The mood at 36 Montefiore Street, Tel Aviv, was celebratory, as befits any birthday. The baby is one year old. Montefiore Auction House, built on the ruins of an ambitious joint venture for art, held its fourth auction last week, completing its first year of business in a field that never before seemed to be worthwhile.
After Sammy Ofer bought Van Gogh’s "Madame Ginoux" for $40 million in early May, and Picasso’s “Dora Maar with Cat” was sold for a record $95 million, the staff at Montefiore Auction House hope they too will benefit from the art collectors’ shopping spree.
“We spotted the need and timed it right,” says Montefiore Auction House general manager Yuval Ben-Shlush, referring to the near-vacuum in the Israeli art market, after the Gordon Gallery and Dvir Gallery stopped holding auctions. Christie’s holds a sale in Israel only once a year, and Sotheby’s moved its Israeli sales to New York three years ago.
Ben-Shlush says market conditions have changed, and that Israeli demand for art has picked up. Another sign of this revival is Lucien Krief Gallery’s acquisition of 49% of Matsa Public Auctions, owned by Motti Peled.
Sotheby's Israel chairperson Rivka Saker attributes the revival to the fact that Israeli art is attracting more than local interest. “I think there’s a revival caused by extensive exposure to an international audience. Since our first sale in New York in 2004, there’s also been considerable interest in early and contemporary Israeli art by non-Israeli collectors. As a result of this lively participation, prices are rising too.
“At the latest sale of Israeli art in New York in March, there were hundreds of buyers and 89 call-in participants who bought, or tried to buy, items. This affected the outcome. Even if people don’t bid until the end, participation by many bidders for a certain painting boosts prices.”
Ben-Shlush and Montefiore Auction House art expert Jacob Gildor speak about the strong demand for Israeli paintings in particular, but they are careful to present to the Israeli audience a mix of art, half of which is from other countries. “Usually, cheap international art isn’t brought to Israel for sale. It isn't worthwhile for an Israeli collector to go to New York to buy a painting he likes for $2,000. I provide a service when I bring it here,” says Gildor.
Ben-Shlush and Gildor have also brought back home Israeli paintings, such as Michael Argov’s “Ice Hockey”, which was brought from Vienna specifically for last week’s auction. They also talk about the eagerness of participants at public auctions who have lately begun to relax and let themselves feel free.
“At auctions there’s a wonderful combination of culture and money,” says Ben-Shlush. “People who have both have a chance to stand out. People love to bargain and compete; there’s adrenaline in the air. There are cases in which people see a painting in a gallery but don’t buy it, and are then swept up by the atmosphere of an auction, and buy it for twice the price.”
Saker says the opposite is also true. “Auctions stimulate the gallery market. Those who fail to make a purchase continue looking, and try to get what they want. The fact is that artists get better prices. It seems to me that this is a chain reaction. The more optimistic current mood is also behind the revival.”
Atmosphere alone cannot be taken to the bank. Good material obtained by the auction house is what drives a good auction. A sale at a high price is therefore the result of at least three factors: a good painting, bidding, and collectors with deep pockets who are prepared to go all the way.
Even so, both Saker and the staff at Montefiore Auction House say there is no connection between the specific purchases of a collector like Sammy Ofer, who has an important international collection, and the Israeli art market. Saker says, “When it comes to important international paintings, such as impressionists for example, we’re talking about a global market, and the primary arenas are New York and London. This market is built on a large group of international collectors, some of whom are Israelis.”
There are Israeli and foreign collectors who specialize in Israeli art. Some of them do so from a feeling of sentiment or nostalgia, which can be seen in the rising value of pictures by Reuven Rubin, for example.
Sales at Sotheby’s latest auction of Israeli art totaled $6 million, double the figure in the 2005 auction. A work by Rubin sold for $419,000, and one by Mordechai Ardon sold for $318,000. Prices for works by other Israeli artists reached phenomenal record prices. Saker says, “A work by Michael Gross, valued at $50,000 to $70,000 was sold for $204,000. This is all thanks to bidding.
“There are some contemporary artists who are beginning to achieve these prices, but it’s very, very slow.” She mentions Adi Nes, David Reeb, and Nir Hod. “The market is more ready to buy, and interest in contemporary Israeli art is rising, even at galleries in Chelsea (New York), but it’s a Sysiphean task.”
Saker says collectors now come from all over the world, including Americans, Chinese, Koreans, and Russians. “We’d like Israeli artists to enter international collections,” she says.
This may be the reason why Sotheby’s will continue to hold its annual auction of Israeli art in New York. “At the moment, it seems better if we hold the sales overseas, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t come back, if we think it’s appropriate,” Saker promises.
Ben-Shlush and Gildor sum up their first year as a success. Aggregate sales at Montefiore Action House’s first three auctions exceeded $3.5 million, and they predict that the fourth auction will be similarly successful, or even better. They talk about the sense of mission that accompanies the business side. “If the culture business goes abroad, what will be left for us here? Felafel?” asks Gildor acerbically.
Gildor and Ben-Shlush are nevertheless aware that the domestic market is not enough for the Israeli art scene to survive, since the business is global by nature. Last week’s auction at the Dan Hotel was open to buyers from outside Israel, who bid by phone, and online sales were also carried out via eBay.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on June 6, 2006
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