“There are so many collectors that have such huge private foundations and museums,” says Wendy Olsoff, the co-founder of P.P.O.W. gallery, which brought a collection of eight films and 39 photographs and works on paper by Martha Wilson, collectively known as the Halifax Collection. “They’re a big part of the art world now.” (Olsoff is currently in “two conversations” with institutions who’d like to buy the collection.)
Time for Showstoppers
After spending years building these collections, dealers say these private institutions are in the market for showstoppers.
“You wonder who on Earth is going to buy [ambitious art] and house it,” says Jason Ysenburg, a director at Gagosian, which brought a 28-foot-long, three-dimensional sculpture by Tom Wesselmann from 1973, priced from $5 million to $8 million. “And yet you see private museums like Glenstone appear, where they are interested in challenging artists [who] push the limit.”
At public museums, in contrast, “there has to be various approvals, and it can take a long time,” he explains. “Which is why these private museums and foundations are quick—nobody has to wait for board approval.”
That speed, Ysenburg says, is why the gallery decided to bring the Wesselmann work to Switzerland.
“We showed all nine [of this series] together in New York and produced a catalogue,” he continues. “The show generated a lot of interest, and there were some museums that were interested. But they had to find people to give them money, and they have other agendas.”
As a result, “we thought it was a good idea to bring the work here, because Unlimited is packed with people from private institutions.”
But there are no guarantees. “Dealers always have hopes for all the things they want to come true,” P.P.O.W.’s Olsoff says. “Everyone wants a museum to buy it, and everyone wants to go home happy. But it’s always a crapshoot.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.