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LONDON — The international art market is gearing up for a hectic autumn of auctions and fairs. Trading conditions could be challenging. Shanghai’s Composite Index of Shares has lost more than 35 percent of its value since June, destabilizing stock markets across the world. Slowing growth in China has depressed oil and commodity prices, tipping the Russian and Brazilian economies into recession.
伦敦——国际艺术市场正在为繁忙的秋季拍卖与展会做准备。交易环境可能会面临挑战。自从6月以来，上海证券交易所综合股价指下跌了35%还多，令全球的股票市场都产生动荡。中国经济增长的放缓令油价与商品价格下降，推动俄罗斯与巴西的经济走向衰退。
At the Frieze and FIAC fairs in October and at Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips’s flagship auctions in New York in November, much attention is likely to be focused on whether the ultra-rich still want to spend millions on postwar and contemporary art. Larger or smaller telephone bids at those New York sales will be watched as a definitive indicator of whether the art market is still “booming” or not.
10月有Frieze与FIAC艺术博览会，11月，佳士得、苏富比和菲利普斯拍卖行都将在纽约举行期间拍卖会，在这些活动中，关注的焦点很可能集中在那些超级富翁是否还愿意斥资百万，购买战后与当代艺术品。纽约拍卖活动中的电话竞拍金额多寡，将被视为艺术市场是否依旧“繁荣”的决定性指数。
At the same time, the market for older, less-fashionable objects will again be tested by other dealers and auctioneers at several significant fairs and auctions.
与此同时，古老而不那么流行的艺术品的市场如何，将在其他一些重要展会与拍卖上，由其他交易商和拍卖者做出检验。
Postwar and contemporary art was by far the biggest seller at Christie’s auctions in the first half of 2015, contributing 927.7 million pounds, about $1.4 billion, to total sales of 2.9 billion. First-half sales at Christie’s in the catch-all old masters category, which now includes 19th-century pictures and Russian art, were 71.1 million. Contemporary sales were up 16 percent and old masters down 32 percent, the London-based company said in a statement on July 20.
战后与当代艺术是2015年上半年佳士得拍出金额最多的类别，共拍出9.277亿英镑，约合14亿美元，而佳士得同期的总销售额为29亿英镑。佳士得笼统的“早期大师”类别，现在把19世纪的作品和俄罗斯艺术品也纳入其中，上半年，这一类别拍出了7110万英镑。这家位于伦敦的拍卖公司在7月20日发布的声明中称，当代艺术类的销量增长了16%，早期大师类的销量则下降了32%。
“It’s a different situation from 20 or 30 years ago,” said the Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto. “There are now few serious collectors of antiquities. It’s kind of a pity. There are serious collectors of contemporary art, and I have benefited from them. There’s always a mixture of motives, but most of them are collecting for investment purposes.”
“这和二三十年前的情况不同，”日本摄影师杉本博司说。“现在已经没有多少认真收藏古董的收藏家了。这有点遗憾。倒是有很多认真收藏当代艺术的藏家，我从他们身上受惠。他们的动机总是多种多样的，但其中大多数人都是为了投资的目的。”
Mr. Sugimoto, 67, has achieved international fame for his haunting, black-and-white landscape and figure studies made with a large-format, 19th-century-style camera. He is one of 10 postwar and contemporary artists featured in the exhibition “Magnificent Obsessions: The Artist as Collector,” which will open at the Sainsbury Center for Visual Arts in Norwich, England, on Sept. 12. The show debuted at the Barbican Center in London in February.
现年67岁的杉本博司使用大画幅、19世纪风格的照相机拍摄黑白风景，进行形象研究，获得了国际声誉。9月12日在英国诺维奇的塞恩斯伯里视觉艺术中心举办的“壮丽的迷恋：作为收藏家的艺术家”(Magnificent Obsessions: The Artist as Collector)，涵盖了10位战后与当代艺术家，杉本博司是其中之一。该展览于2月在伦敦的巴比肯中心(Barbican Center)首次开幕。
Mr. Sugimoto informs his photographic practice by collecting, among many other things, fossils (which he calls “pre-photographic time-recording devices”), medical instruments and Japanese Shinto religious art. Like his fellow featured artists, Andy Warhol, Peter Blake and Damien Hirst, Mr. Sugimoto evinces a historical eclecticism and intellectual curiosity that has become a rarity among today’s financially minded collectors.
杉本博司说，自己的摄影活动始于收藏化石（他称之为“摄影发明之前的时光记载装置”）、医疗用品和日本神道教艺术品。和这次展览中的其他艺术家，如安迪·沃霍尔(Andy Warhol)、彼得·布莱克(Peter Blake)和达米安·赫斯特(Damien Hirst)一样，杉本博司展现出一种对历史的兼容并蓄，以及睿智的好奇心，在当今收藏家都以经济为优先考虑的背景下，这是极为罕见的品质。
But why have tastes narrowed? Is it just that works by an international “brand” artist like Mr. Sugimoto are perceived as a better investment?
但是人们的品位为什么变得狭隘？杉本博司这种具有国际“品牌效应”的艺术家的作品是不是只被当做更好的投资？
“People like certainty above knowledge,” said Norman Rosenthal, the former exhibitions secretary at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, who is organizing a new “Collections” section at the Frieze Masters fair, whose fourth edition will be held from Oct. 14 to 18 in London’s Regent’s Park. “And they go to museums and just don’t know these sorts of things are available.”
“人们喜欢确定性多于喜欢知识，”位于伦敦的英国皇家美术院(Royal Academy of Arts)的前展览秘书诺曼·罗森塔尔(Norman Rosenthal)说，他在Frieze大师博览会上组织了一场新的“收藏”展活动，第四次展览将在10月14日至18日在伦敦摄政公园举办。“他们去美术馆，完全不知道这些东西也是可以得到的。”
The new Frieze Masters section will feature eight dealers presenting museum-style displays of neglected collecting fields, such as Italian Renaissance ceramics (Bazaart, London); Japanese netsuke (Sydney L. Moss, London); German Expressionist prints (Simon Theobald, London); and ancient Egyptian wood sculpture (Sycomore, Geneva).
新的Frieze大师展中有八名交易商，以博物馆展览的形式展示受人忽略的收藏领域，诸如意大利文艺复兴时期的陶艺（Bazaart，伦敦）、日本坠子（Sydney L. Moss，伦敦）、德国表现主义版画（Simon Theobald，伦敦）与古埃及木雕（Sycomore，日内瓦）。
A century ago, when wealthy bankers and industrialists bought art across a range of historical periods and cultures, Italian tin-glazed pottery, or maiolica, from the 15th to 17th centuries was one of the great prestige purchases. In 1912, for example, the London dealer Duveen, bidding on behalf of the American financier John Pierpont Morgan, bought a 1524 dish by Maestro Giorgio Andreoli of Gubbio at auction for 2,835, or about $330,000 in today’s money.
一个世纪以前，当富有的银行家与工业家购买各种历史时期、各种文化的艺术品时，15世纪到17世纪的意大利釉彩陶器“maiolica”就是人们抢购的对象。1912年，伦敦交易商杜维恩(Duveen)代表美国金融家约翰·皮尔庞特·摩根(John Pierpont Morgan)，以2835英镑（约合如今的33万美元）拍下一个1524年由古比奥的乔治·安德利奥利大师(Maestro Giorgio Andreoli)制作的盘子。
If inflation calculators are to be believed, auction prices for maiolica are now in fact higher — a 1525 figural and armorial dish attributed to the workshop of Nicola da Urbino was sold for $1.7 million by Christie’s in 2009 — but it has become a niche market whose top-level prices have been sustained by a handful of specialist collectors, such as the German businessman Bernd Hockemeyer.
如果考虑通胀因素，意大利釉彩陶器的价格如今实际上上涨了——一个尼古拉·达·厄尔比诺(Nicola da Urbino)工作室1525年出产的人像与盾形徽章盘子在2009年的佳士得拍卖会上拍出了170万美元，但这成了一个小众市场，最高价格由几个专家收藏者把控，如德国商人贝恩德·霍克梅尔(Bernd Hockemeyer)。
“It is a sophisticated taste,” said Justin Raccanello of Bazaart, who will be trying to widen interest in maiolica at Frieze Masters with a display of about 40 pieces. A 1528 plaque of the Holy Family, newly attributed to Nicola da Urbino, is priced at 275,000. “But it’s one of the few Renaissance art forms that retains its original colors, and in a modern environment one or two pieces wouldn’t look amiss next to a Richter.”
“这是一种精妙复杂的风格，”Bazaart博物馆的贾斯汀·拉卡尼罗(Justin Raccanello)说，他将在Frieze的大师展上展览40件意大利釉彩陶器，试图发展人们对这一领域的兴趣。一件1528年的神圣家族徽章最新被鉴定为由尼古拉·达·厄尔比诺所创作，标价为27.5万英镑。“但这是少数几种保持着原有色彩的文艺复兴时代的艺术形式，在现代环境下，即便放在里克特(Richter)的作品旁边也不会显得不协调。”
Such is the understandably wishful, if not magical, thinking that dealers in historic items can sometimes fall into as they watch Nike-shod contemporary collectors hurry past their booths.
对于历史物品的交易商们来说，这种一厢情愿，有点像施魔法的想法是可以理解的，毕竟他们要经常看着那些脚穿耐克鞋的当代藏家们匆匆走过自己的展位，看也不看一眼。
Frieze, like Christie’s and Sotheby’s, is eager to promote the concept of “crossover” collecting. But few of today’s wealthy art buyers are willing to mix and match with the connoisseurship and commitment that characterized collecting in the early 20th century.
Frieze博览会也同佳士得和苏富比一样，热衷推出“跨界”的收藏概念。但是如今富有的艺术买家们却很少愿意像20世纪初的收藏家们那样，以自己的艺术鉴赏力和责任心，进行各种混搭收藏。
The French financier David David-Weill (1871-1952), for example, had a taste for Art Deco and 18th-century furniture, Impressionist and old master paintings, Baroque sculpture and Byzantine objects. He also amassed a pioneering collection of early Chinese art, whose finest bronzes were eventually bequeathed to the Musée Guimet in Paris.
比如法国金融家大卫·大卫-维尔(David David-Weill，1871-1952)，对装饰艺术(Art Deco)、18世纪家具、印象派画家和早期大师作品、巴洛克雕塑和拜占庭艺术品都有涉猎。他还是中国古代艺术品收藏领域内的先驱，那些精美的青铜器后来被捐献给了巴黎的吉美博物馆(Musée Guimet)。
His collection was plundered by the Nazis during World War II. After his death, most of what remained of the collection was sold at auction in the early 1970s. The family will offer a final residue of about 56 lots of archaic Chinese jades and bronzes at Sotheby’s in Paris on Dec. 16.
“二战”期间，他的藏品遭到纳粹掠夺。他去世后，大部分保存下来的藏品都在70年代初的拍卖会上卖掉了。他的家人将于今年12月16日在巴黎苏富比拍卖他的最后一批藏品，包括56件中国古玉和青铜器。
Estimated at 1.2 million to 1.8 million euros, about $1.4 million to $2.1 million, the auction will include a 1200 B.C. Shang dynasty bronze ritual food vessel, valued at ㄠ50,000 to ㈠50,000, and a large jade notched disc, dating to as early as 2000 B.C., valued at 80,000 to ㄠ20,000.
这次拍卖包括一件公元前1200年商朝的青铜祭祀食器，估价15万到25万欧元，还有一件大型玉玦，时间大约在公元前2000年，估价在8万到12万欧元，拍卖品总估价在120万到140万欧元之间，约合140万到210万美元。
The Chinese economy might be in a febrile state at the moment, and most of the pieces in the sale might be less than museum quality, but the prestige of the David-Weill provenance should ensure bidding from Asia. What, then, can be expected from Western “crossover” buyers?
中国经济可能目前正处于动荡时期，拍卖会上的大多数物品可能低于博物馆收藏的质量，但大卫-维尔的声望肯定会吸引来自亚洲的买家。然而西方的“跨界”买家们又能期待什么呢？
“We exhibited some highlights in Paris in June and some collectors of pre-Columbian art were impressed with the jades,” said Caroline Schulten, Sotheby’s senior specialist in Chinese art in Paris. “But it’s difficult to get younger collectors engaged with the decorative arts. It’s all about contemporary.”
“6月，我们在巴黎做了一些重要展览，有些前哥伦布艺术(pre-Columbian)的收藏者对那些玉器非常感兴趣，”苏富比中国艺术高级专家卡洛琳·舒尔腾(Caroline Schulten)在巴黎说，“但是要令年轻收藏家对装饰艺术感兴趣是非常困难的，他们都收藏当代艺术。”
Perhaps something like Sven Gahlin’s 160-lot collection of Indian miniatures, which Sotheby’s is selling in London on Oct. 6, might be easier to engage with, both visually and financially. Dating from the 16th to 19th centuries, these vivid gouache-on-paper studies, mainly of Mughal, Deccani and Rajput courtly life, had been acquired by Mr. Gahlin, a London dealer and collector, since the 1960s.
10月6日，苏富比将在伦敦拍卖斯文·加林(Sven Gahlin)收藏的160件印度微型画，这样的活动或许从视觉上与经济上更容易吸引人们的兴趣。这些画来自16世纪到19世纪，是栩栩如生的纸面水粉画，主要描绘莫卧儿、德感与拉其普特王朝的宫廷生活，加林先生是一位伦敦交易商，从20世纪60年代开始相关收藏。
Indian miniatures have long been admired — the British abstract painter Howard Hodgkin owns a collection featured in the “Magnificent Obsessions” show — but because few works can be ascribed to individual artists, values remain reasonable compared with much contemporary art. The best of Mr. Gahlin’s examples are mostly estimated in the 30,000 to 60,000 range.
印度微型画一直为人们所喜爱——英国抽象画家霍华德·霍奇金就收藏了许多，并在“壮丽的迷恋”上展出——但是这些作品大都无法归功于个人艺术家，和许多当代艺术作品相比，它们的价格比较公道。加林的收藏品中，最好的作品估价在3万到6万英镑。
The market for Indian miniatures, like that for Italian maiolica, archaic Chinese bronzes and almost everything made before 1900, has a far smaller client base than that for international contemporary art.
印度微型画的市场和意大利釉彩陶器、中国古代青铜器以及各种1900年之前物品的市场一样，购买者要比国际当代艺术的购买者少得多。
“When I started, there were only two contemporary galleries in London,” said Mr. Rosenthal, who co-curated the Royal Academy’s controversial 1997 “Sensation” exhibition of Young British Artists. “Now art has become an industry. It’s vast.”
“我进入这个行业时，伦敦只有两家当代艺术画廊，”罗森塔尔说，1997年，他曾为皇家艺术院极具争议的，旨在推出年轻英国艺术家的“感知”(Sensation)展担任联合策展人。“如今艺术已经成了一种工业。非常庞大。”
“The Slump of the Old,” as the critic Robert Hughes might have called it, is a complex cultural phenomenon. The digital age’s totalitarian sense of “now” might have something to do with it, as might the pecuniary prestige of brand-name contemporary art and the horror of clutter and financial risk.
评论家罗伯特·休斯(Robert Hughes)可能会称之为“旧物的暴跌”，这是一种复杂的文化现象。数字时代“当下”的暴政也与此有关，此外的影响因素还有当代艺术中品牌艺术家的金元声望，以及对混乱与金融危机的恐慌。
But at least one group still possesses the curiosity and imagination to collect earlier art without worrying about investment outcomes. Artists.
但是至少有一个群体仍然对收藏早期艺术抱有好奇和想象，并不担心投资的前景，那就是艺术家们。
