A Bustling Marketplace for Choice Art:
The 35th Art
Basel 2004
Clusters of people at the entrance, crowds
filling the passageways on the ground floor - waiting for that undisturbed
moment to view the Art Statements a story above: it's Art Basel
time. For db artmag, Dr. Christina Schroeter-Herrel, Director of
Art Consulting, Private Wealth Management, Deutsche Bank AG, summarizes
the trends and tendencies of the largest art fair worldwide.
Impression Art Basel 2004, Courtesy Art Basel
At
this year's art fair in Basel, a number of purchasing decisions were
already made on June 15, prior to the official opening. The noticeably
large number of red dots indicated that it wasn't only art enthusiasts
making the rounds, but numerous collectors who knew exactly what they were
looking for.
This year, Art
Basel was as popular among visitors as it was among exhibitors. 850
galleries applied, which is understandable considering that presence at
this eminently renowned art fair is essential to a gallery's sales intake
and positioning on the market. The jury accepted 270 galleries, ten more
than last year. With its 58 participants, the United States provided the
largest number of galleries from any single country, followed by 54 German
and 37 Swiss galleries. 22 galleries were from France and 20 from Great
Britain, while 18 came from Italy and the remainder from other countries.
Around 30 galleries are showing for the first time this year, most of them
concentrating on contemporary art or classical photography.
Impression Art Basel 2004, Courtesy Art Basel
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Over 52,000 visitors could be counted through the last day
of the fair on June 21 - around 2,000 more than in 2003. "As every year,
the Basel fair is the highlight of my gallery work. One meets the crème de
la crème of the art world, who always love to buy in Basel," said the
Frankfurt-based gallery dealer
Bärbel Grässlin , voicing an assessment that many exhibitors
shared.
The Zurich-based Amman Gallery, for instance, succeeded in
selling the two glamorous Warhol silkscreens
Diamond Dust Shoes from 1980 right at the beginning of the fair. "This
year, we sold something every day. The collectors knew exactly what they
wanted - it was great," agreed Doris Ammann at the end of the fair.
Without question, the exhibitors' strategy paid off; as in previous years,
they tended to go with quality and big 20th-century artists' names,
without losing sight of new tendencies in contemporary art.
Impression Art Basel 2004, Courtesy Art Basel
Only a few weeks previously,
Picasso's key work Boy with Pipe (1905) from the Blue Period
changed owners at Sotheby's for
an auction house record of around 104 million dollars. Thus, it was
understandable that some gallery dealers featured whatever Picassos they
had in the best possible way. Works by the artist were offered by more
than 27 galleries. For the most part, however, it was a matter of
paintings from later periods, such as the female portrait of 1937 from
Dora Maar's collection (
Jan Krugier Gallery) or the portrait Sylvette sur fond rouge (
Marlborough Gallery) from 1954. Visitors could just as often encounter
works by
Joan Miró, whom the Fondation
Beyeler in Basel-Riehen has dedicated particular attention to in the
remarkable exhibition
Calder - Miró, which can be seen through September 15. In terms
of art from the first half of the 20th century, which is traditionally
concentrated on the ground floor,
Josef Albers, Alexander Calder,
Willem de Kooning, Jean
Dubuffet,
Max Ernst,
Alberto Giacometti,
Fernand Léger, and
Henri Matisse were amply represented, among others.
Impression Art Basel 2004, Courtesy Art Basel
Art Basel's particular strength has always been in the area of
20th-century classics. Yet for a number of years already, there's been
some concern about giving contemporary art more space than before. This
tendency carries into the current year, as well, hence the fair's
organizers were proud to report that "there's no fair with more galleries
for contemporary art (ca. 200)" than the 35th Art Basel 2004.
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