私人藏家改变艺术界权力规则
The balance in the art world is shifting. As the world’s richest private collectors get richer, publicly financed museums are, by and large, getting poorer.
艺术界的平衡正在被打破。世界上最富有的私人藏家变得更富有，而公共资助的博物馆总的来说变得更穷。
Last week, critics made their first assessments of The Broad, the 120,000-square-foot private museum in downtown Los Angeles to showcase the contemporary art collection of the billionaire philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad. The museum has an endowment of more than $200 million, and additional funds for acquisitions.
上周（9月6日至9月12日），洛杉矶市中心的布罗德博物馆(The Broad)成为评论家们关注的焦点。这家私人博物馆室内面积为12万平方英尺，将展示亿万富翁兼慈善家埃利和埃戴丝·布罗德(Eli and Edythe Broad)的当代艺术藏品。这家博物馆获得了两亿多美元的捐款以及用于采购藏品的额外资金。
Also last week, four other collectors were displaying their art in a very different showcase that could be seen as an alternative model for private collectors. Four museums and a church in Sheffield, a town in Yorkshire in northern England, famed in Victorian times for its steel-making, opened their own exhibition of contemporary art, running through Dec. 12.
也是在上周，其他四位藏家在一个迥然不同的场合展示自己的艺术藏品，它可以被视作私收藏家展示自己藏品的另一种模式。谢菲尔德(Sheffield)是英国北部约克郡的一座小城，在维多利亚时代以炼钢闻名。这里的四座博物馆和一座教堂正在举办自己的当代艺术展，将持续至12月12日。
Squeezed by the British government’s austerity program, Sheffield City Council now finances its local museums to the tune of 1.5 million pounds a year, about $2.3 million, a reduction of more than 30 percent since 2009. The acquisition fund stands at just 70,000. That doesn’t go very far in today’s art market, and any purchases by British regional museums have to be supported by financing from public bodies like Arts Council England and private donations. A show supported by private collectors, therefore, can be a boon to the museums, and to the collectors themselves.
近些年，由于受到英国政府紧缩政策的影响，谢菲尔德市议会每年资助当地博物馆150万英镑，约合230万美元，比2009年减少了逾30%。藏品购买费仅为七万英镑，在如今的艺术市场，这些钱买不到太多东西。而且，英国地方博物馆不管购买什么艺术品，都必须得到英格兰艺术委员会(Arts Council England)等公共机构和私人捐款人的资助。所以，对博物馆和藏家来说，私人藏家支持的展览是一个双赢的办法。
“Private collectors have a lot of money and buying power that has driven growth in the art market,” the Berlin art adviser and writer Marta Gnyp said in a phone interview. Her book on the subject, “The Shift: Art and the Rise to Power of Contemporary Collectors,” was published on Aug. 4.
“私人藏家财力雄厚，购买力强，拉动了艺术市场的增长，”柏林艺术顾问兼作家玛尔塔·吉尼普(Marta Gnyp)在电话采访中说。她写了一本关于这一主题的书，名叫《变化：艺术与当代藏家权力的上升》(The Shift: Art and the Rise to Power of Contemporary Collectors)，今年8月4日出版。
“Public museums have financial restraints,” she added. “But they are still attractive to private collectors. Public institutions give a quality stamp and visibility to collections.”
“公共博物馆财力不足，”她补充说，“但它们对私人藏家依然具有吸引力。公共机构能证明这些藏品的品质，也能让更多观众看到它们。”
Museums Sheffield is using the exhibition project, called “Going Public,” and a conference at Sheffield Hallam University on Oct. 12 to examine how cash-strapped public galleries and wealthy private collectors can cooperate more effectively.
谢菲尔德博物馆(Museums Sheffield)正通过一个名为Going Public的展览项目和10月12日在谢菲尔德哈勒姆大学(Sheffield Hallam University)举办的会议，来探讨缺乏资金的公共画廊和富有的私人藏家如何更有效合作的问题。
“Going Public” is the first time that four major international collectors of contemporary art have collaborated on a regional museum show in Britain. As part of the joint show, recent Chinese video and digital art from Dominique and Sylvain Levy’s DSL collection in Paris are on display at Sheffield’s SIA and Site galleries. At the Millennium Gallery, eight works of Minimalism — including the classic 1967 Sol LeWitt white-painted aluminum sculpture “Serial Project #1, A6” — have been lent by the French collector Nicolas Cattelain in London. Marcel Duchamp’s 1952 “La Boite-en-valise” (Box in a Suitcase) is among 35 Surrealist works being shown by the Berlin collector Egidio Marzona in the Art Deco Graves Gallery museum.
Going Public是四位重要的国际当代艺术藏家首次联合在英国的一个地方博物馆展出藏品。多米尼克和西尔万·莱维(Dominique and Sylvain Levy)在法国创立了DSL收藏公司。该公司收藏的中国近年视频和数字艺术作品正在谢菲尔德的SIA和Site画廊展示。法国收藏家尼古拉斯·凯特莱(Nicolas Cattelain)把八件极简主义作品借给了伦敦的千禧画廊(Millennium Gallery)，包括索尔·莱威特(Sol LeWitt)1967年创作的经典作品——白漆铝制雕塑《系列作品1号A6》(Serial Project #1, A6)。柏林藏家埃吉迪奥·马尔佐纳(Egidio Marzona)正在艺术装饰风格的格雷夫斯画廊(Graves Gallery)展示35件超现实主义作品，包括马塞尔·迪尚(Marcel Duchamp)1952年创作的《手提的盒子》(Box in a Suitcase)。
And unsettling installations — like a 1996 Chapman Brothers corpse hanging upside down over a vat of blood and a 2009 tapestry by the Polish artist Goshka Macuga of London foretelling today’s migrant crisis — are transforming the medieval interior of Sheffield Cathedral, courtesy of Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, who has a private museum in Turin.
一些令人不安的装置作品正在改变谢菲尔德大教堂(Sheffield Cathedral)的中世纪风格内部空间，比如查普曼兄弟(Chapman Brothers)1996年创作的倒立悬挂尸体，下面是一大桶血，还有伦敦的波兰裔艺术家戈舍卡·马库加(Goshka Macuga)2009年创作的挂毯，它预言了今天的难民危机。这些作品是帕特里齐娅·桑德里托·雷·里保丹戈(Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo)提供的，她在都灵有个私人博物馆。
“They’re all true believers,” Sebastien Montabonel, an art consultant in London, said of the collectors who contributed work to the shows. He originated the project four years ago with Mark Doyle of the Contemporary Art Society in London. “They understand art is getting expensive and that their role is important.” He added: “Two or three collectors can make a huge impact, and being a big fish in a small pond is a good selling point.”
“他们都是真正的信徒，”伦敦艺术顾问塞巴斯蒂安·蒙塔波奈(Sebastien Montabonel)提到那些给展览提供作品的收藏家时说。四年前，他和伦敦当代艺术协会(Contemporary Art Society)的马克·多伊尔(Mark Doyle)发起了这个项目。“他们知道，艺术品越来越昂贵，他们的角色很重要。”他补充说，“两三位收藏家能产生巨大的影响力，小池塘里的大鱼是个很好的卖点。”
These selections from four serious collectors will give residents of and visitors to Sheffield a distinctive overview of some of the more interesting things international artists have been doing over the past 100 years. But can this model be repeated at other regional museums?
四位严肃藏家精选的这些作品将给谢菲尔德的居民和游客提供独特的视角，以了解国际艺术家们在过去一百年里做的一些更有趣的事情。但是其他地方博物馆能效仿这个模式吗？
In February 2014, Mr. Marzona, one of the participating collectors in “Going Public,” transferred ownership of 372 pieces of 20th-century avant-garde art to the city of Berlin, having already given a substantial proportion of his collection to the city’s museums in 2002.
2014年2月，藏家马尔佐纳（他是Going Public项目的参与者之一）把自己收藏的372件20世纪先锋艺术品转让给了柏林市政府。2002年，他已经把自己收藏的很大一部分艺术品赠送给了柏林的多个博物馆。
But nowadays, as Ms. Gnyp notes in “The Shift,” the private museum owned by a collector or an associated foundation has become the model, rather than donations to public institutions, despite the tax advantages that can accrue from such gifts. Ms. Gnyp writes that no fewer than 125 museums were created worldwide from 2006 to 2013, as opposed to just 25 in the 1990s. Wealthy individuals like Mr. Broad and Ms. Sandretto Re Rebaudengo want to keep control of their collections and play a more proactive role in the art world.
吉尼普在《变化》中提到，现在流行的模式是藏家或联合基金会创立私人博物馆，而非向公共机构捐赠藏品，尽管捐赠能积累很多税收优惠。吉尼普写道，从2006年至2013年，世界范围内至少开设了125家博物馆，而20世纪90年代仅开设了25家。布罗德和桑德里托·雷·里保丹戈等富有的藏家希望继续控制自己的藏品，在艺术界发挥更积极的作用。
“I want to show my collection and share it with other people,” said Ms. Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, who began buying art in 1992 and now has more than 1,000 works. “But private collectors can do so much more. They can be involved in the production of art and in education.” For example, for the 2009 Venice Biennale she commissioned the Macuga tapestry hanging in Sheffield Cathedral. She said that “Going Public,” with its expansive use of loans, could prove a model for future collaborations between art’s public and private sectors.
“我想展示我的收藏品，和其他人分享，”桑德里托·雷·里保丹戈说。她从1992年开始购买艺术品，现在拥有1000多件藏品。“但是私人藏家可以做得更多。他们可以参与艺术创作和教育。”例如，她委托马库加为2009年威尼斯双年展创作了现在悬挂在谢菲尔德大教堂的那件挂毯。她说，Going Public项目所借的艺术品来源广泛，可以成为未来公共和私人艺术界的合作模式。
But as private museums have grown in power and influence, so too has the fixation on contemporary art as an investment. Media reports of spectacular price rises for fashionable artists have attracted droves of newcomers to the market.
但是随着私人博物馆势力和影响力的增长，当代艺术品越来越被视为一个投资方向。媒体对热门艺术家作品价格大幅上涨的报道吸引很多新手进入这个市场。
“There are probably no more than 200 or 300 real collectors who have a vision and have proper curation,” Mr. Montabonel said. “The others are just buyers. Their ‘collections’ will be forgotten in 10 years’ time.”
“很可能只有两三百位真正的藏家，他们有远见，也有合适的管理方法，”蒙塔波奈说，“其他人只是买家。他们的‘藏品’十年后将被遗忘。”
Is it that simple, though? Are there such clear distinctions between “real” collectors and mere “buyers”?
不过，真的这么简单吗？“真正的”藏家和单纯的“买家”真的如此界线分明吗？
The Broads were collecting contemporary art long before it was being promoted in power point presentations as an “alternative asset class.” Yet a number of visitors to their gleaming new museum have noted how the procession of works by blue-chip names like Jeff Koons, Ed Ruscha, Mark Bradford and Mark Grotjahn hung on temporary white partition walls can make the display, at times, resemble the world’s most expensive art fair.
在当代艺术品作为“其他财产”用PPT展示推广之前，布罗德夫妇就已经在收藏当代艺术品。但是，一些去他们亮丽的新博物馆参观的游客注意到，杰夫·昆斯(Jeff Koons)、埃德·拉斯查(Ed Ruscha)、马克·布拉德福德(Mark Bradford)和马克·格罗特雅恩(Mark Grotjahn)等热门艺术家的作品悬挂在临时分割的白墙上，有时让人感觉自己是在世界上最昂贵的艺术交易会上。
“The lack of independent taste among high-powered collectors is most depressing,” Kenneth Baker, the former art critic at The San Francisco Chronicle, said in an email. He has viewed the Broad collection twice but has yet to visit the new museum. “Broad and his ilk certainly don’t have to think like speculators when they shop for art, unless they can’t help themselves.”
“财力雄厚的藏家们缺乏独立的品味是最令人沮丧的，”《旧金山纪事报》(The San Francisco Chronicle)的前艺术评论家肯尼思·贝克(Kenneth Baker)在邮件采访中说。他观看过布罗德的藏品两次，不过尚未去参观新的博物馆。“布罗德和他的家人购买艺术品时，当然不必像投机者那样思考，除非他们不由自主。”
The difference could not be greater when contrasted with the subject of the first exhibition at Damien Hirst’s private museum, which will open in a 37,000 square-foot converted factory in Lambeth in South London on Oct. 8. The inaugural show will focus on the Sheffield-born abstract painter John Hoyland (1934-2011), a surprising choice for the former superstar of Young British Art.
当把布罗德新博物馆的开幕展览与达米安·赫斯特(Damien Hirst)私人博物馆的开幕展览的主题相比较时，这种差别尤为明显。后者将于10月8日开放，位于伦敦南部朗伯斯(Lambeth)一个改造后的工厂里，占地3.7万平方英尺。它的开幕展览是关于出生在谢菲尔德的抽象画家约翰·霍伊兰(John Hoyland, 1934-2011)。赫斯特曾是英国青年艺术组织(Young British Art)的超级明星，所以他的这个选择令人意外。
Now 50, Mr. Hirst is ranked as the 450th wealthiest person in Britain, worth 215 million, according to The Sunday Times’s “Rich List” for 2015. The artist has been a compulsive buyer since the 1980s, and his Murderme Collection now contains more than 3,000 works by Picasso, Warhol, Banksy, Bacon and a host of others. As it turns out, he is also an admirer of Hoyland, who was influenced by the Abstract Expressionists, and whom he discovered when visiting Leeds Art Gallery as a schoolboy.
据《星期日泰晤士报》(The Sunday Times)的2015年富豪榜，50岁的赫斯特在英国富豪榜上排名第450位，资产2.15亿英镑。从20世纪80年代起，这位艺术家变成了一位欲罢不能的买家。他的Murderme Collection现在有3000多件作品，包括毕加索(Picasso)、沃霍尔(Warhol)、班克西(Banksy)和培根(Bacon)等诸多艺术家的作品。结果证明，他也很欣赏霍伊兰，后者曾受抽象表现主义画家影响。赫斯特是在上学期间参观利兹美术馆(Leeds Art Gallery)时注意到霍伊兰的作品的。
“In my eyes, John Hoyland was an artist who was never afraid to push the boundaries,” Mr. Hirst says on his website.
“在我看来，约翰·霍伊兰是一位从不畏惧打破界线的艺术家，”赫斯特在自己的网站上说。
Unlike the opening of The Broad, the first Hirst Museum show might be closer to Mr. Montabonel’s notions of “true” collecting. As yet, Hoyland doesn’t command much of an international market. The highest auction price for one of his works is “just” 185,000, paid back in 2008. By and large, people looking at these paintings won’t be distracted by their monetary worth, and the experience will be closer to that of visiting a public museum.
不像布罗德博物馆的开幕展览，赫斯特博物馆的首场展览可能更接近蒙塔波奈所说的“真正的”收藏。不过，霍伊兰在国际市场上并不热门。他作品的最高拍卖价“仅为”18.5万英镑，是2008年成交的。总的来说，人们看着这些画作，不会被它们的金钱价值分心，观展体验将更接近参观公共博物馆。
The “financialization” of contemporary art, and the ways this has, or has not, influenced collectors, might be an interesting break-out topic for that Sheffield conference in October.
当代艺术品的“金融化”是否（如果是的话，又是如何）影响了收藏者？这可能会是10月份谢菲尔德会议上的热门话题。
In the meantime, what do Yorkshire’s down-to-earth locals think of this fancy international art dropping into their city?
与此同时，约克郡的普通百姓又是如何看待这场空降到这座城市的高级国际艺术展的呢？
“I like it,” Ronald Fletcher, 87, said outside Sheffield Cathedral. “I’m not overly religious. I don’t really believe in God, but I’ve been looking for something since I lost my wife. I find it refreshing.”
“我很喜欢，”87岁的罗纳德·弗莱彻(Ronald Fletcher)在谢菲尔德大教堂外说，“我不是非常虔诚的教徒。我并不是很信上帝，但是妻子去世后，我在寻找某种东西。我觉得这令人振奋。”
At least someone knows the true value of art.
至少，有人知道艺术的真正价值。
