As I’ve posted before, my lovely wife is in the hospital for some really serious, life threatening stuff. She’s well taken care of, and that’s all that matters. Yesterday, I brought her favorite drawing, a Van Loo, to be put at her bedside. It cheered her up considerably as the Van Loo is quite exquisite.. I put the picture in with all of the flowers and nic-nacks on her bedside table. I just hope some nurse’s aide doesn’t grab it, as it’s quite valuable. It’s quite small, only measuring roughly 3.5″X4.5″, so it probably will be safe.
November 24, 2007
Making my wife happy
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Your art collection is truly beautiful - though a 12 inch laptop screen doesn’t really do it justice. I hope your wife is cheered and energized by her favourite piece. If you don’t mind my asking, what is her first name? “Your wife” comes off as a little impersonal. I feel awkward writing that way. (My wife is Cindy.) Either way, hopefully she’ll beat whatever it is soon.
Do you guys spend a lot of time at art auctions? How do you typically go about finding the pieces that go into your collection? It’s a hobby a little too rich for me, but I did luck into buying my parents an orginal 20 years ago of an up-and-coming artist who’s now done very well for himself, and the only thing you can find of his work now is prints.
Cheers,
George
Comment by allocator — November 25, 2007 @ 3:37 pm
George,
First of all, my lovely wife’s name is Denise….sorry about overlooking that.
We check out auctions of drawings, pastels, charcoals, certain etchings etc. If we like something, we will bid on it. We only buy art we like, not for investment sake.
We buy drawings because we simply can’t afford paintings. A cheap
Rembrandt will go for around $2.6 Million USD. The cheapest Monet painting(not a very good one) available right now would run around $700K USD. Signed drawings by the same artists are much, much more affordable.
There’s a few galleries around that know what we collect, and we get calls whenever something comes in that we might like. Since the art market is in a bearish mode right now, we’ve been getting a few more calls than usual. We also have a decent art museum in the neighborhood, and we’re friendly with the curator. We get good leads from them, and we also use their framer to frame our work. The art world is very small, quirky, and cutthroat. Our collection is small enough for an individual to handle, but large enough to be on the radar. It does drive our insurance guy nuts, though.
I haven’t purchased any art in the last six months, but that for me isn’t uncommon. If I end up pulling some extra money out of the markets, I might go on a buying binge. I went on one of those binges about three years ago and bought 7 pieces in six months. Hang on to that original, pass it on, and let your grandchildren worry about the taxes. Since I don’t ever sell anything, I won’t worry about the taxes. We might bequeath some of our collection to our alma mater, but other than that, our son will get it all.
Jeff
Comment by masteroftheuniverse — November 25, 2007 @ 10:15 pm