Should we market Old Masters like this?

September 24 2012

Video: Sotheby's

A reader writes:

Just wondering, would you advertise a $35-50 million picture in this way?

And this is the voice of their Contemporary Art front man, Tobias Meyer…. Regardless of what we think about it, I guess it speaks of the core of what Sotheby’s believe most of such millionaire Contemporary Art buyers really look for in a work of art – to enter into another dimension (of space rather than time. Meyer makes that clear – but still, the space needn’t be new). Perhaps this could be a new marketing approach for your Old Masters in order to attract those millionaire buyers? Most serious unfinished/preparatory works do this quite well. Titian, Rembrandt, Turner, Ribera all have this memorising quality. Similar to Rothko, their misty brush work becomes our hallucinogen.

I might not use Tobias Meyer's choice of words. But I certainly think auctioneers and dealers should have a go at taking Old Masters out of their comfort zone.

Notice to "Internet Explorer" Users

You are seeing this notice because you are using Internet Explorer 6.0 (or older version). IE6 is now a deprecated browser which this website no longer supports. To view the Art History News website, you can easily do so by downloading one of the following, freely available browsers:

Once you have upgraded your browser, you can return to this page using the new application, whereupon this notice will have been replaced by the full website and its content.