Back to Summer 2002 Wise Buys  

It’s easy to see why aspiring collectors might be intimidated by the art market’s ascent in recent years. At a time when a hint of interest from a high-profile collector can send prices soaring and create waiting lists for work by a student barely out of art school, the window of opportunity for a good buy often seems to shut quickly.

Lee Friedlander, New York City, 1963. Prices for his photographs start at about $2,000.

Courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

New York art dealer Paul Morris still regrets how, in 1995, he breezed past a collection of photographs by Rineke Dijkstra. The prints, priced at about $400 each, were scattered across a bedspread at the Gramercy International Contemporary Art Fair, an event where galleries displayed their offerings in the guest rooms of Manhattan’s Gramercy Park Hotel. Nowadays, a large-scale photograph by Dijkstra goes for roughly $25,000, and a series of six photos fetched $405,000 at a recent Christie’s auction. "I wish I had paid more attention. I wish I had bought one for myself," says Morris, who was an organizer of the fair.

Manhattan gallery owner Sean Kelly recounts a recent episode where a collector he invited to his home "nearly choked on his dinner" when told that a set of 16 Ann Hamilton photographs on Kelly’s wall, part of the artist’s "Body Object" series, is now worth about $225,000. Kelly had offered prints of the images to the collector in 1990, when they cost $600 each.

Considering that it took at least a few decades for now-legendary artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Andrew Wyeth to hit the six-figure mark at auction, the speed with which a number of contemporary artists have broken that barrier can be daunting. These include artists championed by collector Charles Saatchi, such as Damien Hirst and Jenny Saville. Over the past year, Saville, who is only in her early 30s, had two works at auction that each brought more than $470,000.

But, as dealer Richard Feigen warns, the contemporary-art scene is certainly prone to hype. While many modern and Impressionist works have had many years to justify their multimillion dollar price tags, works by current artists commanding high sums have yet to stand the test of time. "Because they’re expensive does not mean they’re the best," says Feigen.

That often applies to the art market in general, some maintain. According to a group of experts surveyed by ARTnews, collectors willing to invest some time, energy, and money can still find good buys, from contemporary-art installations to vintage photographs and original Greek marble sculptures. To find out more about the artists mentioned, contact your local art dealers’ association.

Under $2,500

Bonnie Clearwater, director and chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, recommends Hernan Bas, a local artist known for mystery novel–like drawings in which the young protagonists appear to be exploring, or seeking, their sexual identities. One of Bas’s recent series, "It’s Super Natural," is inspired by illustrations from the "Hardy Boys" books and features a gay teenager as its main character. Prices for Bas’s drawings start at $600. Clearwater also likes William Cordova, a Peruvian-born artist. "He is able to use paintings and drawings of everyday objects as journalistic memoirs that pull the viewer into the stories they are telling," she says. Cordova’s postcard-size drawings sell for around $300, while larger drawings can go for up to $1,000.

Peter Galassi, chief curator of the department of photography at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, calls Lee Friedlander "one of the great photographers of our time." In December 2000, the museum announced it had committed to acquiring 1,000 of the artist’s prints. The museum has already selected 868 pictures and will choose 132 more over the next five years. Prices for Friedlander’s photos start at $2,100 for signed 11-by-14-inch images. "Friedlander has delved into a great variety of themes over the course of his 40-year career," says Galassi. "It’s that rare combination of quality and quantity."

Lea Freid, partner at Manhattan’s Lombard-Freid Fine Arts, recommends editioned works from famous artists as a way to buy less expensive art when one-of-a-kind pieces are out of reach. For example, she notes that cups from Douglas Gordon’s limited-edition tea set, Black Spot, inspired by a scene from Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island, sell for $300 (the complete set is $2,750), while his large-scale installations can sell for more than $90,000, as one recently did at auction. Freid points out that editions are often sold by nonprofit organizations, such as the New York–based Art in General, which promotes emerging artists and offers art-education programs. "There is terrific stuff out there. Nonprofit organizations get artists to donate great multiples," she says.

Under $5,000

Ken Wynn, head of construction and design for Wynn Resorts in Las Vegas and an avid photography collector, suggests work by Abelardo Morell, whose black-and-white images made from inside room-size camera obscuras impart a fantastical sense to everyday scenes and objects. Gelatin-silver prints measuring 32 by 40 inches start at $4,500, with smaller ones costing between $1,800 and $4,000. "He is going to be big," predicts Wynn. "This is like Hiroshi Sugimoto five years ago."

Michael Rush, director of the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, considers Leo Villareal’s light-based sculptures a great choice. "He is working on the edge of new media and sculpture in a way that is very appealing. His pieces are challenging but also beautiful," Rush says. Villareal’s multiples (produced in editions of 25) are available for $2,800. Rush also speaks highly of Julianne Swartz, who often uses sections of plumbing pipe containing convex lenses to project oscillating and blurred upside-down images. They are "among the most magical, wonderful constructions I’ve ever seen," says Rush, who observes, "Very common things become mysterious objects—you hardly know what they are." Depending on size, they carry price tags ranging from $1,500 to $5,000.

Douglas Landy, a New York–based contemporary-art collector, recommends Matthew Ronay, a young sculptor who plays with viewers’ expectations, presenting, for instance, a peacock standing proudly on a blanket dotted with googly eyes, or a typewriter balancing on an apple. His sculpture is "very well made, with a lot of attention to detail," says Landy. "There is also a tremendous amount of humor and sophistication in his work." Landy also suggests Luca Buvoli, whose mixed-media works on paper often include candy wrappers and start at $1,200, and whose installations can cost up to $22,000. Since he collects both drawings and sculpture, Landy finds Buvoli’s pieces particularly appealing, as he says they often "merge the two."

Under $10,000

Polly Sartori, director of 19th-century European art at Sotheby’s, notes that drawings are a less expensive way to own some of the best examples of an artist’s work. Sartori points, as example, to a small sketch she found on the back of a Jean-François Millet landscape drawing, which she recognized as the top of the sower’s arm in the artist’s celebrated oil painting at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. "Obviously, he had been out in the field and had watched a sower. You can see how the painting evolved from this wonderful little drawing," she says. Drawings by Victor Hugo are also a great buy, according to Sartori, although, she notes, this year, which marks the bicentennial of his birth, has seen increased interest in his work. "He did these wonderful little brown washes in the 19th century, and they have been going up and up in price," she says. At a Paris auction held by Piasa in late March, Hugo’s 1858 Guernsey Landscape, done in ink and gouache, brought over $50,000, more than four times as much as expected. But, says Sartori, "you can still find these one-of-a-kind pieces for under $10,000."

In the field of 20th-century design, James Zemaitis of Phillips de Pury and Luxembourg recommends first-edition chairs by Scandinavian designers such as Arne Jacobsen, Finn Juhl, and Alvar Aalto. "All of the iconic chairs are still available, but the first editions are the ones that chair collectors really want," says Zemaitis. "At $5,000 to $10,000, they are still relatively underpriced compared with American midcentury modern design. These are museum-quality pieces of furniture."

Daile Kaplan, director of photographs at Swann Galleries in New York, says modern prints by 20th-century masters of photography are also considerably undervalued. A vintage print of André Kertész’s Chez Mondrian, for instance, can bring about $270,000 at auction, while a later print of the same image goes for $6,000 to $10,000, depending on its size, says Kaplan. "In many cases, the prints signed by the photographers have been printed or at least supervised by them, and yet sell for a fraction of the price," she notes. She also points to later Rodchenko prints, which sell for significantly less than vintage ones.

Under $20,000

Edward Wilkinson, head of the Indian and Southeast Asian department at Sotheby’s, says quality examples of Indian miniature paintings from the 17th through the 19th centuries can be found for prices ranging between $8,000 and $15,000. According to Wilkinson, the small paintings, with their elaborate detail, vibrant hues, and mythological themes, appeal to a broad range of buyers. When Sotheby’s handled the sale of a New York private collection in late March—the first of its kind in a decade—a painting of the deities Krishna and Radha making love (ca. 1775–80) commanded $148,750, well over the estimated $50,000 to $70,000. The sale brought out the usual collectors of South Asian miniatures along with a new group of younger bidders, Wilkinson says. Given that the works are more than 200 years old and generally in excellent condition, they are, in his estimation, a good bet.

John Henry, director of the Flint Institute of Arts in Michigan, says the museum has recently added works by Chakaia Booker, Whitfield Lovell, and Melvin Edwards to its collection. "We saw Booker’s work at the 2000 Whitney Biennial and thought she was just it," says Henry, who enjoys the artist’s signature tire sculptures. Edwards, known for his dark, steel works, is a "superlative craftsman and a great sculptor," according to Henry. "I don’t know how much longer his works are going to be reasonably priced." As for Lovell’s drawings and installations, Henry says that major museums are buying the artist’s work "at a surprisingly rapid pace."

Harry Philbrick, director of the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Ridgefield, Connecticut, regards Olafur Eliasson as an "enormously interesting artist. He uses space and place, as well as natural materials—light, water, steam—in extraordinary ways." Eliasson’s sculptures start at $12,000, though major installations can cost up to $150,000; his photographic works range from $2,000 for single images to $24,000 for series.

Under $50,000

Norman Dubrow, a New York collector who has been organizing his own biennials in response to the Whitney’s, recommends Michael Bevilacqua, who makes large oil paintings that often include corporate and rock-band logos. "His work is very colorful and done with tremendous precision," says Dubrow. He also suggests Laura Owens, whose paintings have "landscape and still-life references. There is a wonderful sense of composition and design."

In this price range, New York art dealer David Zwirner says he would buy Christian Jankowski. "Jankowski’s gallery show at Michelle Maccarone was a really strong program, equally as interesting as his work at the Whitney Biennial," where the artist exhibited a video installation showing an evangelical minister preaching to his congregation about the merits of video art.

Colleen Fesko, director of European and American paintings at Skinner, a Boston auction house, considers American abstraction, particularly from the 1920s through the '40s, an undervalued area. Fesko mentions a group of abstract artists in New Mexico that includes Raymond Jonson, who, she says, is "well known to the cognoscenti," but not to collectors in general. She also lists Ilya Bolotowsky, Byron Browne, Werner Drewes, and Rolph Scarlett among the other American abstract painters whom she believes merit a closer look. "A lot of people don’t realize there were these pockets of American abstraction," she says. "There are very good buys to be had from this material."

Under $75,000

Thelma Golden, curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem, suggests Lorna Simpson, whose "videos and films are extremely affecting in their use of sound and image." Golden also picks David Hammons’s basketball drawings, which involve rubbing a ball in dirt (from the streets of Harlem, according to the curator) and then bouncing it on paper. "They are incredibly evocative abstract drawings," Golden says.

Les Raker, director of collections and chief curator at the Columbus Museum in Georgia, is "a big fan of Tom Otterness," whose midsize sculptures cost between $45,000 and $60,000. The artist’s quirky bronze figurative pieces, which, says Raker, "reflect Henry Moore in scale," have "a playfulness about them, but also a dark side."

Under $100,000

Long Island collector Richard Lippe suggests Alfonso Ossorio, a Philippine-born American artist known for his brightly colored "congregations" made from an assortment of small found objects and often featuring distinctive, staring glass eyes. "He uses shells and bones and marbles," says Lippe of Ossorio, who collected the work of fellow artists such as Jackson Pollock and Jean Dubuffet. "His materials are unusual and exotic."

Manhattan dealer Richard Feigen notes that small oil paintings by French Romantics and Neoclassicists have been largely overlooked. "There has been very little attention paid to French and English painting before 1860. It’s an area that has been neglected, but it’s very important historically," says Feigen. "You can get a Eugène Delacroix oil or a Paul Huet oil on canvas for under $100,000." Feigen predicts there will be increasing attention paid to this area of art history as more collectors start to realize its significance. "These artists will be recognized. There is no question of it."

G. Max Bernheimer, head of antiquities at Christie’s, says original Greek sculptures, such as a Hellenistic marble female head, can be had for under $100,000. The price is "very inexpensive for what it is," says Bernheimer. "The key is that it is an authentic Greek marble sculpture versus a Roman copy of a known Greek prototype."

Eileen Kinsella is editor of the ARTnewsletter.