Even those collectors who seek out emerging artists are finding their field increasingly crowded as enthusiasm for ever-younger, unproven artists grows. Jo Ann Alter, who advises many young, new collectors through her consulting firm, approached an artist at a recent show of Columbia University’s MFA candidates. She was surprised to learn a gallery had already purchased the artist’s entire collection.

Toni Alexander, president of InterCommunicationsInc, a marketing firm in Newport Beach, Calif., has built her collection, primarily works on paper, over the past two decades. She blames indiscriminate demand by nouveau speculative buyers for making it harder to acquire important works for her collection. Alexander has seen buyers still learning the basics of managing fine art. "One of the first things I’m sure the interior designer says is, ‘Well, you can’t have art that matches your couch,’" she says. "A lot of these people might not have known otherwise." Ironically, the booming interest in art is actually fueling Alexander’s business. One of her clients is marketing high-end commercial buildings by selling them with art collections already assembled. She shrugs at the incongruity. "It will benefit the art market to have broader interest," she concedes.

Carried Away
Martin Harding is exactly the kind of art buyer who at first blush might appear to be the type of indiscriminate buyer driving up valuations. A former managing director with Lehman Brothers, Harding has been collecting for three years. He went on a buying binge during March’s New York Armory Show, purchasing 10 pieces in five days; he likens his take to the waterfront parcel he recently purchased in Sag Harbor, N.Y.: "I know I overpaid, but in five years, this will look like a bargain."

"I know I overpaid, but in five years, this will look like a bargain." –Martin Harding

While he says he is not "a gluttonous Wall Street type," Harding does admit to getting carried away at times. The week after the Armory Show, he acquired two Christopher Williams photographs–a diptych–that were included in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Biennial 2006 exhibit. He plans to build a new house on the Sag Harbor property because his collection is outgrowing his present home in the area.

TOP: COLLECTOR Sara Tirschwell, spurred by both her desire for a painting and a competing bidder, paid $125,000 in March for Louis Valtat’s Maternité, a 1908 oil on paper with a presale estimate of $18,000 to $25,000. (Photograph courtesy of Christie's Images Ltd, 2006.)  Bottom: Edward Steichen’s The Pond-Moonlight, a 1904 multiple process platinum, sold in February for $2.9 million, triple the estimate of $700,000 to $1 million. It set a record for a photograph at auction. (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby's.)

But Harding is no mere speculator; he aspires to assemble an important collection. He hired an advisor, Clayton Press of Berwyn, Pa., and immersed himself in the study of fine art. He also established three rules to guide his purchases: First, the work must have some independent critical or financial validation. Second, the price must be fair, which he gauges by tracking the costs of comparable works. Third, he must like a piece; he refuses to be talked into something that does not naturally appeal to him. This discipline helps ensure Harding’s acquisitions are personally important to him rather than a reflection of market consensus.

Other collectors pursue offbeat strategies meant to unearth overlooked, but important, works. Bruce Palmer, owner of Bruce Palmer Galleries in New York, seeks out the works of talented artists who have died and whose work is no longer sponsored by other galleries. "Hopefully, you can catch a sweet spot where they’re close to or just beginning to be rediscovered," he says. Such pieces might flood the market in the event of an estate sale immediately following the death of an artist, pushing them out of favor. For example, the landscape paintings of John W. Bentley, a member of the Woodstock Art Colony, slid in value following his death in 1951. But over time, his works have reemerged as collector favorites.

"It’s not a democratic process. I want the people who buy with their eyes, not their ears." –Iwan Wirth

Despite the heady valuations, passion for a piece will occasionally trump the conservative leanings of even the most sophisticated buyers. Tirschwell’s Valtat now hangs over her mantle. The day after acquiring it, her office colleagues teased her about buying at auction, knowing she must surely have overpaid. "It’s funny," she admits. "I didn’t lose sleep once. I actually have been very sanguine because I love the painting. I love it so much."

Elizabeth Harris is a staff writer for Worth.

Additional Information
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