Art Advisers Roundtable

Photo by Michael Edwards

Site: Louise Blouin Media headquarters, New York City

Key Advice
for Collecting in These Uncertain Times

Mary Hoeveler

“There are opportunities in virtually every collecting field right now. If you want to play it safe, concentrate on established secondary-market artists, negotiate well, and take a long-term view.”

Abigail Asher

“Careful and selective buying of 20th- and 21st-century masterpieces is what I would focus on. That’s the area people felt priced out of in the past few years. This is actually an exciting time.”

Stefano Basilico

“Collectors should be selective and careful in their choices. Condition becomes paramount, especially if it’s an editioned work. Look at each piece with a jaundiced eye. It’s not worth a risk.”

Allan Schwartzman

“Look for undervalued areas in every price range. These are times when people crave art of profound beauty or meaning. The art that means the most holds its value— spiritually and financially.”

Richard Serra Yayoi Kusama Hans Hofmann Lucio Fontana Ad Reinhardt Jean Arp Hans Hofmann Piero Manzoni

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ALLAN SCHWARTZMAN: A real collector buys beyond the capacity of the house.

MARY HOEVELER: But the reality is that there is a specific environment in which these works of art have to make sense. I have a client who is a Minimalist collector and really wants a Richard Serra prop piece. But he has toddlers and a dog running around, so he can’t do that right now.

STEFANO BASILICO: I have clients whose collecting is more adventurous than their house allows. They realize they have to build a new house.

TONY FREUND: As part of your advisory services, have you ever collaborated with the architect to make sure the art would have the right home?

ABIGAIL ASHER: Often you work with an architect from the very beginning, to make sure there are the right walls, lighting and everything else.

SARAH DOUGLAS: Are private museums a big part of what you do?

ALLAN SCHWARTZMAN: That’s half my clientele. A project I worked on for years was with Marieluise Hessel, who is the patron behind the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. She engaged me when she decided to create a permanent museum building for her collection. I have a project in Brazil now with the collector Bernardo Paz, a museum that’s in its infant stages of being open to the public.

SARAH DOUGLAS: How about inexperienced collectors — what are the challenges of working with someone just starting out?

ABIGAIL ASHER: With someone who has never bought before, who has never looked, it’s very different from editing or reeducating.

ALLAN SCHWARTZMAN: I don’t work with beginners. The way I work is about figuring out what the priorities are, not coming to the client until I’ve found the right work for them to acquire.

MARY HOEVELER: Working with new collectors is harder because they are so impressionable. There are a lot of false starts.

ABIGAIL ASHER: It’s much more of an education process with a new collector.

MARY HOEVELER: I have also had new collectors who are so decisive and have such a clear vision of what they want that it’s been an absolute pleasure. But I’ve had whole years of no buying at all, just education.

ALLAN SCHWARTZMAN: It takes a lot of getting to know people to begin to understand what their priorities are. These are usually things they have not articulated for themselves.

SARAH DOUGLAS: Have there been collectors you refused to work with?

MARY HOEVELER: I had to fire a client once because he violated the rules of engagement that we had established. Of course, you don’t actually fire a client. You say, "I don’t think I can offer you the kind of service you are looking for, and you are going to be better served by somebody else. We’re not a good match."

ALLAN SCHWARTZMAN: I was approached several years ago by a rather established collector about working with him. Although he was a member of several substantial museum boards, he was known to be problematic in certain ways. So I went to a dealer whose discretion I trust and asked him what he thought. He said, "You can’t bring him up. He can only bring you down." Those words resonate in my head whenever I consider working with someone new.

THE NEW REALITY

SARAH DOUGLAS: How are your clients reacting to what’s happening in the art market now?

ALLAN SCHWARTZMAN: Virtually all my clients are collecting art now. The critical issue for them is confidence that a price is an appropriate value. In some instances this does mean adjusting prices. In other instances, it’s indicating why prices aren’t being adjusted.

MARY HOEVELER: While my clients are waiting for a clear signal from the market on secondary-market material, they are still quite active. Everyone seems to be full speed ahead on the primary market. They recognize that it’s a great time to buy art.

SARAH DOUGLAS: Are you talking about established artists or emerging artists?

MARY HOEVELER: Emerging and solid midcareer.