The Groove 200 - Money Talks
Welcome to the 200th issue of The Groove.
I am Maria Brito, an art advisor, curator, and author based in New York City.
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A NEW ERA FOR THE GROOVE
Happy September!
Today marks the 200th issue of The Groove. After having written 190 essays on some of the most important artists in history and connecting them to evergreen topics (the other ten issues were summer or end-of-year roundups), and as the advocate for evolution, change, and creative thinking that I’ve always been, I’ve decided to take this newsletter into a new era.
The Groove will still come every Tuesday and it will always be free, but the content will be different. I’ll be offering my own point of view on current events and news in the art world, aiming to demystify, rebut, or amplify. I’ll sometimes recommend an exhibition or two and pull ideas from my own archives.
So without further ado, here’s to new beginnings:
Money Talks
I took this picture of Peter Doig’s solo show at Musée d'Orsay last October in Paris.
Peter Doig, one of the most important living artists, told The Guardian that “My work sells for millions but only a fraction of that came to me.” Adding that he has only made “£230,000 for himself from selling them.” Huh? Doig goes on to blame auction houses for destroying young artists’ careers (here he has a point), then condemns his former galleries for selling his work on the secondary market and presumably not cutting him in. Finally, he contradicts himself, saying “I wasn’t after money. I wanted to know where the paintings had gone. The gallery wouldn’t tell me.” Really?
Well, there’s a lot to unpack here. For the record, I don’t know Peter Doig but of course I am familiar with his work and his market. We have never had a solo museum exhibition of his in the United States; the last time he had a gallery show here was at Michael Werner Gallery in New York in 2017. I did see his exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris last October and while his paintings are very nice, I am still puzzled as to why many of them have sold for eight figures. (His record is $39.8 million, for his 1990 painting “Swamped,” sold at Christie’s in 2021.)
Several years ago, Doig was represented by Victoria Miro in London and the defunct Gavin Brown’s Enterprise in New York. He left both galleries and in 2013 started working exclusively with Michael Werner Gallery worldwide. It’s well known, that prices at auction affect the primary market, so when there are consistent sales in the seven and eight figures on secondary market, galleries won’t sell on primary for pennies. This kind of activity at auction, however insane the numbers may be, benefits mid-career artists tremendously and Doig is no exception.
Naturally, Doig’s work was being sold selectively and carefully by his gallery on the primary market for seven figures. While I don’t know what kind of split arrangement he had with Michael Werner, it probably was not the customary 50-50, but more like 60% or 70% of retail price for him and the rest for the gallery. Which means that every time there was a sale on the primary market, Doig made something like $700,000 to $1.5 million or more per painting. So was The Guardian missing a zero when they quoted that £230,000 figure?
On the secondary market side, in the United States, there are no laws akin to the artist’s resale rights that exist in Europe, which state that artists must receive a percentage of royalties every time an artwork is sold.
Furthermore, galleries frequently handle secondary market transactions for clients who are wary of being criticized for "flipping" artwork at auction. Even after the typical five-year Right of First Refusal, where owners must offer the work back to the gallery before selling, many clients choose to consign the piece to the gallery to maintain ethical relationships with both the artist and the gallery. In these cases, the gallery typically agrees on a price with the seller and earns a commission of 10-20%, while the seller receives the remainder. This arrangement is standard practice. However, Doig is somehow claiming he wanted a cut of these deals (which would be very unusual) and since 2023 has severed ties with Werner and operates independently. It's likely he manages sales directly from his studio, possibly with the assistance of his wife, who is a gallerist - but that’s just my speculation.
Many years ago, I met an art collector who told me he had sold a Peter Doig at auction for almost $12 million; he also mentioned that he had sent a check to Doig for 10% of the proceeds. Assuming that the price was $12 million hammer (without auction house fees) then Doig got a $1.2 million cut for this sale. What I didn’t ask is if the collector did it because he was friends with Doig, or because Doig had demanded such a deal. Why doesn’t Doig tell this to The Guardian?
For someone who claims not to be into money, this 2017 profile in The New Yorker highlights that Doig drives a Land Rover, has houses and studios designed by recognized architects (he lives in Trinidad, but still) and had just returned from a “heli-skiing” trip in Canada. (I’ve only known two people who practice this extreme sport and they told me it’s ridiculously expensive to do it.)
This rant by Doig sounds very disingenuous to me. The money he claims he has received simply doesn't make sense. As for the secondary market, while extraordinarily unusual, did he have an agreement with his galleries where he was supposed to get a cut of sales and they didn’t respect that? Does he really care where the paintings are? Or is it all a money issue? Why demonize the galleries that have supported Doig’s work for decades when he seemed to love money as much as they do?
Royal Ruse: When a Warhol Queen Wasn’t Regal
To the left, is an original Andy Warhol diamond-dusted Royal Edition print from Warhol’s “Reigning Queen” series which sold at auction in 2023 for $855,600. The one to the right, which is almost comical, is one of the many fakes sold by Leslie Roberts of Miami Fine Art Gallery for $82,500.
I’ve been in this business 15 years and have sold and bought many Warhols on behalf of my clients. Even this past June, I did one transaction for a couple who almost fell for some tourist trap in London. (Thankfully they called me right on time and I found something much better and definitely legitimate for them.)
Unfortunately, once again, a family has been the victim of a $6 million scam through one of those dubious galleries, this time in Coconut Grove, Florida, as reported by The New York Times.
What really shocks me is that if you have $6 million to give away to any Joe, Dick and Harry who tells you a cute story, you also have a device with access to Google to look things up for yourself and do your own due diligence.
The story reports that the scammer art dealer told members of the family that he was buying through a contact at The Andy Warhol Foundation. It is well known to all of us who are serious advisors or dealers that the Warhol Foundation - if and when they sell anything - do it through Christie’s exclusively. (Based on an agreement the foundation signed with the auction house several years ago.) It’s even written on their website!
Furthermore, the foundation dissolved its Authentication Board in October 2011. The decision was made to avoid legal battles and the escalating costs associated with defending their authentication decisions.
As a rule of thumb: if the work isn’t photographed or mentioned in Warhol’s catalogue raisonné, or notified by email by the Warhol Foundation for inclusion in one of the upcoming tomes of the catalogue, or comes with certification issued by the Authentication Board prior to 2011, then it’s probably a fake.
Even more telling is that one of the works the scammed family bought is a Queen Elizabeth portrait that is such a bad knock-off that it’s almost comical (it reminded me of the elderly woman from Spain, who in 2012 wanted to fix a Jesus fresco on the walls of her church, and she did, with disastrous results). I mean, the real images of what Warhol made are everywhere online, there are catalogues of his work available on Amazon, and the differences are palpable. If the deal is too good to be true, it probably is. Caveat emptor.
Death of the NFTs
It’s official, NFT’s are dead. Here’s a guide to understand if yours have any chance of survival.
Everyone IS Creative
When I say that everyone is creative, I mean it. Here’s proof: A Brazilian Franciscan Friar has become the art star of the season making textile-based works in his studio at a 17th century convent in Rome. His upcoming show at Mennour in Paris opens on September 7th and all his proceeds will go to charity. Love it!
Show of The Week
Last week I finally made it back to The Met, my favorite museum. The Rooftop Garden Commission this year went to Kosovo artist Petrit Halilaj (also a Mennour artist, by the way). The installation, called Abetare (a word in Romanian that refers to one of those ABC books that kids use to learn how to read and write), is based on doodles made by children on the desks of the schools that survived the Kosovo war.
In this war-torn world that we live in, it’s both sobering and hopeful, not to mention deeply moving, to think that even through the worst of times, children have dreams and ideas that they materialize through art. Halilaj did an excellent job blowing up those doodles and faithfully reproducing them into giant metal shapes. It’s worth the visit to the Met’s rooftop, which will be open until October 27th.
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