"I started collecting art in my early 20s in medical school, buying by working weekend jobs and taking out loans. There were no art databases, nothing to check auction history. I overpaid substantially for our first contemporary purchase - Kenneth Noland's "Shift" (1966). The third purchase my wife, Livia, and I made was Ellsworth Kelly's "Chatham VIII" (1971), which required a three-year bank loan."
"In an ArtNews report from September, Daniel Cassady asks if art market writers are getting it wrong, arguing that the market is not as distressed as reported ad nauseam. He quotes Kenny Schachter, who suggests that the data is skewed; some noteworthy gallery closures in New York City do not represent a market that is doing just fine. Cassady points out that all these articles of doom and gloom may be feeding the downturn."
Claims that the art market is not distressed rely on a restricted subset of data, obscuring a deeper downturn. Early collectors operated without databases or auction histories, often overpaying for works and financing purchases with loans. Close examination of pricing and auctions reveals hidden reserves, chandelier bids, guarantees, authenticity challenges, and problematic condition reports. Significant works were frequently unaffordable to typical buyers. The 1970s market was lethargic; beginning in 1981 the market became international, multiplying collectors and galleries and driving dramatic price increases that reshaped market dynamics.
Read at Hyperallergic
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