Art supplies have been dwindling in the past few years and major auction houses have found an ideal solution to make up for such a dire problem, that is to say create events in which objects are glorified by an aura of fame. Sotheby's inaugurated such process with the sale of the belongings of Pamela Harriman in May 1997 during which many uninteresting lots included in a richly-bound catalogue sold at incredible prices.
Last May, Sotheby's sold Impressionist and Modern Art from the collection of Mr and Mrs John Hay Whitney, including a preparatory painting of Georges Seurat's masterpiece «Ile de la Grande Jatte» and a major still life by Cézanne but overall the residue of the collection was yet again of average quality.
Still, Sotheby's carried out an unbelievable press campaign which attracted major buyers to its sale. As a result, the Cézanne piece went for a world record price of US $ 60,5 million while the Seurat sold for US $ 35,1 million. Thanks to this «suction» effect all other lots, such as a set of 12 lithographs by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (US $ 882,500) made surprising prices.
Christie's did not remain in arrears and followed Sotheby's example with the sale of the collection of the Barons Nathaniel and Albert von Rothschild in July 1999 which included what connoisseurs termed as «so-called» art objects.
A Flemish Book of Hours illuminated around 1505 by Gerard Horenbout, Simon Bening and other Flemish miniaturists (US $ 8,58 million) as well as a royal Louis XVI commode (US $ 7,04 million) went for record prices while some strange pieces such as a German silver-gilt mounted agate mortar likely to have been made during the 19th rather than the mid-17th century, reached quite a high bid.
Christie's had built its press campaign over the return by Austria of objects stolen from the Rothschilds by the Nazis during World War Two and once again buyers were quite active during its sale.
Major sales are now banking on big names thus relegating art at a lower level meaning that people are buying legends rather than objects not knowing that the art market now tends to become illusive. One should also remember how mad people were when they bought at soaring prices the belongings of President J. F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie. The same can be said of the souvenirs of Marilyn Monroe where a dress worn by the famous actress would fetch a spectacular price whereas the same piece of cloth offered in an anonymous sale would find a buyer probably for less than US $ 200.
This market is thus running on two different paths and only connoisseurs can be aware of the difference. They will surely not be taken in when confronted with a major piece of say Monet of modest provenance and a less interesting painting by the same artist originating from a famous collection. The former will be thus bought at its real price while the latter will be acquired at twice as much its value or even more. One of these days, art lovers will finally react against such maladjustment and correct it accordingly.
It is a fact that provenance is a plus when a painting or an art object is offered for sale but it is also foolish to take it primarily into account if the lot auctioned is not a major piece but major auction houses do really bank on such stupidity by beating the drums loud enough to attract rich buyers to their so-called prestigious sales.
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