Free Republic

The extraordinary three-day auction of the Yves Saint Laurent-Pierre Bergé collection has put the global art market in an entirely new perspective. It has finally demonstrated that the art market is set on a separate trajectory from the rest of the world economy and, even more importantly, it has altered the international power balance on the auction scene. To the general public, the string of world auction records set this week, from 20th-century paintings to Old Masters to Art Deco furniture, is the most striking evidence that the art market is performing beautifully. The sale, conducted by Christie's, took in...

By now, six years since the arrival of the new millennium, we might reasonably expect to feel challenged, invigorated and even unnerved by the advent of a fiery new spirit in art. But the zeitgeist of the present decade has yet to appear. Does anyone else share my sense of disappointment about the unfocused character of art today? Where are the young talents whose work is not just promising, but alive with an audacious vision of the world? Who, among this emergent generation, will deserve to be remembered as the artists responsible for setting the pace in the 21st century?...

ART MARKET BIDS BRITAIN FAREWELL, PUSHED OUT BY FRANCE AND EUFebruary 16, 2005I have a strong sense of déjà vue about the travails of the art market in the wake of the introduction of droit de suite. I first wrote about it about ten years ago, when the legislation was being discussed and the British Government swore blind that it would protect the flourishing British art market. So much for promises. The droit de suite is a sliding-scale levy paid by the vendor of a work of art to a living artist or to an artist's family for 70 years...