Camera masterpieces put
sector in focus
FT Weekend Money
The easiest way to begin collecting is to attend one of the art world's trade fairs, says the US-based trade body, the Association of International Photography Art Dealers. Its recent New York show drew about 90 dealers from around the world, according to Kathleen Ewing, its executive director. Some of these dealers are coming to the UK for Photo-London, a fair which opened on Thursday and runs until Sunday at the Royal Academy of Arts' Burlington Gardens exhibition space. First staged in 2004, the fair attracted more than 18,000 people...
Seymours profile
The Guardian
The world of high-flying art dealers, super-rich clients, celebrity artists and intimidating auction houses tends to preclude ordinary mortals. "I think the art world gives itself a veneer of mystique intentionally," Ewen admits. So, settling in, he begins to enlighten me. "We are, ultimately, facilitators. We provide independence. We act purely for the client without any interest. A dealer, first and foremost, has their stock; but we don't have that tie with any particular item. The primary person we try to please is the client and we do that by accessing…
You Too Can Have Access To A Masterpiece
Financial Times Weekend Money
The mainstay in London is The Fine Art fund, which was started by Philip Hoffman, a former accountant at Christie's. The group, structured as a limited liability partnership, offers the chance to invest in its landmark fund - the Fine Art Fund II - which includes a wide range of works by artists such as Canaletto and Picasso and also a Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern art fund, which is set to launch in May. Combined, the funds have $100m under management and another $100m is expected to be received this year, according to Hoffman…
Master the Art of Profiting from Pictures
The Sunday Times
A growing number of private banks are offering art advisory services to help their clients avoid dud pieces and decide when to sell works from their collections. Swiss bank BSI, for example, has recently engaged the services of Fine Art Investment & Research (Fair), the London organisation that runs the Fine Art Fund, to advise its clients on art investments. Philip Hoffman of Fair said: “We look at art from a financial, rather than a passionate perspective. The service we are providing to BSI’s clients includes providing background...
Hidden persuaders
FT Weekend Life & Arts
They don’t figure in the lists of top collectors, yet they spend millions every year at auction and at dealers. They get first dibs on the most sought-after works of art at the top fairs, yet outside the art world their names are unknown – and they like to keep it that way. Yet their taste can mould what collectors buy and have a far-reaching influence on setting trends for other collectors – as well as having a major impact on the market itself.
“Our typical clients are time-poor but very wealthy and savvy,” says Spencer Ewen of the London advisers Seymours. “They like the fact that we are independent from both dealers and the auction rooms...
Artful Investment
Moneyextra.com
If you want a more hands-off approach then buying through a fund means the decisions on what to buy and when to sell are taken by experts. Contemporary art fund V22 plc began trading on the PLUS market last August. Investors have contributed from £1,000 to £100,000 to become shareholders in a collection of art work which will be held for around five years or less if the time is judged right to sell. The first round of investment resulted in a collection valued at £250,000. V22 has now embarked on its second round of selections and acquisitions...
Trade Savour Cricket Win
Antiques Trade Gazette
ENGLAND may have whitewashed India and become the world’s number one Test team, but theirs was not the only cricketing achievement last month. On the last weekend of August on a blustery day in Burton’s Court in front of Chelsea’s Royal Hospital the art trade took on Christie’s in the annual 35-over battle for the Lee Plate.
The art trade won the toss and their captain, Christopher Kingzett of Agnew’s, elected to bowl. A good move which soon had the auctioneers in all sorts of trouble...