- Contributed
AT LEFT: Alvin Marriot's "Child Nude" was the second-highest, priced at $266,000. AT RIGHT: "Fisherman's Beach" by Lloyd van Pitterson, was the highest-priced work for the night.
Georgia Hemmings, Staff Reporter
ALL THE elements for a good auction were present important Jamaican and Caribbean art works, keen interest, and brisk (sometimes competitive) bidding, even a well-lit auction area.
Yet, somehow, the auction of works from the A.D. Scott Collection and a few private collectors at the Terra Nova Hotel last Wednesday fell short of expectations.
The marquee was never quite full as bidders came and went during the night. And, at the end of the night, only a small seated audience remained. Businessmen, lawyers, gallery owners, artists, new and established collectors, art lovers, even a group from the Cayman Islands were among the crowd.
But, numbers aside, there was no fever-pitched excitement and only the smaller works sold briskly, while many large pieces were withdrawn for lack of demand. The highest-priced work sold for a little over $300,000.
"It's a reflection of what's happening in the commercial galleries,", one participant told The Sunday Gleaner. "There's no corporate buying, and only the smaller works are sold easily enough."
Another participant felt that "Although there were some excellent pieces, size and cost were the undermining factors as far as the larger pieces were concerned."
Auctioneer, William Tavares-Finson, agrees: "True, there was not the wild abandonment or uncontrollable buying which prevailed in the mid to late 1990s. But it is a reflection of a new reality in the marketplace one of more cautious buying, where persons are buying based on individual tastes and buying what they like, rather than for investment or artistic reputation.
This new trend is developing because "The big, institutional buyers are absent from the market, due to economic developments in recent years. And the individuals purchasers who are filling the void, are simply interested in buying more subjectively, according to taste," he explained.
The drawback is that these new players are guided by practicality, and shy away from larger works of art."
"Previously, these larger pieces would have been taken up by corporate buyers and displayed in offices for investment purposes," Mr. Tavares-Finson pointed out. "But these individual buyers are more practical, concerned about where they will put these large pieces. And so they shy away from purchasing them."
He pointed to the works withdrawn during the night, among them pieces by Alvin Marriott, Edna Manley, L. Maxwell, Barrington Watson, Karl Parboosingh, Whitney Miller, Ralph Campbell, Clinton Brown, Fitz Harrack, Christopher Gonzalez, Colin Garland, David Boxer, Henry Lowe, Nancy McDonald, and Christopher Lawrence.
Mr. Tavares-Finson told The Sunday Gleaner that since the auction, interest has been strong in these pieces, and sales are being privately negotiated.
"I am not surprised about last Wednesday's auction, but nether am I disappointed," he said philosophically. "It is a new shift in the market, one that I welcome, for we'll see faces and a new breed of collectors, alongside the more established ones, persons whose interest in art is for art itself."
One hundred and ten lots went up for sale, an array which included works by artists such as Carl Abrahams, David Boxer, Edna Manley, Albert Huie, Seya Parboosingh, Colin Garland, Barrington Watson, George Rodney, Gloria Escoffery, Eugene Hyde, Whitney Miller, Ralph Campbell, Everald Brown, and overseas artists such as Erwin de Vries, Aubrey Williams, Bernard Sejourne, and Alfredo La Placa, and Handel Evans. Of this latter group, only works by de Vries, Sejourne, Evans, and Aubrey Williams were sold.
The auction was in two sections, first the A.D, Scott Collection, and then the private collectors. Most of the salescame fromthe A.D. Scott section, including "Fisherman's Beach" by Lloyd van Pitterson, which was the highest-priced work for the night. The piece sold for $320,000. It opened at a reserved price of $180,000 and brisk bidding among participants pushed it well beyond its pre-auction estimate of between $200,000 and $220,000.
Alvin Marriott's "Child Nude" (a 33-inch carved Jamaican hardwood sculpture) was the second-highest priced at $266,000. Its opening price of $230,000 moved to $240,000 - $250,000 - $260,000 and $266,000 in a short time. This was also from the A.D. Scott collection.
Among the private collectors, "Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still" by Carl Abrahams sold for $215,000. Opening at $90,000, it moved to $95,000 amd, in multiples of fives, until the gavel dropped at $215,000.
"Three Palms" by Albert Huie went to its sole bidder, a woman, for its opening price of $180,000, while "Genesis" was haggled over competitively for $160,000.
An untitled work by H.B. Riley saw revived bidding several times just as the gavel was about to fall. Opening at $20,000, it stopped at $60,000. Then when it seemed to be all over, two bidders started in for $62,000, and finally $64,000. Riley's piece was estimated at between $25,000 and $27,000 before the auction.
Among the "bargain" pieces were an early George Rodney (Semi-nude in Exterior") which opened at $90,000 and sold at $115,000, with pre-auction estimates of $120,000 - $130,000.
"Nude" by Judy McMillan sold at $69,000 (pre-auction estimate: $80,000 - $100,000); "Landscape by Albert Huie for $145,000 (estimate: $150,000 - $170,000) and "Water Carriers" by Carl Abrahams for $120,000 (estimated at $135,000 to $145,000).
Among the smaller works, Karl Parboosingh's "Nude" fetched $51,000; Mallica "Kapo" Reynold's "Head" sold for $60,000, Milton's Harley's "Abstract" changed hands at $28,000, and Osmond Watson's "Head of Christ" was fiercely bidded on for $50,000.
Unofficially, the night grossed over $4 million, but Mr. Tavares-Finson said that "figures were still being tallied."
One thing he was upbeat about: "None of the works sold below their opening bids."
