Changes in the Art Market During the Late Nineteenth Century

Today’s market for European art has its roots in the nineteenth century. In 1882 the passage of the Settled Land Act reformed inheritance law in Britain. As a consequence of industrialization and the availability in Europe of large quantities of cheap American wheat, the fortunes of British landowners were in decline. After bankruptcies began to mount, the inheritance laws were changed, making it possible for landowners to support their landholdings by selling their art treasures. Until 1882, estates were strictly settled, meaning that the head of the family did not actually own the land and estate goods, but rather was entrusted to preserve and protect the family property. This was meant to hinder large estates from being sold off in sections. The Settled Land Act made it possible to sell individual portions of an estate, such as works of art, in order to save the real estate (land and buildings). The art treasures of the British nobility began to flow into London auction houses, shoring up their dominant position in the art market.

Besides the passage of this law, the early 1880s marked the public acknowledgement of French Impressionism, a revolutionary art movement that emphasized subjects from everyday life and the accurate depiction of light and its changing qualities. Prior to this, Impressionist artists had been regarded as radical, immoral individuals who had declared war on beauty. Impressionist paintings were not accepted by the Salon de L’Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, which had been since 1830 the most important exhibition forum in the world and was historically the guardian of traditional standards of French painting. In reaction to the conservative tendencies of this institution, a group of Impressionist artists in Paris organized their own exhibition in 1874. Reviews of the exhibition were mixed. But in 1881, the Impressionist painter Edouard Manet was named a knight of the Legion of Honor; in 1882, Paul Cezanne was allowed to exhibit his work for the first time at the Salon.

With the advent of Impressionism, the modern art market was born. Since most collectors rejected the Impressionists, especially early on, the usual paths for distribution were closed to these artists, and they had to find other ways to sell their pictures. The rejection, however, meant that the artists were not dependent on the tastes of potential patrons (wealthy supporters), and hence they began to see themselves as autonomous masters. This new approach also awakened a newfound respect for the art dealer, since the dealer had access to artistic genius and could open up the path to new art and explain it to potential buyers. In the early twentieth century, the Cubist style (abstract art based on geometric forms) arose and representational art- art that represented objects and people realistically- became less significant. This development also strengthened the notion of the artist genius, as well as that of the art dealer as a go-between. On the one hand, the content of art became more complex, and on the other, it also became more difficult to understand and communicate.

Of course, artworks by the so-called old masters continued to be sold. The most successful dealer of such art was probably Joseph Duveen, who arrived in New York City at the age of seventeen in 1886. After a brief apprenticeship under his uncle, the art dealer Henry Duveen, Joseph opened a gallery (a privately owned establishment for displaying and selling artwork) in proximity to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which was already the meeting place for the city’s elite. Duveen’s business strategy entailed the purchase of complete art collections from their owners. In this way, a buyer would be unable to calculate Duveen’s wholesale price for an individual artwork and hence the percentage that he kept for himself. If he made purchases at auctions where the price he paid would be public knowledge, he did not shrink from paying record prices, since this practice brought him a reputation and also raised the value of the pieces already in his inventory. He also stirred up enthusiasm for collecting among many American industrialists; these millionaires regarded the acquisition of European masterpieces as an opportunity to assure the immortality of their names.

1.Today’s market for European art has its roots in the nineteenth century. In 1882 the passage of the Settled Land Act reformed inheritance law in Britain. As a consequence of industrialization and the availability in Europe of large quantities of cheap American wheat, the fortunes of British landowners were in decline. After bankruptcies began to mount, the inheritance laws were changed, making it possible for landowners to support their landholdings by selling their art treasures. Until 1882, estates were strictly settled, meaning that the head of the family did not actually own the land and estate goods, but rather was entrusted to preserve and protect the family property. This was meant to hinder large estates from being sold off in sections. The Settled Land Act made it possible to sell individual portions of an estate, such as works of art, in order to save the real estate (land and buildings). The art treasures of the British nobility began to flow into London auction houses, shoring up their dominant position in the art market.