Drawings are a Buy

General

  In a recent post I argued that Picasso drawings are on a tear.  In this one I’ll offer reasons why they are still a buy, especially relative to other Picasso mediums, as well as relative to drawings by other “modern masters”.  (Before we begin, in case you’re wondering whether I have any conflict of interest, I should submit that in this case I have no particular disclosures to make except for the general case, which is that we own and offer for sale Picassos in all of these mediums.) The art market is in a state of perpetual disequilibrium, as we have earlier discussed, and the Picasso market is no exception.  But among Picassos, the medium in which the […]

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The Missing Link?

Collecting, General

Costume du manager français pour le ballet “Parade”(Costume of the French Manager for the Ballet “Parade”, 1917) This small (23 cm) but complex cubist ink drawing and wash is a delightful discovery, the “missing link” between the preparatory, simple sketches, mostly line-drawings, all of which are in the collection of the Musée Picasso Paris, and the finished costume for the French Manager in the ballet “Parade”.  The costume itself was destroyed and is now known only from the period black-and-white photographs. An example of the earlier drawings The present drawing is the culmination of all of the earlier ones, presumably the final step before Picasso (or his craftsmen) created the actual costume: The French Manager’s costume “Parade” was the first

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Picasso’s Estate Stamp Signatures

Signatures

Question: Concerning the debate about signatures, I would like to ask a question about the use of the Picasso signature stamp. Could you…advise when and for what occasion this stamp was used?  H.J.I. Answer: I’ve looked back at the “IS IT SIGNED?” chapter and realized that I should add this explanation there, but I’ll also blog it here for easier access. A word about the estate stamp signatures: After Picasso’s death, his heirs authorized the creation of a stamp of Picasso’s signature, which his printer applied to various posthumous editions.  Since there are numerous unsigned editions, it may at first seem random that some prints were selected for this treatment but not others.  A likelier explanation is that the estate-stamped prints

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Drawings are on a Tear

Collecting, General

Seems to me that drawings are on a tear, much as sculptures have been for the last several years.  Oils have long outpaced works on paper and 3-D objects, by more than I would have expected.  Of late however there has been a meteoric rise in the value of works in both of these laggards. Three very high-end sculptures have recently been sold (the $100M+ Giacometti, and a Matisse and a Modigliani each topping $40M), which is a big step in correcting this market disparity.  (Picasso sculptures have topped out at just under $30M, more because of lack of availability than desirability, I believe.)  With drawings, it might be too soon to be conclusive, given the small number of recent

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