Earth-toned brush strokes depict six elated dervishes whirling inside an Ottoman-era ritual hall. The hammer falls and it is sold for 2,546,500 USD, a record price never before reached in the Middle Eastern art market. This piece, ‘The Whirling Dervishes’, a 1929 painting by Egyptian Mahmoud Said (1897-1964), was bought anonymously at the Christie’s Auction in Dubai in April 2009 and sold for eight times its original estimate.
This impressive price marked the peak of a series of auctions, which from 2005 to 2009 established the upward trend in profitability of Arab and Iranian art. It can be traced in part to Christie’s, the first international auction house to open in the region and the first to hold a major Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art auction. Sotheby’s in London and Bonham’s, which followed Christie’s to Dubai, followed shortly and gradually, prices began to head to stratospheric - some might say grossly-inflated - new heights.
The effect of this (over)valuation was not just to boost the auction houses’ profits. With the support of galleries in the region and abroad, it helped strengthened demand for the work of the pioneering Arab artists of previous decades and also opened the way for emerging artists, who quickly became established names, amongst them Ayman Baalbaki (Lebanon), Abdul Rahman Katanani (Palestine) and Hassan Hajjaj (Morocco). The works of pioneers like Louay Kayyali (1934-1978), Paul Guiragossian (1926-1993) and Fateh Moudarres (1929-1999) also became highly sought after, often as prestigious acquisitions for private individuals, spurring rivalry between competitor collections.
For instance, at the Christie’s October 2010 auction, Guiragossian’s ‘Clair Obscure’ (1987), a row of female figures painted in thick strokes, sold for USD 242,500 USD, far above the predicted price of 100,000-130,000 USD. Moudarres’ ‘Untitled’ (1967), an early masterpiece landscape of Damascus was estimated at 140,000-180,000 USD but sold for 374,500 USD USD. The works of pioneering Egyptian artists, which are now very difficult to find, have maintained their popularity at auctions. ‘Brass Music’ (1986) by Hamed Nada (1924-1990) is another example of a work that sold at three times its initial estimate via a Christie’s auction in Dubai, where it fetched 314,500 USD. Even relative newcomers, like Baalbaki, profited. His 2007 meditation on revolutionary spirit and martyrdom, ‘Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom’, for example, was estimated at a modest 50,000-60,000 USD but finally sold for 206,500 USD.
The question is why. True, the international auction houses, working in tandem with the region’s major galleries created a market that did not previously exist but they only set the estimates, however inflated. Sale prices were dictated by the market.
So what explains this sudden passion for home-grown art(ists)? National pride is surely one reason. Asian art experienced a similar boom in prices over the last decade, as a newly-monied class of collectors increasingly placed value on domestic artists. Combine that with the demand for all kinds of art created by the proliferation of festivals, auctions, national museums and galleries, particularly in the Gulf region and throw in the phenomenal liquidity the region has experienced in recent years, and a picture begins to emerge.
Michael Jeha, Christie’s Head of Sales in the Middle East, describes this phenomenon as “unsustainable” and a reflection of the generalised “overheating” the region has experienced. That said, the trend has created new leagues of collectors who are more informed and selective and despite the relative decline of prices at houses like Bonham’s and lower sales for Christie’s this year, Jeha believes that the market is still maturing and attracting followers.
So is the boom bust? Or is this (relative) stagnation in prices simply the result of the region catching its breath? It’s too early to say for sure but as there hasn’t been a major depreciation in prices, it may be that until the next boom, at least, Middle Eastern art has finally found its price.
