Dealers optimistic as art fairs give first gauge of prices in 2017

Attending the preview of BRAFA this week, it is clear that dealers are optimistic. Drawn from 16 countries, they number 132, 12 of whom are new to the fair. Last year BRAFA attracted over 58,000 visitors.

Several dealers exhibit from the UK including Stern Pissarro who specialise in late 19th and 20th century European paintings including the Impressionists. Among their works are Marc Chagall’s Salomon from 1955-56 (160,000 euros), an oil by Rene Magritte entitled Nocturne (625,000 euros) and an 1875 Camille Pissarro (875,000 euros).

Another Chagall is offered by Galerie Boulakia, who have been in the UK three years but in Paris for 40 years. It is a circus scene, painted by the Russian-French artist in 1982, three years before his death.

Walker Galleries of Harrogate show Marcel-Clement’s Fishing fleet off the Brittany coast, c1920, with Parisian dealer Ary Jan. Today it is £23,000, up from around £16,000 in a decade. Marcel-Clement was initially known for Parisian street scenes, capturing the era of the Belle Epoque, and later turned to coastal views.

Ian Walker tips John Piper, known for illustrating the Shell Guides to Britain, and as a war artist, recording the bomb damage in London, Bristol and Coventry. He says: “The Modern British art market is extremely strong at present with record sums realised for Nicholson, Minton, Nash and Wadsworth. Piper is still relatively accessible. Expect to pay £15,000-25,000 for a typical typographical subject.”

A Piper church scene, such as St Lucia at Upper Magna in Shropshire, in watercolour and mixed media, has increased around 35 per cent in price in a decade.

John Lowrie Morrison is also tipped by Walker. Noted for using bright colours to depict the Scottish western isles, examples cost £2,000-6,500. Good ones have jumped 46 per cent in 10 years.

Last year Bonhams sold the Modern British art collection of Yorkshire solicitor, Cyril Reddihough. It set new benchmarks for Ben Nicholson and his circle and saw a world record price of over £1m for a Henry Moore plaster model.

Lowry continues to appeal, notably for his cityscapes. Matthew Bradbury at Bonhams says their sale of Minton’s Jamaican market for £188,500, indicates that “his star could be on the rise”.

Sometimes the same pieces come under the hammer. Clausen’s The Bird’s Nest sold for 92gns.10s in 1923 (Christie’s) and last year for £452,750 (Sotheby’s) whilst La Thangue’s The Farm Pond jumped from £150,000 in 1997 to £284,750 last month (Sotheby’s both times). Frank Auerbach’s head of Gerda Boehm showed an even more dramatic increase from £54,300 in 1995 (Christie’s) to £3.789m two months ago (Sotheby’s).

Consider William Turnbull whose prices are escalating. His Small Venus realised £2,300 20 years ago (Christie’s) but sold again in November for £35,000 (Sotheby’s). For undervalued artists, Sotheby’s tip John Latham and Richard Smith.

Work by some untrained and ‘outsider’ artists is in demand from younger buyers, says Imogen Kerr at Christie’s South Kensington. They set a new record for Camille Bombois in June and will action more in March, together with paintings by untrained Haitian artists.

Much religious art has fallen in price in the last 30 years but there is still demand for quality sculpture. Mullany, exhibiting for the sixth time in Brussels, has a Flemish walnut with original polychrome and gilding of the Christ child from the Mechelen school, early 16th century, for 34,000 euros.

To gain a work by a master painter but at a fraction of the price of a finished piece, start with an etching or sketch and consider a lithograph. Whilst the appreciation will be modest, it will allow a good study to be made of the techniques applied and help to decide if the artist is one you wish to follow. Abbott & Holder are noted dealers.

Most period furniture realises low prices by comparison with the 1980s. It could be a time to acquire, particularly if the quality is high and provenance in terms of past ownership sound. Dreweatts auctioneers recently sold a late Georgian mahogany chest for £380, the same price as Ikea asks for a pine and fibreboard chest of drawers. Even though a buyer’s premium (24 per cent plus VAT) needs to be added to the former, the antique example will prove the better investment and after two centuries likely to outlast its younger counterpart.

There is increased interest in British folk art – painted or regionally-made pieces in native materials and timbers – probably encouraged by the retrospective at the Tate in 2014, according to Sotheby’s specialist, David Macdonald. He suggests searching for tavern benches, painted shop signs and kitchenalia toys.

Regional antique furniture is enjoying demand, such as painted 19th century West Country ‘lobster-pot’ back armchairs, 18th century Welsh stripped pine dressers and late 19th century Orkney chairs in woven bramble and oak. One of the latter made US$4,688 at Sotheby’s New York three years ago.

Curious pieces, often tribal, are offered by Finch at BRAFA. They include an ivory figure of a black Protestant missionary from the Congo (21.5cm). The same dealer has a mid 17th century devotional plaque of weeping cherubs displaying St Veronica’s veil.

In ceramics, Meissen and Sevres are the only factories to be consistently collected since their inception in the 18th century. Dreweatts say that Italian tin-glazed earthenware or maiolica is the only pottery in the same category. Yet many prices are weak: a Minton maiolica oyster stand sold at auction for £5,000 in 2003 would realise half today. Staffordshire blue and white is not popular: a Durham Ox plate which realised £4,600 at auction in 2000 would make £400-600 now.

The exception, even in studio pottery, would be Lucie Rie whose work at auction has achieved new records four times in the last two years. Look, too, for rare works by William de Morgan, Moorcroft and the Martin Brothers, Robert and Edwin. If these are held, ensure your contents insurance is increased to reflect replacement values.

Fashion is moving from an overworked minimalist design to eclectic furnishing styles.

Bonhams will start ‘design’ sales in April. It says that placing a Le Courbusier sofa alongside a 17th century Flemish tapestry could attract buyers who are not necessarily collectors of a specific ‘genre’.

Finally, prices can be greatly influenced by whole collections, detailed studies and exhibitions. Next month the Royal Academy has a major look at Russian art 1917-32 and Tate Modern at America in the 1930s.

BRAFA runs January 21-29 at Tours & Taxis, Avenue du Port 86C, Brussels. It is sponsored by Delen Private Bank, which owns the UK stockbroker, JM Finn.

Key fairs for collectors:

BRAFA (Brussels) January 21-29

BADA (London) March 15-21

Tefaf (Maastricht) March 10-19

Olympia (London) June 26-July 2

Masterpiece (London) June 29-July 5

Harrogate: Northern Antiques September 27-October 1

Olympia (London) October 31-November 5