New Yorkers Top 2007 List of Worldwide Fine Art Collectors

ARTnews magazine’s 2007 list of the top 200 art collectors worldwide confirms New York’s place as the center of the fine art world, with 33 of the top collectors hailing from New York – 21 more than the second place city, London.Among the top 10 collectors for the past year, New York boasts cosmetics giants Ronald Lauder, who recently spent $135 million to acquire a Gustav Klimt’s 1907 picture “Adele Bloch-Bauer I,” and the investment banker Leon Black.Though the list is not ranked, Mr. Lauder was “by far” the most active New York buyer, according to ARTnews editor and publisher Milton Esterow.The list is made up of the most active buyers in the past year, not upon who owns the most works – which is why England’s Queen Elizabeth is not on the list, despite her extraordinary collection, according to ARTnews editor Robin Cembalest.The “most active” qualification also ensures the fast turnover of names on the survey. The 2007 top 200 welcomed 20 new members over, and three new names to its top 10, including Israeli shipping and real estate magnate Sammy Ofer.ARTnews aquires its information through their foreign correspondents and confidential sources in museums, auction houses, and galleries.The dominance of the New York market and New York buyers depends to a great extent upon the city’s sheer numbers. “You have more important collectors, more important dealers, and you have an extraordinary amount of scholars and experts in New York City,” Mr. Esterow said.The abundance of buyers, sellers, galleries, and artists in New York work to enhance the entire collecting experience, according to top collector Beth Rudin DeWoody. “I’ve met so many interesting people through the mutual love of art,” Ms. DeWoody said, a quality she said was inherent to New York.Ms. DeWoody, who began seriously collecting in 1975 and first appeared on the list last year, said that since she doesn’t have a favorite work or artist, her purchasing style is spontaneous.” I don’t agonize over things too much. I probably should agonize more, but if I see something great I just buy it,” she said.Within the art world today there is a divide between those art lovers who buy on impulse for their own collections, like Ms. DeWoody, and those who buy art as an investment and look to flip works for a quick profit. The two rarely seem to mix well.“The only reason anybody should collect is because they experience art, they want to live with it,” Mr. Esterow said. Noting that 98% of artworks go down in price after they are first exhibited, Mr. Esterow added that “the ones who are buying properly, at least as far as I’m concerned, are the ones who are not buying for investment purposes, because the stock market is safer than the art market.”Alexander Hirschorn Klebanoff of Marlborough Fine Art, New York, explained why New York was currently such a vibrant place for art collectors. “Most importantly, it has to do with the ’80s art stars who were rooted in New York – Basquiat and Warhol – who we are seeing some of the highest auction results from,” he said. “I think people who lived in that time want a piece of that time, particularly young banker types.”Despite the tilt of the list towards America and especially New York, Mr. Esterow said, “The extraordinary story has been the growing decentralization of art all over the world,” with a growing number of buyers from Russia and China. However, Mr. Esterow confirmed that “New York is the capital of the art world, no question about it.”

New Yorkers Top 2007 List of Worldwide Fine Art Collectors

New Yorkers Top 2007 List of Worldwide Fine Art Collectors

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