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The (art) market can go down as well as up
If you're irked by the thought of all those millions squandered on Damien Hirst's auction, you might find some solace in the FT's observation that Burne-Jones's painting "Love and the Pilgrim” went for £5,775 in 1898, £210 in 1933, and £21 in 1942. What price a decomposing shark in 50 years' time?
Robert Hughes tries not to lose his temper in his piece about the Sotheby's circus:
[Photo: Telephone bidders in action during the sale of Hirst's work at Sotheby's. Credit: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images]If there is anything special about this event, it lies in the extreme disproportion between Hirst's expected prices and his actual talent. Hirst is basically a pirate, and his skill is shown by the way in which he has managed to bluff so many art-related people, from museum personnel such as Tate's Nicholas Serota to billionaires in the New York real-estate trade... This skill at manipulation is his real success as an artist. He has manoeuvred himself into the sweet spot where wannabe collectors, no matter how dumb (indeed, the dumber the better), feel somehow ignorable without a Hirst or two.
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