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Foreign Currency Volatility and the Market for French Modernist Art
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Foreign Currency Volatility and the Market for French Modernist Art examines how the collapse of the French franc in the decades following the First World War activated powerful ‘push’ and ‘pull’ economic forces that compelled French art collectors to monetise their collections while simultaneously elevating the purchasing power of international art collectors. These factors are shown to have played a significant, and previously under-recognised role, in the large-scale translocation of French modernist art that radically accelerated its commercial and critical reception across the globe and positioned it at the apex of the newly established hierarchy of modern art.
David M. Challis, Ph.D. (2019), The University of Melbourne, is a postdoctoral researcher and sessional teacher in the Art History program at that university. His research distinctions include the 2020 Paul Mellon Centre Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Paul Mellon Centre for studies in British Art.
“The role of exchange rate in international acquisition of art has received limited attention. Both art dealers and collectors pay nonetheless attention to the value of artworks once expressed in their local currency. The merit of David Challis’ book is to show how important it is." … "The book is likely to appeal to scholars working on the art markets, on collections and collectors and to economic historians with an interest in the art world and more generally to anyone with an interest in collecting practices and the art market.”
Kim Oosterlinck in Journal of Cultural Economics. October 2022
Kim Oosterlinck in Journal of Cultural Economics. October 2022
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
List of Graphs
List of Tables
Introduction
1 Conceptualising the International Art Market
2 The ‘Booming Export Market’ for French Modernist Art
3 Causes of Translocation
4 Foreign Currency Volatility and Translocation
5 The Macroeconomic Perspective
6 Collector Case Studies
1 Economic Disruption and the Monetisation of French Collections
1 French Collecting of French Modernist Art
2 Capital Flight from France
3 Asset Liquidation in Practice
4 Private Wealth Destruction in France
5 The Popular Front and a Return to Capital Flight
6 The Broader European Experience
7 The Importance of Supply-Side Factors
2 Samuel Courtauld as Private Collector and Public Donor
1 Courtauld as Industrialist and Art Collector
2 Economics and the Courtauld Collection
3 Courtauld and the Purchasing Power of the Pound
4 Seurat at the Tate Gallery
5 A Comprehensive Collection of Degas
6 Sunflowers at the ‘Famous Gallery’
7 Securing Modern Masterpieces
8 The Courtauld Institute
9 Courtauld’s Private Collection on Loan
10 Samuel Courtauld as Private Collector and Public Donor
3 Albert Barnes as Currency Opportunist and ‘Visionary Art Educator’
1 Introduction
2 From Pharmaceuticals to the Barnes Foundation
3 Collecting French Modernist Art
4 US Dollar Purchasing Power and Cézanne at the Barnes Foundation
5 Barnes as Currency Opportunist
6 Price Inflation and Currency Devaluation
7 Barnes as ‘Visionary Art Educator’
8 Picasso, African Masks and Object-Based Learning
9 Barnes as Author and the Making of Chaim Soutine
10 Cézanne and Consumer Transfer at the Barnes Foundation
11 Private Collectors and French Modernist Art in America
12 The Barnes Legacy
4 Kojiro Matsukata and the Economics of Rodin in Japan
1 Shipbuilding and Art Collecting
2 Japanese Collectors and the Purchasing Power of the Yen
3 Rodin’s Reception in Japan
4 Eve at the Tokyo National Museum
5 Balzac at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts
6 The Economics of Rodin in Japan
5 Institutional Inertia and the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia
1 The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV)
2 The ‘Nucleus’ Strategy at the NGV
3 The NGV’s Turn toward Modern Art
4 An Institutional ‘Tipping Point’ for French Modernist Art?
5 The Tate Gallery and Post-Impressionist Art
6 FBC Purchasing Power in the Interwar Period
7 ‘Modern Art’ Strategy Trumped by the ‘Nucleus’ Strategy
8 Ideological Opposition to the ‘Horrors of Paris’
9 £2,000 for Cézanne’s ‘Best’ Work?
10 Structural Resistances and Degas at the NGV
11 Degenerates, Perverts and a Cheap van Gogh
12 Institutional Inertia at the NGV
6 Assis Chateaubriand at the Museu de São Paulo and the Turn Toward Brazilian Modernism
1 Industrialisation in Argentina and Brazil
2 Purchasing Power in Argentina and Brazil
3 The Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) Appears ‘Almost Overnight’
4 World Tour of ‘Masterpieces’ From the MASP
5 Ballerinas and Racehorses in São Paulo
6 Pietro Bardi as Museum Director and Tastemaker
7 Denial of ‘Ultra-Moderns’ and ‘Local Prophets’
8 The Turn Toward Brazilian Modernism
9 The São Paulo Museum of Modern Art (MAM-SP)
10 Tarsila Amaral and Cultural Cannibalism in Brazil
11 The First São Paulo International Biennial
12 From Vanguard to Rear-Guard in Thirty Years
Conclusion
1 Private Collectors and Translocation
2 Taste Formation and Economics
3 Consequences of Translocation
4 The Fall of the Franc as a Factor Influencing Translocation
Appendix A: The International Gold Standard
Appendix B: Archival Currency Data Calculations
Appendix C: Interwar Translocation of Paul Cézanne’s Paintings of Mont Sainte-Victoire
Appendix D: Modern Art as Part of the Broader Art Market
Bibliography
Index
List of Illustrations
List of Graphs
List of Tables
Introduction
1 Conceptualising the International Art Market
2 The ‘Booming Export Market’ for French Modernist Art
3 Causes of Translocation
4 Foreign Currency Volatility and Translocation
5 The Macroeconomic Perspective
6 Collector Case Studies
1 Economic Disruption and the Monetisation of French Collections
1 French Collecting of French Modernist Art
2 Capital Flight from France
3 Asset Liquidation in Practice
4 Private Wealth Destruction in France
5 The Popular Front and a Return to Capital Flight
6 The Broader European Experience
7 The Importance of Supply-Side Factors
2 Samuel Courtauld as Private Collector and Public Donor
1 Courtauld as Industrialist and Art Collector
2 Economics and the Courtauld Collection
3 Courtauld and the Purchasing Power of the Pound
4 Seurat at the Tate Gallery
5 A Comprehensive Collection of Degas
6 Sunflowers at the ‘Famous Gallery’
7 Securing Modern Masterpieces
8 The Courtauld Institute
9 Courtauld’s Private Collection on Loan
10 Samuel Courtauld as Private Collector and Public Donor
3 Albert Barnes as Currency Opportunist and ‘Visionary Art Educator’
1 Introduction
2 From Pharmaceuticals to the Barnes Foundation
3 Collecting French Modernist Art
4 US Dollar Purchasing Power and Cézanne at the Barnes Foundation
5 Barnes as Currency Opportunist
6 Price Inflation and Currency Devaluation
7 Barnes as ‘Visionary Art Educator’
8 Picasso, African Masks and Object-Based Learning
9 Barnes as Author and the Making of Chaim Soutine
10 Cézanne and Consumer Transfer at the Barnes Foundation
11 Private Collectors and French Modernist Art in America
12 The Barnes Legacy
4 Kojiro Matsukata and the Economics of Rodin in Japan
1 Shipbuilding and Art Collecting
2 Japanese Collectors and the Purchasing Power of the Yen
3 Rodin’s Reception in Japan
4 Eve at the Tokyo National Museum
5 Balzac at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts
6 The Economics of Rodin in Japan
5 Institutional Inertia and the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia
1 The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV)
2 The ‘Nucleus’ Strategy at the NGV
3 The NGV’s Turn toward Modern Art
4 An Institutional ‘Tipping Point’ for French Modernist Art?
5 The Tate Gallery and Post-Impressionist Art
6 FBC Purchasing Power in the Interwar Period
7 ‘Modern Art’ Strategy Trumped by the ‘Nucleus’ Strategy
8 Ideological Opposition to the ‘Horrors of Paris’
9 £2,000 for Cézanne’s ‘Best’ Work?
10 Structural Resistances and Degas at the NGV
11 Degenerates, Perverts and a Cheap van Gogh
12 Institutional Inertia at the NGV
6 Assis Chateaubriand at the Museu de São Paulo and the Turn Toward Brazilian Modernism
1 Industrialisation in Argentina and Brazil
2 Purchasing Power in Argentina and Brazil
3 The Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) Appears ‘Almost Overnight’
4 World Tour of ‘Masterpieces’ From the MASP
5 Ballerinas and Racehorses in São Paulo
6 Pietro Bardi as Museum Director and Tastemaker
7 Denial of ‘Ultra-Moderns’ and ‘Local Prophets’
8 The Turn Toward Brazilian Modernism
9 The São Paulo Museum of Modern Art (MAM-SP)
10 Tarsila Amaral and Cultural Cannibalism in Brazil
11 The First São Paulo International Biennial
12 From Vanguard to Rear-Guard in Thirty Years
Conclusion
1 Private Collectors and Translocation
2 Taste Formation and Economics
3 Consequences of Translocation
4 The Fall of the Franc as a Factor Influencing Translocation
Appendix A: The International Gold Standard
Appendix B: Archival Currency Data Calculations
Appendix C: Interwar Translocation of Paul Cézanne’s Paintings of Mont Sainte-Victoire
Appendix D: Modern Art as Part of the Broader Art Market
Bibliography
Index
Anyone interested in the evolution of the international art market, the history of French modernist art and researchers working in art market studies, cultural economics and art history.