Paris and London clash again. The historical rivalry between France and England has translated, in recent times, into a fight for the capital of art on the European continent. The battle has been fought throughout the month of October in the two cities, which have hosted two of the largest fairs in the world: Frieze, the already veteran London event that has just turned 20 years old, and Paris+, promoted in the French capital by the Swiss giant Art Basel, which closed its second edition last Sunday. The result of the match is unclear. There are those who defend a persistent dominance of London, as the figures continue to attest. Who observes a peaceful bicapitality between the two cities. And who predicts a gradual shift of the center of gravity towards Paris, favored by a symbolic capital of desirability: The New York Times just designated it “the new darling” (the new love) of the art sector. “Paris+ is like a new puppy,” confirms Olivier Babin, gallery owner at Clearing, with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Brussels. And who doesn’t like puppies?
Several factors explain this shift of the tectonic plates of art. The first is, without a doubt, Brexit. And not only because of the erosion of London’s international aura that this isolationist reflection gave off, but also because of a mere economic issue. By leaving the common market, art purchases made in London by European collectors or institutions are penalized by tariffs of between 5% and 20%, which has caused the largest galleries to open offices in Paris in recent years. The first was David Zwirner, the most important gallerist in the world according to the Power100 list of 2023, followed by the very London-based White Cube or the New York-based Skarstedt and LGDR. The last to arrive has been the all-powerful Hauser & Wirth, which has just opened a room, the 17th to open in the world, in an elegant mansion in the rive droite of the French capital.
Regent’s Park, October 11. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, actors such as Emily Blunt, Andrew Garfield and Jared Leto (with pink hair) and model Claudia Schiffer wandered through the Frieze London exhibitors at the inaugural session for VIP collectors. In that same place, only in a more modest tent, the first edition of 2003 was held, much more risky and hooligan, in the wake of the creation of the Tate Modern and the rise of the Young British Artists. “Everything has changed a lot. Then the art world in the city was very small, while now London is a global capital that welcomes new demographics that were excluded due to their gender, race and geography,” says the fair’s director, Eva Langret. “The rivalry with Paris does not worry me. London is still dominant, but I don’t think we have to choose one or the other,” Langret added. A certain equidistance benefits her: she is French.
In 2022, the first edition of Paris+, favored by the almost absolute power of Art Basel and its client agenda, left London in evidence. This year, the city has put all its efforts into action. Despite an excessive mastery of painting and an uncontrollable tendency towards commercialism, this may have been the best edition in years, added to the inauguration of some of the great exhibitions of the year, such as the one dedicated to Marina Abramovic by the Royal Academy , icon of the performance pop, or the one that the Tate Modern dedicates to Philip Guston, known for his controversial paintings of the Ku Klux Klan. “London has shown its claws. It is important that there is healthy competition. The two cities have the capacity to be capitals at the same time. “Paris is going up, but London is still London,” said the Italian collector Patrizia Sandretto, caught on the fly in a hallway. In Maisterra Valbuena, one of the four Spanish galleries that exhibit in Frieze, they agreed with the diagnosis. “I don’t see wear and tear. Its visual culture is just as powerful. For us, contact with the Parisian market is more difficult. “We are less comfortable,” said its co-director, Pedro Maisterra.
Grand Palais Ephémère, October 18. Paris+ opened its doors in a temporary tent planted in front of the Eiffel Tower, waiting for the works on its official headquarters, the centenary Grand Palais, to finish in 2024. In the French capital there was an absurd feeling of euphoria, only a few days after the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, with the terrorist alert at maximum level and bedbug psychosis as the shared neurosis of the moment. “Paris+ reflects the cultural effervescence that animates the city, its dynamism and its attractiveness,” declared its director, Clément Delépine. And he claimed, in a revealing lapse, that Paris already concentrates “the majority of art transactions in Europe, 54% of the entire continent,” a figure that would only be correct if the United Kingdom is left out. “I mean the European Union,” he immediately corrected. This semantic confusion is taking over: some professionals consulted—especially the Americans, who have abounded in the French capital, with which they have a long love affair—equated Paris with Europe, as if the United Kingdom were already something else.
“London has shown its claws. It is important that there is healthy competition. The two cities have the capacity to be capitals at the same time,” says collector Patrizia Sandretto.
On the first day of the fair, Zwirner sold a painting by Kerry James Marshall for €5.7 million, the best sale of the month, followed by works by Alice Neel and Marlene Dumas for around €3 million. For its part, Hauser & Wirth managed to sell the 30 paintings in the exhibition starring the artist Henry Taylor, from the ranks of the new African-American figuration and praised by Barack Obama and Kendrick Lamar, before opening the doors of its new gallery in Paris.
“The war between the two cities is taking place, but above all in the media,” says ironically Marc Payot, co-president of Hauser & Wirth. “London has seen better days, for political and economic reasons, but it remains a great cultural force. On the other hand, Paris, a city with indisputable historical importance since the times of the avant-garde, has been boosted by its new museums and foundations.” It refers to artistic projects linked to the luxury sector, always omnipresent in Paris, such as Bernard Arnault’s LVMH Foundation (which has just inaugurated a historical exhibition dedicated to Rothko), François Pinault’s Stock Exchange or the new headquarters that Cartier will open together with the Louvre, which have turned the homeland of cultural protectionism into a new paradise for private initiative. The paradox is that, in ultra-liberal London, it is the public museums such as the two Tate or the National Gallery, which call the shots.
Despite the perception that Paris wins, London continues to prevail in the battle of figures, which are stubborn. The annual report by Art Basel and UBS, a reference in the sector, indicates that the French market accounts for 7% of global art trade transactions, far from the 18% that the United Kingdom accumulates, despite signs of an incipient erosion and the imminent danger of inflation. Another indicator is that auction houses, which used to concentrate in the British capital, are also beginning to look at Paris.
A few days ago, an auction at the Paris headquarters of Christie’s—founded by Britons, but whose current owner is the Frenchman Pinault—managed to award a work by Miró for 20.7 million euros, thus closing one of the largest sales of the season. Until not so long ago, this type of stratospheric bidding used to take place in London. The situation has changed: in 2022, Sotheby’s organized 70 auctions in Paris, 140% more than just a decade ago. A sculpture seen in Frieze summarized the situation in the British capital well: Flo (2022), by the duo Elmgreen & Dragset, a sad boy, with tears coming out of his eyes, and with a gigantic trophy in his hands.
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