Billionaire contemporary art collector Eli Broad, who has amassed an 1,800-piece collection and will have a wing of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) named after him in February, thinks art prices are heading for a fall. As Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips auction houses prepare for the upcoming $1 billion contemporary art auctions, The Post’s Carly Berwick caught up with Broad:
New York Post: You don’t see prices for contemporary art heading higher?
Broad: There’s no question in my mind that it’s peaked. Some works have gone up 200 to 300 percent. This rise has been unprecedented. I can’t think of any other market where you’ve had this appreciation.
Post: Are you concerned that art prices may drop?
Broad: If prices go down, it’s an opportunity to collect.
Post: Your collection includes works by Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and Cindy Sherman that are held in both a private collection and a foundation. All of these will be available for Lacma curators to fill the new Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM), to which you have given $60 million. The open lending policy is unusual for a patron and museum, isn’t it?
Broad: I think [it’s] unique. It has the best of both worlds, private and public. It has the continuity of a public institution and allows someone like myself to show the collection.
Post: So why not just give it to the museum?
Broad: If you give it outright, the concern is that 90 percent would be in storage. This way the collection will be seen by a far greater public.
Post: You bought David Smith’s Cubi XXVIII (1965) for $23.8 million at Sotheby’s in 2005, a record for a postwar work of art. You said you regret losing a chance at auction 20 years ago, when you were the under-bidder on a sculpture from the Cubi series. Now that $23 million looks like a bargain as the new post-war record stands at $72.8 million for a painting by Mark Rothko. Do you think auctions are still a good place to acquire art?
Broad: Auctions are feast or famine, and it’s been a feast for all too many years. I don’t think we’ll be too active at the November auctions. At these prices, unless there’s something extremely rare like a Cubi . . .
Post: You also buy from artists’ studios, art fairs, and galleries, such as Chelsea’s Matthew Marks, where you purchased a new suite of Andreas Gursky photos this year. Is there any good art left to buy?
Broad: We purchased a huge work by Cy Twombly last year and bought three works by Jeff Koons, two paintings and a sculpture of a cracked egg that’s being fabricated now – it will be ready for BCAM when it opens.
Post: Two works by Jeff Koons, whose art you have collected in depth, are dueling stars of Christie’s and Sotheby’s contemporary auctions. In fact, each auction house is hoping to fetch up to $20 million for its piece.
Broad: They are good works but I can’t comprehend the prices.
Post: In a strained attempt to drum up even more interest in its Koons work, Christie’s issued a press release this week with a statement from Elizabeth Taylor saying “red hearts are nice . . . but I am mad for blue diamonds!” Does a high price change the perception of an artwork?
Broad: It has to affect it. It brings publicity, but if it gets a big price I’m not sure that means it’s a great work.
Post: You have also tried to acquire media properties such as the Tribune Company and the Los Angeles Times. Do you think newspapers are a good buy relative to art?
Broad: I do not believe newspapers are a good financial investment. My interest was not financial. I think it’s important to our democracy to have a free press and investigative reporting. And in spite of the heroic gains in the art market, I’ve never seen it as an investment. In fact, my insurance costs go up as the art’s value does.