Article translated by Amritee Mahabir

THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION FOR COLLECTORS

Some pre-eminent commentators lament the lack of attention of collectors towards acquired works. According to Vittorio Sgarbi “Artwork today is above all, an investment. The perception of contemporary art is linked more to iconography than the effective quality of the artists and their works”. Discrimination in their choice isn’t more than the quality but the notary verification; the pleasure derived from enjoying an artwork seems to be outclasses by the satisfaction of having made a good investment.

If Sgarbi’s taunting could in part be supported by international contemporary art market trends, that continues to see an unstoppable growth in prices of works by names that become evermore similar to designer labels, it is also true that opposite signs could be noted. To begin with, the phenomenon doesn’t relate to other markets like the antique market that, although possessing minor market sales with respect to leading contemporaries, continues to reward paintings of sublime quality (enough to take the results of recent Old Milanese Masters into consideration). Furthermore, despite the fact that some sectors are undoubtedly more attracted than others, high quality does not go unobserved. An example: the ivory sector is certainly not one of the most fashionable these days, and yet last December 19^th in Paris, it achieved almost 9.5 million sales, around triple the estimate.

Returning to decisively more popular sectors like that of modern and contemporary art at the core of recent news, it is supposed that here also there is a new orientation on the part of collectors, who continue to fork out record prices but they seem to pay more attention to quality. The artists’ name is no longer an absolute guarantee and it could be that a Gauguin is sold below the excessively high estimates (see the disappointing sales results of impressionist works at Sotheby’s on November 5^th). It can effectively be revealed that in recent years artworks have also become a kind of investment, but it doesn’t seem right to condemn someone who, in choosing to invest a certain sum, decides to do it acquiring a subject that also fulfils immaterial needs. And today there is every kind of instrument to mark values based exclusively on a title, whether for big or small investments. Sharper informative instruments are intervening precisely with the view of supporting collector’s decisions, like databases of auction results, which allow effective valuations regarding the buyer’s choice. Certainly information becomes void in the face of a dealer’s dishonest behaviour that could take advantage of the trust granted by the market. But it fundamentally remains in the orientation of investment choices, so much so that a growing number of artists and collectors reckon it’s essential to supply an adequate economic acknowledgement of choices driven by the each person’s artistic sensibilities.

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