The $5,000 Question, Part II

NEW YORK—Last week we met Charles. He’s a New Yorker who has $5,000 that he’s itching to spend on contemporary art. Charles is just starting out in the collecting field, but he’s feeling confident, having had a great, highly educational meeting with Ann Freedman at Knoedler & Co. She showed him some works on paper within his price range by Jules Olitski and John Walker, and now he’s decided to look at some prints.

Charles takes out his Gallery Guide and flicks through it looking for a dealer in contemporary prints. Ah yes, Gemini G.E.L. at Joni Moisant Weyl (the New York gallery that exhibits and represents the publications of the Los Angeles-based artists' workshop, Gemini G.E.L.; the gallery shows new editions as they are published).

Charles has been there before. It’s a strange little place in an apartment building in Midtown. So he decides to find a cab and go there. But as he’s walking towards Fifth Avenue, he decides to stop into another gallery that he’s been in once or twice.

This time we’ll keep the identity of the place a secret because Charles has his first rather discouraging experience. He asks to speak to the gallery manager. She greets him with a smile and a handshake, and he explains what he’s looking for. “$5,000?” she says, almost in disbelief, it seems to Charles. “No, we don’t have anything at all at that price.”

Charles is suddenly embarrassed. “Well, can you suggest somewhere else?” he stutters. “Or,” and he’s rather clutching at straws now, “are there any artists’ studios you think I should visit?”

“No,” the gallery manager replies, “I know so little about work at that sort of price, I wouldn’t know how to advise you. Sorry.”

Charles realizes he’s broken into a sweat and hurries out of the place. The experience has almost caused his sense of achievement after the Knoedler experience to evaporate. But not quite. He still wants to see those prints.

He arrives at Joni Moisant Weyl and introduces himself to Ashley Willard, the assistant director. This time he’s a little more careful about how he announces his budget. But he’s immediately encouraged by her attitude.

“$5,000 for a print? There’s actually quite a lot that you could get here.”

Charles smiles, and Ms. Willard goes on: “Well, the first thing I want to do, as you’ve just started collecting and have $5,000 to spend, is to see what you’re looking for. It really does depend on you. We have Ellsworth Kellys here that are less than $5,000, and we have Cecily Browns for less than $5000. They are very different artists, so before price becomes an issue let’s see what your taste is.”

So she starts showing him things. And as she’s taking things out, Charles asks her his question about his purchase as an investment.

“Well,” Ms. Willard says (echoing what Ann Freedman told him at Knoedler), “when people come in with questions about what kind of investment this is going to be—‘Is this going to go up?’—I say that for the most part our prints do go up in value.

“But,” and here she pauses, because Charles has become very interested in some Frank Stellas that she’s just brought out, “I recommend that first of all you get something that you love. Then you won’t care if it goes up in value. You’re going to be happy having it in your house regardless of whether you make money on it.”

“Yes,” Charles thinks, “That’s good advice. My flat screen TV won’t be worth anything when I’m done with it.”

And now he’s getting really quite excited at the work that Ms. Willard’s showing him. Not only is there this beautiful 1975 Stella, Furg (State II) for $3,500 in an edition of 30, there are five classic 2003 Ellsworth Kellys: Dark Purple, Purple, Black, Blue and Red. They’re all single-color lithographs. Dark Purple is in an edition of 35, the rest in editions of 45, and they’re $4,500 each—apart from Red, of which more prints have sold, so it’s now $5,500.