2009 Art Market Prediction

January 19, 2009

Posters Seized By Nazis Are Target Of American's Suit (Berlin, Germany)
When Peter Sachs was only a year old in 1938, the Nazis seized his father's collection of 12,500 rare posters on the orders of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. ... Today, some 4,000 of the posters, worth at least euro4.5 million ($5.9 million), are in the possession of the German Historical Museum in Berlin, largely in storage. Peter Sachs goes to court Tuesday to try to get them back.
Associated Press

Putin Painting Fetches $1.14M (At Least It Was For Charity) (St. Petersberg, Russia)

Vladimir Putin's first painting fetched 37 million rubles ($1.14 million) at a charity auction in his native St. Petersburg last night. The Russian prime minister's picture of a frosty window made the highest price of 30 works on offer.

Bloomberg

Indian Artists Opens Show, Discovers Most Works In It Are Fakes (India)
India's art world is reeling from one of its most embarrassing forgery cases today after S.H. Raza, one of the country's foremost artists, inaugurated an exhibition of his paintings in Delhi - only to discover that most were fakes.
The Times (UK)

What Will The Art Market Do In 2009? (Global)

Supply presents an ambiguous picture. On the one hand, vendors are holding back from selling, for fear of "burning" their pictures by seeing them unsold; the auction houses are struggling to bring in good material for next month's sales. On the other hand, forced sales by cash-strapped collectors may bring desirable works onto the market. Dealers claim that it is a great time to buy, and a number were acquiring inventory at Art Basel Miami Beach last month.

The Art Newspaper

Downturn Having Big Effect On Australia's Aboriginal Artists (Australia)
The past, high-growth decade proved a golden time for the sale and promotion of indigenous culture. Today, though, in the face of the looming international downturn, an ominous calm has descended.
The Australian