20_20_newsize08 21/11/07 22:39 Page 59
Your Questions
ANSWERED
Fine
Art!
by JOHN FALLE,
Is it a worthwhile investment?
CENTRE MANAGER,
Falle Fine Art.
In these turbulent times when financial markets lurch from is a degree of market manipulation which defies popular
one crisis to the next, investors, particularly small private opinion and because of that speculation, investors should be
investors are concerned as to where their investments might guarded against following current trends without giving the
be safe. Increasingly they are turning to alternatives to the possible consequences a great deal of thought.
Stock Exchange. A portfolio of investment in fine art can be a
tenable alternative and perform well and bear more When seeking to identify an area of art which is currently
predictable results than fighting the vagaries of the world’s undervalued, or because a future event, such as a centenary
economies. anniversary of the artist or period in history ie a particular
battle or campaign, may provoke, as a consequence, a re-
Indeed, where individuals wish to build a family asset base, assessment of value, an investor should enquire deeply into
where the asset can be tangibly enjoyed and eventually the reasons and possibilities for fulfilment before making a
distributed through the family, fine art is a perfect vehicle for commitment.
that construction. It is versatile and divisible which are
important factors in future planning in such circumstances. The principal considerations when assessing art for
investment are legitimacy and condition. It is absolutely
Fine art may also be confined to an investment portfolio, paramount that title must be absolutely clear with an
such as, for example, the famous British Rail Pension Fund. impeccable provenance and the condition should be pristine
When the investment period came to an end, the assets were although, especially with oil paintings, historic restoration
realised at far better value than comparable financial does occur and provided that it has been expertly executed
products. may be acceptable. This can easily be identified by intrusive
photographic investigation.
For anybody contemplating a portfolio of fine art for
investment, whether as family asset creation or for profit For example there is a Holbein portrait in the National Gallery
there are many considerations upon which advice for most which at one time had an area of blue paint behind the
people will be required. There are professional advisors and figure and on investigation it was discovered that the paint
consultants who will advise, introduce and even undertake was introduced 200 years after the painting was known to
the sourcing of suitable items to be placed in a portfolio. have been painted.
Fine art at the high investment level has the advantage of Turning to investment in local art, with the exception of
being finite in several ways. First, each work is unique and if Millais’s early Pre-Raphaelite paintings, which fall very much
the creator is deceased, the oeuvre of that artist cannot be into the highly sought after international group, modest
increased. Second, if the artist who created the work is investment in Blampied oils and watercolours dating from the
significant in the history of art, then the exceptional works by 1920s and 1930s is worthwhile, whilst the work of Sarah
that artist will attract the attention of institutional collectors Adams, who has recently relocated to Padstow from Jersey,
and art galleries and thus be taken off the market. The has increased three fold recently as a result of a hugely
unavoidable effect of that is that vigorous interest in work by successful exhibition at the Maas Gallery in London.
such an artist is always present when other work comes to
market. However, an investor must be ever vigilant for So there are various levels of art for investment ranging from
forgeries, which incidentally, might be historic forgeries or skilful, emerging artists, through the speculative future events
copies, which are usually legitimate. Any hint of a copy or group to the very top of the market in fine art. At any level an
forgery should be avoided when investing in art. investor should take advice, but whatever the interest a
portfolio in fine art is a fascinating tangible way of building a
Here I should warn that in the case of some current art, there financial asset base.
20/20 fifty eight
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68