Art Dealers

One reason some contemporary paintings sell for millions of dollars is that most of the world's true art is not floating around in pricey auction galleries but rather is permanently hung in the great museums. It is literally priceless, is not for sale, and can't be purchased at any price. Consequently, so-called New York intellectuals "with a little money" are forced to bid on whatever is leftover--that leaves contemporary art, which is a dime a dozen. Its price can easily be manipulated by creative marketing, auction scheduling, gallery showings, art dealers, etc. As I recall, toward the end of his life, Spanish contemporary "artist" Jean Miro was turning out six or seven pictures every day. How much thought or talent goes into one of those million-dollar "works"?

A Damien Hirst painting of four skulls that was tipped to fetch at least $3 million at Phillips de Pury & Co.'s New York auction didn't sell, the biggest upset of Thursday night's auction that missed presale low estimates by more than half. It was the third sale this week to disappoint art dealers and may herald a decline that tracks the drop in stock markets. Phillips took $9.6 million with fees, against its presale low projection of $23 million. A comparable sale a year ago fetched $42.3 million.

Hildy Beyeler, 86, who joined her husband Ernst Beyeler in building one of Switzerland's biggest art collections, died Friday at her home in Riehen, near Basel, Switzerland, after a long illness, according to Catherine Schott, a spokeswoman for the internationally renowned Beyeler Foundation museum. She married Ernst Beyeler in 1948 and became a constant companion in her husband's art business. The Beyelers were art dealers who would decorate their home with paintings that they didn't want to sell.

Arts organizations in New York that have sustained damage from Hurricane Sandy are getting a helping hand from foundations and other groups that have agreed to donate money to the relief effort. The Andy Warhol Foundation recently announced that it has allocated $2 million that will go to help artists and nonprofit arts organizations that have experienced serious damage from the storm. The foundation said the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and the Lambent Foundation will add to the money.

Goaded by the assertion that they deal in a glamorized version of pork bellies, the city's art dealers and auctioneers are engaged in a lively debate over the suggestion that art sales should be regulated like commodity trading. Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, a Westchester Democrat, has questioned a number of sales and financing practices that flourished in the art market's boom years, saying they contributed to inflated art prices and, in effect, drove public institutions from the market.

Two prominent Beverly Hills art dealers have emerged as key figures in a multimillion-dollar art fraud case that is causing severe repercussions for some local art dealers as an investigation by local and federal authorities expands. A Los Angeles police affidavit obtained by The Times names Lee Sonnier, 42, former manager of the prestigious Rodeo Drive branch of Upstairs Gallery, as a primary suspect in the case. It also identifies Stanley R.

Contemporary art dealers and collectors snapped up every last item in a $65.5-million auction Wednesday night at Sotheby's New York. The sale didn't have as much high-end material as Christie's $102.1-million auction the previous night, but it exceeded Sotheby's most optimistic expectations and set records for 17 artists. "Not everything is a masterpiece," auctioneer Tobias Meyer said after the sale.