MAN BUSINESS MAIN 07-28-08 A 1 MBDB.qxd - Edocr

22 BUSINESS LIVES
DECO Art
can have a
better return
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21
lets Russes. The Russians have been
buying them merrily with their bottomless
pockets. Figures have gone
for £20,000, £30,000, £40,000,” he
said. “This has been a terrific investment
for people who got in early.”
According to Blears, the art deco
movement begin after the Victorian
and Edwardian periods when “everyone
got sick of the overly elaborate
designs of that time”. The movement,
which was heavily influenced by the
women’s suffrage movement in
America, reached its height in the
period between World War I and
World War II.
“People of my generation regarded
art deco pieces as quite ordinary. In
the post war period, all this stuff was
ditched. The rarity of those pieces
now is what makes its value. It was the
stuff your grandma had and was
thrown in the bin. Everything from
that period is being collected —
glassware, furniture, carpets,” said
Blears.
Blears uses web-based auction
alerts to stay on top of what’s available.
“If we feel we have a couple of
thousand pounds, we’ll go,” he said.
“We still like going to auctions. If you
keep your wits about you, you can
still find these things. You can still buy
for a few hundred or low thousands.”
Demand slowing
They don’t plan to cash in on their
investment any time soon.
“We have no plans to sell them. At
the back of your mind, you think you
can take these down to Sotheby’s and
have a very good day at the races.”
It is probably a good move on
Blears’ part that he has no interest in
selling his art deco pieces now.
According to a July 17 report from
Bloomberg, London art dealers said
demand for art has slowed, which is
reining in prices. But if you are going
to invest in art, doing so when prices
are falling is probably a better — and
cheaper — move.
Lawrence Jones is taking advantage
of the market downturn to build
an art collection.
The managing director of internet
hosting provider UKFast.net in Manchester
city centre, began collecting
art in early 2007.
He said he had a “pot of cash” after
he tried to buy an estate in Wales, so
he put that into buying art. His first
acquisition, a painting by Helen
Bradley — an artist Jones describes as
“a female
Lowry”, was
for his
wife’s
Top, Lawrence Jones’ most expensive piece by Kyffin Williams. Bottom from left, a Lowry drawing,
Helen Bradley’s A Long Way Home and right Lawrence Jones
30th birthday. “I am very particular
about how I choose my artwork. I
choose pieces I like. I’m also mindful
that art can be a good investment and
it can also be a negative one. I just
make sure I choose art that has more
of a chance of going up than coming
down,” said Jones.
Jones said that he unloaded his
stocks and shares before the market
went south and has been investing in
art instead.
“This is traditionally a good time
when people start ploughing money
into art and other areas because they
feel that stocks and shares are way too
shaky at the moment. The stocks and
shares I had would have
‘I don’t feel like I’m
spending money when I
buy them. I know that at
any time I am able to
pass these on to my
children as presents
long before I pass away’
LAWRENCE JONES
been pulling in a fraction, yet the art I
bought is now worth significantly
more. I made a good 15-20 per cent in
the last six months,” said Jones.
Jones has about 40 pieces in his
collection which he estimates to be
worth £350,000 to £500,000.
“I have also chosen art that
I can turn around very
quickly. I could sell
any of them for
more or less the
same or more
a l m o s t
instantaneously,
but
From left, a typical art deco
seated girl in a theatrical
costume, a Rosenthal
porcelain figure of a Latin
American dancer and a
bronze sun-worshipper lamp
not as quick as you could sell a stock
or a share,” he said.
His collection focuses on works
from Bradley, Welsh artists Kyffin
Williams and Mary Feddon. But the
collection also includes a piece by L S
Lowry — a drawing from the Salford
artist’s first exhibition. “It is difficult to
get on the Lowry ladder because
some of his paintings are commanding
millions right now.”
The Jones collection is displayed
throughout UKFast.net’s City Tower
offices in Manchester’s Piccadilly
Plaza, giving the workplace a gallery
feel.
“The office is very secure. It is here
for the protection of the art and for
the staff. I spend most of my life at
work. And so do all my colleagues. I
have tried to turn a sterile environ-
About art deco
● Art deco was a design movement
which lasted from 1925 to 1939.
● The movement has been described
as amalgam of design styles of the
early 20th Century including futurism,
art nouveau, modernism, bauhaus,
neoclassical, cubism and
constructivism.
● Unlike other design movements, art
deco lacked political or philosophical
motivations, and was purely
decorative — praised as elegant,
functional and modern.
● The movement affected
architecture, interior design,
industrial design, fashion, painting
and film.
● Art deco is characterised by use
of materials such as aluminium,
stainless steel, lacquer, inlaid
wood, sharkskin and zebra
skin. The use of stepped
forms and sweeping
curves, chevron
Crain’s Manchester Business / July 28, 2008
INVESTING IN ART
Here are some tips on buying art
as an investment from art
collector Lawrence Jones:
● Look around. Don’t go to one
gallery and fall in love with a
piece, fall in love with an artist.
● Talk to people in the art world
to find out about which artists
would make good investments.
● Don’t accept the first price on a
piece at a gallery. Ask to see if
you can get it for less, or get
something else similar from an
artist who is cheaper.
● Choose an artist that either has
a prominent reputation or artists
who have been classically trained.
“Their work is more likely to
accelerate in value because there
is a snobbery in the art world.
The art world almost encourages
you to buy from this particular
channel. Choose somebody who
has a pedigree in terms of who
taught them,” said Jones.
● Make sure you buy something
real from a reputable gallery.
And finally:
“It is important you just don’t
choose an artist that is popular.
You choose the art the artist
paints that’s popular. And then
within any artist, there will be
that zone that people just cannot
help but fall in love with.”
ment into a fantastic place to work,”
he said. Jones said an oil painting by
Williams is probably his most valuable
piece. He paid £40,000 for it but
now “there is an argument that it
could be worth in excess of £100,000”.
Although at a recent auction he bid
£375,000 for a painting that eventually
sold for £450,000, the most he has
spent on a painting has been £50,000.
“I don’t feel like I’m spending money
when I buy them. I know that at
any time I am able to pass these on to
my children as presents long before I
pass away. They are good family heirlooms
to keep. I can give them away
as presents, yet they will retain a value
and hopefully keep going up,” said
Jones.
COMMENTS? sselby@crain.com
patterns and sunbursts are typical of
art deco.
● Examples of art deco architecture
include the Empire State Building in
New York City, the Senate Building at
the University of London and the
Odeon Manchester on Oxford Street.
● The RMS Queen Mary’s interior was
art deco.
● The most popular art deco
decorative figures were made by
Dimitri Chiparus and Ferdinand Preiss.
● Art deco declined in popularity after
reaching mass production in the 1930s
when it began to be thought of as
gaudy and presenting a false image of
luxury. The style collapsed result of
the austerities of World War II.
● The book Art Deco and Other
Figures by Bryan Catley is considered
a must-read for would-be collectors of
Art Deco.