthy Japanese collector could portend a resurgence of Japan’s interest in contemporary art? This is one person, with a serious amount of money, who can buy what he wants … and there is nothing wrong with that.
Yusaku Maezawa – Photo by Irwin Wong for the Wall Street Journal
Here are just a few important questions that need to be answered before we can start drawing conclusions from his actions. Will he continue to pay record prices for other Basquiat works when they hit the market … in other words, will he support that market? How many under-bidders were there on the $110M painting? At what point were there just two bidders? Where were the main under-bidders from? We now know that the immediate under-bidder was Frank Fertitta III … an American. Can the spending habits of one person really change a segment of the art market? If so, how healthy is that market?
Vincent van Gogh “Portrait of Dr. Gachet”
We have seen collectors come and go and artist’s prices rise and fall. Let’s not forget Yasuo Goto who, in 1987, paid a record $40M for van Gogh’s Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers; then a few month’s later Alan Bond paid a then record $53.9M for van Gogh’s Irises; or Ryoei Saito’s $82.5M chart topping purchase of van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr. Gachet and Renoir’s Bal du moulin de la Galette for $78.1M in 1990 (both of which are still auction records). Where are those buyers now? No longer with us. Where is the van Gogh market? Still strong; but 27 years later,$82.5M is still the top end.
While blockbuster headlines are enjoyable to read, the results for the general works of art from any period really give you an understanding of a market. How much support is there? Where is the support coming from? Are prices moving up, stable or falling?
I will also admit that at times it is fun to watch the auction action and see wealthy collectors battle it out in the public arena; but, let’s not draw too many conclusions until we have a lot more information.