Conference Presentation, Panel, Fireside Chat
The Art of Art Collecting
- Moderator Don Marin (former MoMA president, CEO of Payne-Weber, Lightyear Capital) frames the session around three pillars: artists, museums/academia, and commerce (collectors, dealers, auction houses).
- Marin observes a massive global scale expansion, citing 60 new museums for contemporary art currently being built worldwide, compared to an expected 5–10.
- Marin notes that emerging nation museums face pressure to gain global impact, necessitating them to evolve from showing local treasures to becoming broad collectors.
- Marin highlights a specific trend in the US where major museums are physically expanding; he cites three specific expansions in New York alone at the time of the panel.
- Marin emphasizes the fundamental mismatch between supply and demand: while museum demand is enormous, only 10–14 memorable artists emerge per generation.
- Marin points to a shift in museum strategy at MoMA toward becoming "entertainment centers," driven by the desire to attract 10,000 daily visitors, particularly young people.
- Marin identifies the social aspect of museum attendance as primary, noting that free Friday afternoons became popular not for the art, but for social networking and community.
- Marin reports a drastic economic shift where art can now represent up to 50% of a collector's net worth, compared to 5% in previous decades, altering donor-museum dynamics.
- Philippe Rigollet (MOCA Director) argues museums must maintain independence from commercial forces to protect institutional integrity and artistic value.
- Rigollet distinguishes between "price" and "value," citing a rejected $15 million offer from artist Sildo Meireles because the price did not reflect the work's true historical significance.
- Rigollet warns that competing with the "entertainment" industry risks losing the museum's role as a place of knowledge and artistic protection.
- Mitch Rales (Ralphs/Rales Museum) states his collection strategy relies on three questions: does the work change how we think about art, is it top-tier quality, and is there rational value?
- Rales cites An Khwar, Bob Gober, David Hammons, and Jeff Wall as examples of artists whose unconventional work fundamentally altered art history and thought.
- Rales argues that focusing on quality allows collectors to build world-class collections using the budget of a single $100 million Warhol or Picasso.
- Kavita Pande (African Auction House founder) notes the African art market lacked transparency, secondary markets, and international platforms prior to 2007.
- Pande reports that a bronze panel work by Bruce Onobrakpeya sold for $87,000 (triple the estimate), an amount equivalent to a lifetime average Nigerian income.
- Pande details a 78% investment gain in two years on El Anatsui's work, which sold at Sotheby's for $1.1 million after a fund purchase in 2011.
- Pande highlights El Anatsui's use of chainsaw-cut wood to symbolize the physical and cultural trauma of colonization.
- Rales notes that Leonard Lauder's unrestricted gift to the Met allowed the museum to reorganize the collection by artist, significantly boosting awareness of Juan Gris.
- Rales predicts Eli Broad's private museum will eventually become a major public institution, following the precedent of the Whitney, Walker, and Menil museums.
- Rigollet views the expansion of private museums alongside public ones as beneficial for the "gene pool" of collecting, offering diverse traditions to the public.
- Martin Schmidt (MoMA) reveals MoMA is expanding gallery space by 40–50%, while the Met plans a $500 million modern wing and the Whitney has opened a new downtown location.
- Rigollet expresses concern that massive expansions and crowd sizes prevent deep personal engagement, citing the limit of 30 seconds per artwork as detrimental to the experience.
- Rigollet proposes a new model for museum expansion where the building is designed specifically to host a single, new artwork (citing the Inhotim foundation in Brazil), rather than expanding for space alone.
- Mitch Rales warns that artists who prioritize commercial pressure over quality often see their artistic output degrade over time.
- Rales cites Morris Louis and Brice Marden as examples of artists who maintained high quality by working slowly and ignoring market timelines.
- Rales states a strict collecting rule: the Rales Foundation will not acquire work by artists with less than 15 years of professional practice to avoid "venture capital" risks.
- The panel consensus suggests that while the art market is booming, only a tiny fraction of artists (estimated at 100 to 1 odds) will achieve historical significance and longevity.