48 19th March 2011 international events Buying and selling across


■ Scandinavia shows that when it comes to art sales, it is anything but a backwater


Simon Hewitt reports


£1 = €1.25


WITH a total population of just 25 million, the four countries that form Scandinavia sometimes conjure up the image of a Baltic cul-de-sac. But in art market terms they punch above their weight – as SIMON HEWITT reports in our special survey.


Sweden and Denmark dominate the


scene, and two firms head the pack – Bruun Rasmussen and Bukowskis. Copenhagen’s Bruun Rasmussen have


been in aggiornamento mode in recent years, absorbing several domestic rivals to broaden their profile and consolidate their status as Denmark’s number one auction house Bukowskis, under new ownership,


remain a major force in both Helsinki and Stockholm, where they enjoy a keen rivalry with arguably the world’s oldest auction firm, Stockholms Auktionsverk (founded 1674). Blomqvist of Oslo are the driving force in the limited Norwegian market. It is not all about capital cities,


however, and Sweden, in particular, has a bustling network of regional salerooms, led by Uppsala Auktionskammare, 50 miles north of Stockholm. Meanwhile the Danish-based web-sale company Lauritz.com has been building up an extensive network of showrooms throughout Scandinavia (even extending into Germany). Scandinavia attracts buyers from


across Europe and over the Atlantic, although American buying has been affected in recent years by the weak dollar. Asian buyers are on the rise but Russians – attracted by their proximity and a steady supply of Russian pictures, furniture and objets d’art – have been a little less conspicuous in the last couple of years. In volume terms (accounting for


around one-third of all lots offered) the biggest contributors to Scandinavian auctions are 19th and 20th century


Above: “Havnen” (The Harbour), one of three Bruun-Rasmussen venues in Copenhagen. The company moved there in 2007 and use it for offices and viewings.


pictures, but many foreign buyers are more attracted by Swedish glass, Danish silver, ‘design’, and the late 18th century neoclassical “Gustavian” furniture produced under the reigns of Swedish kings Gustav III (1771-92) and Gustav IV (1792-1809). Contemporary art is less of a regional strength, although many sales include a flood of 20th century prints. Antiquities, tribal art, Islamic art and photography are not regional fortes. Most firms stage monthly sales


of modest pretensions. The bigger auctioneers also offer twice-yearly, wide- ranging, multi-session sales, generally in May/June and November/December, and often divided between “old” and “modern” (with the First World War as the cut-off). Private buyers predominate more than in London, Paris or New York, with only around a quarter of sales generated by the trade (mostly foreign). Stockholm and Copenhagen have


their own dealer districts and annual winter antiques fairs of primarily domestic content – the one in Stockholm, with around 250 exhibitors,


being ten times larger. Although Norway, Denmark and


Sweden were united from 1397 to 1523 under the Union of Kalmar, and Sweden has at different times enjoyed suzerainty over both Norway and Finland, these are four fiercely independent countries – united only, it seems, by a Protestant work ethic and the ability of their inhabitants to speak faultless English. Denmark joined the European Union


(then the EEC) at the same time as the UK and Eire, back in 1972, followed by Sweden and Finland in 1995. Oil-rich Norway remains aloof. But only Finland has adopted the euro. The ‘crowns’ of the other three currencies have slightly different exchange rates either side of ten to the £1. Since its opening in 2000, the


ten-mile Øresund Bridge between Copenhagen and Malmö has provided an economic boost to southern Sweden, and made Copenhagen Airport an attractive regional hub – with direct trains to Stockholm and Gothenburg (and on to Oslo).


SWEDEN A narrow 1709 defeat by Peter the


Great at Poltava, east of Kiev, put an end to Sweden’s long-forgotten hegemony over north-east Europe. Since then three centuries of relative peace – allied to a stay-at-home climate, and what was long a prosperous economy – have fostered a nation of collectors, fuelling a string of auction firms around the southern half of the country (mainly elk elsewhere), especially in Stockholm. The picturesque capital (population


850,000) also has a small but dynamic gallery area, centred on Östermalm, Birger Jarlasgatan and Kommendörsgatan; and its more scattered contemporary scene received a boost four years ago when a huge industrial building on Hudiksvallsgatan, in the Vasastan district, was converted for use as a gallery centre – promptly dubbed the Swedish Chelsea by imaginative locals. Decorative arts form the mainstay of


Sweden’s international auction appeal and, by international standards, can come cheap on home soil. Swedish 18th century furniture, both “rococo” (Louis XV) and “Gustavian” (Louis XVI), is plentiful, offering a good-value alternative to French models. Georg Haupt is the cabinetmaker in highest demand. Endless parades of chairs, mirrors, chandeliers and clocks make some Stockholm sales a decorator’s delight. The Chinese are ready buyers of


export porcelain: Sweden’s Ostindiska Kompaniet or East India Company (run by Scots) was a thriving 18th century concern. Old Master pictures are less abundant. But, along with paintings by the prominent Swedish artists Alexander Roslin and Adolph Ulric Wertmüller, the odd star work can emerge – like the unsuspected Rubens that fetched SKr16.6m in Uppsala in 2006. Sweden’s 20th century output has


broad appeal: inter-War Orrefors glass (notably by Simon Gate and Edward Hald); Rörstrand and Marieberg ceramics; Gustavsberg porcelain; Kåbergs wallpaper; silver and jewellery by Wiwen Nilsson. Perhaps the most in-demand “Swedish” designer is Austrian-born Josef Frank (1885-1967), who worked for design agency Svenskt Tenn – still going strong as a Stockholm boutique, selling modern editions of Frank’s furniture and fabric designs. American collectors (often with


Swedish ancestry) are among the foremost buyers of works by artists like Anders Zorn, Carl Larsson, Carl Kylberg, Bruno Liljefors and Carl Fredrik Hill.


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