An aesthetic investment

Here’s a news item you won’t have noticed: a New York auction house recently sold a painting by the Scottish artist Peter Howson for $180,000 (see an example of his work below). That caught my eye, not because of the price, which is very far from the million or so which a few British artists can command, but because it’s a record for this artist - and I advise a fund that holds 14 excellent specimens of his work. 180,000 x 14 makes quite a pretty total, especially since the whole lot only cost £57,000 originally. One of the 14 pictures alone is worth over half that.

Now, it’s not as simple as that. The 14 won’t all fetch that auction price or anything like it, but the point is still well made: buying contemporary art can be a dramatically successful form of investment. Actually, that’s not what attracts me to the field. I just love art with a passion. But it’s most comforting to have a deep personal interest that also pays off. So we’ll be letting you know what’s happening in my art world that could benefit you, both aesthetically and financially.

I’ll be writing with my gallery hat on - I have long been associated with the Angela Flowers Gallery, which now has establishments in fashionable Hoxton, Cork Street, and Madison Avenue, USA. And my first tip comes from the Cork Street Gallery, 21 Cork Street, London W1S 3LZ, telephone 020 7439 7766, email central[@]flowers.com (remove square brackets). It’s showing the work of John Kirby, a realistic painter who paints surreal people. The biggest bargain, a beautiful, sad portrait priced at £20,000, has already gone. If you want a short piece on Kirby’s work, drop me an email at heller[@]thinkingmanagers.com (remove square brackets).