Frieze Masters (ctd.)
October 18 2013
Pictures: BG
I enjoyed Frieze Masters, where I went yesterday evening. It's a well presented and well run fair, and has the potential to be one of the best in the world. A highlight was the above pair of Monet drawing and painting (above), on offer at Simon Dickinson for just over £8.3m.
But from an Old Master point of view, I found the offering a little underwhelming. The fair seems mainly to have stands from dealers who exhibit at TEFAF in Maastricht. And since TEFAF is still the world's pre-eminent Old Master fair, it's hard not to go around Frieze Masters thinking, 'I've seen that before'. Some of the pictures I recognised from TEFAF two and even three years ago. Major art fairs should really have a rule that prevents exhibitors wheeling out the same old pictures.
Another rule all fairs should have is one about labelling and pricing the works on offer. Fairs are retail environments, not the first floor galleries many dealers are used to. Not putting prices on the wall makes punters, especially new ones, feel uneasy.
The worst offender in this respect at Frieze Masters was the Gagosian Gallery (below), which is so lah-de-dah exclusive that it refuses to put any labels on the wall at all. So you have no idea who made what, and (I suppose this is the point) are made to feel lowly and un-cultured by daring to ask. It's an unforgiveably pompous way to treat people, don't you think? I don't understand why, in my world of selling Old Masters and British art, we bend over backwards to explain everything possible about a picture (attribution, identification, context, provenance, condition), and yet in the modern and contemporary world you can get away with saying nothing at all. Is that because there is in fact nothing to say?
Update - a reader points out that the Barber Institute has another version of the above Monet, for which they paid just £1,428 in 1938.
Update II - a dealing reader writes:
Your comments about presentation of work that’s already been seen are absolutely right.
The labelling issue vis-à-vis modern and contemporary rumbles on and is a reflection of the snootery and elitism that is rife, all to do with deep insecurity and anxiety I expect.
Update III - another reader writes:
Just a short message to let you know I completely agree with your review of Frieze Masters; I had exactly the same feeling at Gagosian - "yeah that's a Rothko (but if you have to ask you're too stupid to become a client of us" - extremely pompous indeed.
Old masters isn't my core interest but I did have some déja-vu's too - and I saw the Velazques portrait you discussed earlier on your blog.
For Modern art FM is definitely at the same level at Tefaf in my view, but there are still some holes, for example the almost total lack of anything new or old from the Asian continent.
Great location in the park too, a fine excuses for a day-trip to London - and such great weather!
Update IV - a reader alerts me to this excellent article on how to navigate the Friezes, by Peter Aspden in the FT:
1. Act rich. For all their democratic brio, people who sell art are only really interested in people who can afford to buy it. The average price of an artwork at Frieze is £20,000, which is more than an Alfa Romeo. But acting rich is not as easy as it used to be. Pressed jeans and Tod’s loafers are a uniform of the past. Assume a casual, studied air. When confronted by a work designed to make you laugh, don’t laugh. Haughty disdain goes a long way, although if you can match that of the gallerist, you are made of ice. Don’t be embarrassed to ask the price of anything but never, ever, mention any currency denomination (see point two).
2. So you quite like the look of something, and you ask how much it costs. “Two,” may be the reply. The air of vagueness is a test. You will know, from your studies of the artist in question, whether that means £2 (no), £200 (unlikely), £200,000, or £2m. But if the gallerist’s assistant is American, she (almost always a she) may be talking dollars. Don’t ask. Make a rough calculation in your head that covers all possible options. Any physical reaction is ill-advised, other than the barely perceptible raising of an eyebrow. Finally, ask if she will accept roubles. You’re on the front foot now.
3. Don’t check in your sense of humour at the VIP lounge. Take it with you, wherever you go. There is no need to LOL but a steady, wry chuckle as you wind your way round the aisles will serve you well. If asked your opinion on anything, there are some stock phrases that will come in useful: for example, “referencing Duchamp”, or “rethinking the space between the artist and the spectator”. Almost all contemporary art references or rethinks something or other. As an exercise, try and talk about art without using any word that begins with “re”. Don’t ever use the word “postmodern”, which is dated and not very funny at all.
Update V - a major contemporary artist (apparently) writing under the pseudonym Shirley House on has this interesting snippet on Pinkers Post about the datelines at Frieze Masters:
right now the mix is a total disaster. I was told by one of the organizers that they came under huge pressure from some of the very large contemporary galleries to include them, as they wanted to show off expensive minimalists. Many of the larger galleries, and even some mid-size ones are busily hoovering up the estates of dead artists (they have all learned the art of dodgy editions). The fair obviously cannot refuse them as they are too powerful, and bring too many collectors there, but it really risks the future integrity of the fair. The organizer told me confidentially that they are waiting a few years to push further back the date remit - I imagine to the start of the 1980's, but we will have to see if they do it. If there is one way of deciding how to draw a line, it may be to decide who is already in an established cannon, and who is not. The Masters fair would be a perfect vehicle to investigate these parameters. Koons has added to the post-Warhol debate, so he is in. Damien Hirst and Takahashi Murakami are yet to be decided.
