Art history in the post-World War II era is usually described as a period when the center of the art world moved from Europe to America as abstract expressionism took center stage in New York.
In “Rogues & Scholars: A History of the London Art World: 1945-2000,” author James Stourton, an art historian and a former chairman of Sotheby’s UK, discusses an equally important but far less recognized development – how postwar London briefly became the center of the global art market.
This is an absorbing story of how small dealers and experts were gradually replaced by large auction houses. Sotheby’s and Christie’s
both operated internationally and turned auctions into major events that were breathlessly covered by the media.
Why We Wrote This
Art sales used to be genteel affairs conducted by elite collectors and dealers. But two London auction houses brought glamour and media attention, changing the market forever.
After World War II, the London art and antiques markets were dominated by small shops “stuffed with a quality and quantity of goods almost inconceivable today,” Stourton writes. The treasures mostly came from the sale of country houses “and the unloading of 200 years of obsessive collecting by a once rich country that found itself much poorer and … in need of cash.” Many of these dealers had expertise in highly specialized fields, such as silver, Chinese porcelain, European ceramics, and even “pottery tomb sculpture,” which appealed to a small number of collectors.
The art world changed in October 1958 with the sale of impressionist paintings owned by Jakob Goldschmidt, a legendary German collector at Sotheby’s in London. Lured by the status of the storied British auction houses and even more by the lower commissions charged to sellers, Goldschmidt’s heirs opted to sell the collection in London rather than in America.
The sale was held at 9:30 p.m. – the first evening auction in two centuries. Attendees were asked to wear evening dress. Celebrities like Lady Churchill, Kirk Douglas, and W. Somerset Maugham took seats in the front row, and television cameras rolled. The art auction as an “event” was born.
It was a huge success. The sale set a record for a single collection, totaling £781,000. That price looks fairly modest by today’s standards, but it was a blockbuster sale at the time. There was no doubt about the best place to buy and sell high-quality art. As The Christian Science Monitor had opined a year earlier, “London has become the centre of the art market.”
But markets continually change, and the London art market was no exception. As the auction houses prospered, the many art dealers and small specialist shops, including some that had been around for centuries, slowly disappeared from the scene – a development that Stourton mourns. Meanwhile, Sotheby’s and Christie’s gradually expanded their operations and opened auction houses around the globe. They introduced new ways to make money selling art. For example, “buyer’s premiums,” the amount paid by a buyer on top of the final sale price and the bane of anyone who buys at an auction, were introduced in 1975.
London’s dominance proved relatively short-lived – by the early 1990s, the most visible and successful auctions, especially in modern art, were held in New York. The small specialty auctions moved elsewhere: Chinese art to Hong Kong, jewels to Geneva, and indigenous art to Brussels and Paris. The emergence of international megadealers like Larry Gagosian and Arne Glimcher and the arrival of global art fairs like Art Basel and Maastricht all combined to chip away at London’s position.
Nothing in global commerce is fixed and immutable, and this is certainly true of the art market. Stourton notes that in recent years, dealers, especially in contemporary art, have become more important and thus threaten the standing of the auction houses. And the reasons for purchasing art have evolved. Until the 1990s, most art was bought by collectors. But today, art is increasingly seen as an investment, and thus a different clientele entered the market. And thanks to the internet, pricing information is available with a few clicks. It’s harder for buyers to find a bargain and for sellers to make a killing.
Stourton is not shy about pointing out grave missteps by the auction houses. Most notably, the revelation of collusion to fix commissions by Sotheby’s and Christie’s in the late 1990s, which undermined both companies. They were required to refund “$256 million, the equivalent of five years of annual pre-tax profits,” he writes, and Sotheby’s CEO was fined and sentenced to jail.
Moreover, the art market has dragged its feet over the return of not only looted antiquities but also art stolen by the Nazis during World War II.
Stourton is evenhanded, despite having served as a chairman of Sotheby’s. For example, he approvingly quotes a historian who notes that Sotheby’s had “no monopoly on amorality, but as in so many other areas, they practised it better than anyone else.”
He introduces a huge cast of characters – some are above reproach, others lack a moral compass, and some are, well, just plain odd. If anything, he includes too many people and this complicates the story.
But if you find yourself paying attention to the stories about the high prices paid at art auctions, you will not want to miss this book.
