|Reſlections| If we
|Reſlections| If we don’t know someone, we’re not going to sell to them without really understanding their motivation – Louise Hayward Not so long ago I attended a dinner given by an art gallery to celebrate one of its stellar artists. Opposite the great man sat a well-respected collector, hoping to buy one of his paintings. The wine flowed, as did the conversation, and all seemed set fair until the collector’s wife decided to order off menu. The artist had selected the food (grilled fish and vegetables, all intolerances accounted for) and didn’t take kindly to having his choices challenged. Suddenly the atmosphere chilled. Perhaps these weren’t the sort of people to appreciate his austere abstraction after all. The substantial sixfigure sale was never concluded. “The artist’s wishes are very important,” says Stefan Ratibor, senior director of the super-gallery Gagosian (not the gallery in question). “Some are more bothered than others, but their pleasure and good will are critical to our success.” As he sees it, buying and selling art is “a three-way collaboration between the artist, gallerist and collector, a relationship of trust and confidence. Great innovation can come from that,” he adds. And lifelong friendships may be forged. But don’t think buying blue-chip art on the primary market is simply a matter of being able to afford it. So how does one become a collector? “You talk to people,” says Ratibor. “Every gallerist is open to dialogue. You say: ‘Can we have lunch so that I can tell you what I want to do? This is what I love; these are my plans; and this is how you might be able to help me.’” Then, if he feels the aspiring collector is offering what “seems like a good home and is passionate about the work and wants to hold on to it, live with it, enjoy it and sees it as something other than an investment, I’ll call the artist and say so-and-so wants to buy a painting, and this is why I think it’s a good idea. It’s as simple as that. But we do consult the artists.” Louise Hayward of Lisson Gallery Louise Hayward, senior director of Lisson Gallery, takes a similar approach. “If we don’t know someone, we’re not going to sell to them without really understanding their motivation,” she says. But “there are criteria that can help” make a good impression. Artists want their work to be seen, so a willingness to lend to exhibitions is always a plus. As are museum connections. “If a collector is a patron or a trustee, that’s a great indicator that their interest is sincere and they’ll be committed to supporting the artist over a long period and building a legacy around them.” It doesn’t have to be a major institution: a connection with a small but influential nonprofit – she cites London’s Chisenhale Gallery and South London Gallery – can be just as convincing of someone’s “genuine belief in supporting the cultural ecosystem”. But don’t assume that offering to buy a painting for a museum is a route to getting one for oneself. “I think people can overthink the institutional connections,” PHOTO © LISSON GALLERY 38 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
says Ratibor. “The choice of what ends up in a museum must ultimately be the museum’s.” As Glenn Scott Wright, co-director of Victoria Miro, explains, “If it’s a museum trustee who’s forging ahead with these discussions, then that can put the institution in a difficult position.” Call it due diligence, but it also pays to have done your homework. Take the collector Valeria Napoleone. She may, over the past quarter-century, have amassed more than 450 works by female artists, but before she bought her first work (a photograph by Carol Shadford), she spent, she says, “two years visiting galleries and studios and learning to navigate the art world”. The fact that she also has a philanthropic initiative, the Valeria Napoleone XX Contemporary Art Society, an umbrella platform for projects dedicated to increasing the representation of female artists in public institutions, and sits on numerous boards makes her an ideal collector in the eyes of most galleries. Alternatively, you can engage an adviser. “You would logically get external expertise on tax planning or investments,” says Scott Wright. “So a good art consultant is a way to get access to highly sought-after work. If we have a track record with them, we’ll [be reassured] their clients are good too.” “Or you can always buy at auction,” suggests Ratibor. That way you can buy whatever you like without the need to impress anyone. “You just go in and raise your hand. There’s no control.” Money-laundering checks aside, “You don’t need to be vetted or approved of by anybody, and good for them. It’s very important to have a vibrant auction market. Personally, I prefer to sell to people who are not evidently speculative, but it’s not a crime to turn a profit.” It can, however, be damaging to an artist to have prices for their work bid up to unsustainable levels. The painter Peter Doig has spoken of feeling physically sick on hearing that his painting Friday 13th realised £5.7m at Sotheby’s in 2007. “Not so much disgusted, but nauseous. That someone should have spent that much on a painting of mine […] I was struck by the pressure it put me under – to make paintings that are going to make a million dollars,” he said afterwards. Compared with what the consignor, Charles Saatchi, stood to gain, his recompense was meagre. Even today, the Artist’s Resale Right royalty, which is only payable on purchases made in the EU and UK, is capped at €12,500. No wonder galleries are protective of their artists. “The market is incredibly hot at the moment,” says Hayward, “with a lot of very young artists, whose works have been bought for US,000, US,000, now selling for over a million. And it can be very troubling for an artist at the beginning of their career PHOTO MICHAEL SINCLAIR Anthea Hamilton’s Transposed Lime Butterfly (2019) adorns a wall in collector Valeria Napoleone’s London home CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 39
