RUNAWAY From Dubai to Doha, Wendy Goldsmith finds that prices are doubling or even trebling
When the gavel fell on lot one in Christie’s inaugural auction in Dubai in spring 2006, the most experienced auction house specialists could not have predicted the runaway success that art in the Middle East would become in five short years.
Artists’ prices have often risen tenfold, records have tumbled and new bidders have averaged 30 per cent each season. Christie’s began by selling European alongside Middle-Eastern contemporary art in Dubai; however, it was soon seen that the greatest hunger was to learn more about, support and, most importantly, purchase the artists of the region.
The European artists didn’t last long in the catalogues and were sent back to the salerooms of London, New York and Paris. Suddenly, the often neophyte buyers in Dubai had the chance to acquire works from their homeland which were new, exciting…and above all cheap. Yet for many years, it was predominantly orientalist paintings that Middle Easterners wanted to collect.
These were 19th century idealized visions of Oriental life, painted in rich, jewel tones and with complex photographic detail by the top French, Austrian or English artists of their day. The artists, more often than not, had never visited the lands they were depicting; Moorish Guards and Harem Beauties issued from London and Paris studios which were armed with props.
This market too has been on the upswing, as major works by Jean-Leon Gerome, J F Lewis and Ludwig Deutsch now fetch millions of dollars.But Arab buyers, especially younger ones dis- couraged by cost, became keen to look elsewhere.They have taken up their own Contemporary market with nationalistic pride, especially as they found themselves priced out even of early to mid 20th century modern works.
When Shaikh Mohammed Farsi, the former Mayor of Jeddah, collected works from this period in the 70’s, almost exclusively by Egyptian artists, even he could not have predicted the astonishing demand and exceptional return that would come a few decades later for extraordinary and rare pieces in his visionary collection. Sold at Christie’s Dubai over two seasons, the top lot, The Whirling Dervishes by Mahmoud Said from 1929, achieved a staggering $2,546,500 against a pre-sale estimate of $300,000-400,000 after a valiant battle between no fewer than eight of the world’s top collectors.
No doubt the majority of his unique collection will end up in the museums of the region; it was an opportunity noone could miss.
When Christie’s broke the ground, it was taking a huge leap of faith in a still uncharted market in the Middle East. So little was known in London of who mattered and what mattered in art in the Arab world and in Iran that Christie’s filled its opening sales by asking top dealers in thirteen capitals from Morocco to Pakistan for names of painters.
Auction houses have been keen to put their toes in the sand. Bonhams has opened in Dubai with contemporary and orientalist sales while Sotheby’s chose Qatar, where so far it has held two auctions and introduced 21 new artists. Its first sale mixed European paintings with Middle Eastern art although, as Christie’s found in Dubai, these works were largely overlooked by buyers. Last December, however, it changed to a unique format. It staged a beautifully curated auction called Harouf, the Art of the Word, a sale devoted wholly to contemporary calligraphy.
The theme was not selected by chance. Calligraphy is seen as an art form in its own right and is one of most accepted subjects in the Islamic world; figurative work is discouraged, in some places forbidden.
The auction houses are not the only kingmakers of the Middle-Eastern market, able to put an artist on the map almost overnight.
Impressive and wonderfully organized is the annual Dubai art fair, which began in 2006 (the 2011 fair opened to the public yesterday). It too started with numerous European galleries bringing familiar European Masters, thinking they could easily sell them to fabled Arab oil wealth. They were snubbed almost immediately.
Those European galleries that remain now show Middle-Eastern artists whom they represent so the blend of works on view is fascinating and a very up to the moment survey of creation in the Arab and Iranian world. The vast majority of works are priced under $50,000 and many dealer’s stands are often a sell out. Sales, however, are not the only reason why they show there.
The fair has become an extraordinary event on the social calendar. With a paucity of comparable events (the exception being the Abu Dhabi fair which now focuses on European artists instead), this is the art fair that everyone who’s anyone attends – Royalty, museum curators, top collectors, advisers and a wealthy array of expats in Dubai who are keen to buy. The organizers have been clever. The fair is of manageable size in one of the best hotels right on the beach and its feel-good factor is high in so sunny and inviting a setting.
More importantly, alongside the de rigueur glossy cocktail parties and dinners (usually sponsored by a local bank) there is an extensive calendar of lectures, symposia, gallery talks, studio visits and this year, the opening of the close by Sharjah Biennial and tours of the recently opened Mathaf Arab Museum of Contemporary Art in Doha.
What, however, makes an artist an Arab artist? Due to the Middle Eastern diaspora in our transient modern world, many successful artists work far from home. Ahmed Moustafa, the Egyptian artist and one of a half dozen to climb over a million dollars at auction, lives and teaches in London. Lalla Essaydi, the coveted Moroccan photographer, lives in Brooklyn. The Iranians Farhad Moshiri, live in Tehran and Paris and C. H. Zenderoudi in Paris and New York.
Another Iranian, the calligrapher and designer Mohammed Ehsai, has spent years of study in the US and Europe. Moshiri now sells in international contemporary auctions in London as well as in the Emirates; his bold, exciting and innovative works finding worldwide buyers paying impressive sums.
Due to this kind of exposure, previously unaware buyers in the West are now investigating the wealth of talent from the region and sending prices higher. Tate Modern has been quietly acquiring top Middle Eastern works, as has The British Museum, The Museum of Modern Art and even The Metropolitan Museum in New York.
For all these reasons, Middle Eastern contemporary art will be integrated into the mainstream art world in the years ahead, bringing exposure and a sense of familiarity to potential as well as already established collectors. This will surely mean an increased comfort level for buyers.
We can already see this extraordinary depth in the statistics. In Christie’s inaugural sale five years ago, there were 12 purchasers. Now sellers come from 18 countries and buyers from 20. Much remains cheap. But at the top of this vibrant market, some painters whose record price was £20,000 now cost over £300,000.
Hundreds of thousands more in value and glamour have fallen on market leaders like the Egyptians Ahmed Moustafa and Dia Azzawi, Abdul Kadir al-Rais from Dubai, the Iraqi Sadik Alfraji and the expatriate Iranians C. H. Zenderoudi, Farhad Moshiri and Mohammed Ehsai. Among sculptors the Iranian Parviz Tanavoli, who lives in Canada, attracts high-priced support. Prices will go yet higher; the excitement is tangible and infectious.
The market attracts, however, not just talent but speculation. Many of the artists listed above were bought cheap and sold dear. Some scholars and art historians who survey Arab and Iranian art in the 21st century differ widely the salerooms on who and what matters in the field. Charles Saatchi has mixed in his own unique judgement with his Middle-Eastern show in Chelsea.
No doubt there will be a market shakeout at some point, as we have seen with Chinese and Indian contemporary artists. The cream will rise to the top and the best will grow in value exponentially, while others will become overlooked, perhaps not even warranting a bid. The magic carpet ride has only just begun. 