Shaping Up a Bargain

NEW YORK—Sculpture is grabbing a lot of attention in New York this season, with major shows such as Tony Cragg at Marian Goodman Gallery, Louise Nevelson at the Jewish Museum, Frank Stella at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Richard Tuttle at Sperone Westwater, and a highly anticipated Richard Serra retrospective opening at The Museum of Modern Art on June 3.

But the medium hasn’t enjoyed the same notoriety on the market side. The last time a sculpture made waves at an auction was May 4, 2005, when Constantin Brancusi’s Bird in Space (1922-23) fetched $27.4 million at a Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art sale.

While that sum pulverized previous world auction records for sculpture, the price is still miniscule in comparison with the auction record for painting—the staggering $104.1 million paid for Picasso’s Boy With a Pipe (The Young Apprentice) (1905) at Sotheby’s on May 5, 2004.

The difference is not surprising, though, given that many art experts consider sculpture to be one of the most undervalued mediums.

More for Less

According to Peter Rathbone, senior vice president and director of the American paintings and sculpture department at Sotheby’s, although lower-priced paintings are more numerous than affordable three-dimensional pieces, sculpture bargains usually pack more of a punch dollar-for-dollar when it comes to quality.

“If you find a first-rate modern piece of sculpture, it may well cost you a lot less than a painting of equal quality,” he said, though he added that exact numeric comparisons are hard to make.

Rothbone pointed to Larkin Goldsmith Mead’s 1860s marble Venezia as an example. The sculpture is going under the hammer at Sotheby’s sale of American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture on May 23, estimated at $30,000–$50,000. A multiple of the piece will be offered at the Christie’s sale of American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture on May 24, estimated at $25,000–$35,000.

“If you like academic sculpture, the craft and the carving is just beautiful,” Rathbone said of Venezia. “If it’s that kind of quality of execution that you’re looking for, you’re not going to find it in a painting for $30,000–$50,000. The equally priced picture is not going to measure up in quality.”

Analyzing the Market

It’s not easy to pin down what influences the numbers, but Rathbone gave us some theories on what’s behind the sculpture market. We also asked for the opinions of Michael Hackett, co-director of the San Francisco-based Hackett-Freedman Gallery, which sells works from a number of notable sculptors including Gaston Lachaise and Manuel Neri.

First of all, Hackett and Rathbone agreed, there is less demand for sculpture than other mediums, especially painting. “There are fewer sculpture collectors than painting collectors,” Rathbone said. “It’s a narrower field so you should be able to find relatively good bargains by comparison.”

Second, sculpture is a less obvious choice for collectors. According to Hackett, most people begin collecting art by acquiring a two-dimensional work, and then they continue to purchase works in the medium of their first purchase. “There are walls to fill and people buy paintings because they’re easily accessible,” he said. “Sculpture is generally the last thing people think of, and it’s often after their walls are filled.”

Of course, sculpture can also be intimidating because of the challenge of finding space for the works, Rathbone and Hackett added.

Finally, there are simply many more painters than sculptors. This is partially because of the voracious demand for two-dimensional works and partially because sculpture tends to be more difficult, costly, and time consuming for artists.

“It’s more difficult to create successful sculpture than it is to create successful paintings,” Hackett said. “There are fewer great sculptors than there are great painters. For every Richard Serra, there are at least 20 quality painters.”

As a result, fewer sculptures are appearing at auction, even in today’s frenzied market.

“It’s tough to figure out (how undervalued sculpture is) because only a handful of sculptures come up for auction every so often,” Rathbone said. “You don’t know if they’re really undervalued or if they just never come up for sale.”

Advice for Collectors

Whatever the contributing factors, sculpture’s under-the-radar status could spell good news for collectors interested in the medium.

According to Hackett, two of the most undervalued artists working in the medium today are figurative sculptor Manuel Neri and abstract sculptor Brian Wall.

A Brian Wall piece might sell for as little as $12,000–$25,000. “When you think of a sculptor of this renown, it’s pretty amazing,” Hackett said.

He also mentioned works by Herbert Ferber, Gaston Lachaise, Eli Nadelman, Louise Nevelson, and Richard Stankiewicz. “They might be well known, but they are still undervalued compared to what paintings sell for,” he said.

Hackett’s advice to beginners is to start small. “Consider looking for more manageable pieces size-wise so the commitment isn’t as huge,” he said.

Rathbone urges new collectors to learn everything they can about sculpture, decide which periods they like best, and not be afraid of names that might not be familiar.

“You might be better off going for a lesser-known artist from a period you like,” he said. “And you should be looking for quality. If a sculptor is not well known, but the quality is there, you might have found a beautiful work of art for a bargain.”

Although most people start out collecting two-dimensional works, there is no reason a collector can’t begin with sculpture, he added.

“You don’t have to sneak up on it if it is really the medium you like,” Rathbone said. “You can go for it right from the beginning.”