As the art market catches up with financial markets, boom is turning to bust and contemporary is starting to look like history, says Ivan Lindsay Damien Hirst said, “I just wanted to find out where the boundaries were. I’ve found out there aren’t any. I wanted to be stopped but no one will stop me.”
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The market for classic British painting of the late 18th-century has been in the doldrums for decades. Not any longer, says Ivan Lindsay When in 1921 the second Duke of Westminster needed to raise funds to pay taxes, he turned to Joseph Duveen (1869–1938), the pre-eminent art dealer of his day, who bought three paintings
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It’s going to the dogs… Jim Mellon, 52, author, marathon runner, guitar player and songwriter is best known as one of the most successful businessmen of his generation (Sunday Times Rich List 2009, ranked 88 at £500m). Originally a specialist in Emerging Markets, Mellon is now a major investor in property and commodities. He has
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As Russia’s 18th richest man, Alisher Usmanov, snaps up the Rostropovich art collection ‘en bloc’ from Sotheby’s, Russianart expert, Ivan Lindsay, examines how President Putin isgetting involved with the ‘great Russian art grab’ The Russian art market continues to accelerate with new records being set at every sale, for both turnover and individual prices for
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By Ivan Lindsay. Anyone working in mining, metals, diamonds, oil and gas, timber or up-market property is now dealing with the Russians on a regular basis. The marriage of Russian resources to Western consumers is creating huge fortunes and some of this excess capital is helping drive the already overheated Western art market and create
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