If you want a quick summary (27 minutes) we recommend a listen to the Berkley One Webinar 2019: An Art Year in Review trends by Katja Zigerlig Berkley One’s Vice President of Art, Wine + Collectibles Advisory
Autumn Impressionist/Modern/ Post-War Contemporary Auction Sales $1.4 Billion. This is down from the prior year but mainly because there were no works sold at over $100 million each:
- New record for Ed Ruscha 1964 Hurting the Word Radio #2 $54 million (Christie’s).
- Tale of Two Hockneys $29.5 million Sur La Terrasse 1971 (Christie’s) while Yves-Marie Rain 1972 went unsold (Sotheby’s). Buyers associate the bright California sunshine in La Terasse with Hockney, but not the dreary rain-drenched figure in the unsold work.
- Graffiti Art on the Move. Keith Haring’s Grace House Mural (1983-1984) sold for $3.9 million (Bonham’s) and will move moved to a new location.
- New record for Yoshimoto Nara.  The  2000 Knife Beyond Back reached $25 million (Sotheby’s) following a $4.5 million new record only six months prior at the spring sales in Hong Kong.
Highlights from Basel. Other than Maurizo Cattelan’s Comedian otherwise now well-known as the banana duct-taped to the wall. The edition of 3 was sold at a price tag of $120,000.
- Emerging artists especially from the Caribbean and affordable ceramics such as Deborah Anziger’s Eye
Climate Change. Two major foundations are setting up shop in the gallery district which is further inland and less vulnerable to storm surge.  We wonder if this effort will have any impact on the private jet market.
Commissioned Works – Urs Fischer, Leo (George & Iremlin), 2019 a wax sculpture complete with a wick intended to be lit and gradually melted like a candle commissioned by Leonardo di Caprio.
Berkley One includes coverage of $100,000 for works under commission. They made reference to this informative blog post interview with Amy J. Goldrich a New York based art lawyer about commission agreements. NB the importance of a copyright agreement to use images of the artwork.  Click here to read more.