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Tim Blum‘s former employees question galllery’s Art Basel results and accuse him of having “an inflated ego” and making “poor business decisions.”
Congress is debating whether to extend and fortify a law to help Holocaust victims and their heirs reclaim artworks stolen by the Nazis.
Ex-Art Basel boss Marc Spiegler rails against the art-market’s “financialization” and calls for a return to its “emotional roots.”
The Headlines
BLUM’S BLINDSIDE. When Tim Blum told ARTnews in early July that he was “sunsetting” his gallery, the art world was stunned. Why would such a successful operator shut down—especially after what he claimed was a strong outing at Art Basel? “Systematic problems and the risk of burnout,” Blum said at the time. But according to Artnet, some of his anonymous—and now disgruntled—former employees and artists say they were kept in the dark about his decision to “step off the merry-go-round” until the last minute. “The current situation comes from ego, poor decision-making, and overextension,” said one person “with knowledge of the gallery’s operations.” Another added, “What’s the least comprehensible is the lack of notice. Either you give people no severance but some time to figure out their situation, or you get rid of them overnight but with a generous payoff. It’s hard to understand the way this was handled.”
Related Articles
Blum’s choice of the term “sunsetting” appears to have struck a nerve. As Artnet points out, the word “typically means a deliberate process unfolding over an extended period, but this shuttering is taking place rapidly; the Blum gallery’s current shows will be its last; they end Saturday.” (By comparison, when New York’s Metro Pictures announced its closure in 2021, it spent nine months winding down.) One former staffer claimed the closure “wasn’t about the market—it was about one person making a series of very poor business decisions,” pointing to Blum’s buyout of longtime partner Jeff Poe and his acquisition and renovation of a New York gallery space in a shaky economic climate. Two sources told Artnet that sales at both Art Basel and Art Basel Hong Kong had been weak, a claim Blum denies. Adding insult to injury, some staffers reportedly found out about the closure when ARTnews broke the story on July 1. Another former employee criticized Blum for failing to acknowledge his staff’s “immense efforts and dedication to making his vision come to life” in public statements
MUSEUMS PUSH BACK AGAINST LOOT LAW. Congress is debating whether to extend and strengthen a 2016 law designed to help Holocaust victims and their heirs reclaim artworks stolen by the Nazis, the New York Times reports. The law, set to expire next year unless renewed, gives claimants six years to file lawsuits from the time they discover the location of the looted art and can prove ownership. It aims to ease statute-of-limitations issues in cases involving art stolen or sold under duress more than 80 years ago. The legislation has led to several successful restitutions, including works by Egon Schiele. However, some courts have ruled that the passage of time has unfairly hindered museums’ ability to defend against such claims. A new bipartisan Senate bill seeks to extend the law indefinitely and prohibit time-based defenses. Sponsored by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), the bill affirms that Nazi-looted art claims should not be dismissed simply because of the decades that have passed since World War II. Prominent Jewish organizations support the change. However, major museums are pushing back. The Association of Art Museum Directors, which spent $8,000 lobbying on the issue, supports a five-year extension in the law’s current form. Spokesman Sascha Freudenheim said this would preserve the law’s benefits while allowing continued evaluation of its impact on both claimants and institutions.
The Digest
Robert Wilson, a playwright and artist who cultivated a loyal following in the art world for spare productions that bridged the gap between performance art and theater, died on Thursday in Water Mill, New York, at 83. His death was announced by the Watermill Center, the arts center he founded there, which said he died of a brief but acute illness. [ARTnews]
A former museum manager has been accused of stealing artifacts and selling them at auction for more than $67,000. Stephen Harris, 66, allegedly took ceramics, glass, and coins from the collections of the Norfolk Museums Service over the course of nearly 20 years. [The Telegraph]
In July, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History removed references to President Trump’s two impeachments from an exhibition. A person familiar with the exhibit plans, who was not authorized to discuss them publicly, said the change came about as part of a content review that the Smithsonian agreed to undertake after pressure from the White House to remove an art museum director. [Washington Post]
Sotheby’s has bowed to pressure from the Indian government and returned ancient gems linked to the Buddha’s remains. The jewel collection known as the Piprahwa gems, was due to be auctioned in Hong Kong in May, but the sale was halted after legal intervention. [The Art Newspaper]
The Kicker
‘STOP HYPING ART AS AN INVESTMENT!’ In a piece for Business of Fashion, former Art Basel head Marc Spiegler blames the financialization of the art market over the past 25 years for recent instability—gallery closures, the cancellation of New York’s ADAA fair, and works by artists like Giacometti and Warhol “going sidways” at auction. Spiegler traces the shift back to the late 1990s, when auction houses began selling newly made works, previously considered too fresh for resale. By the 2000s, speculators and investment funds had flooded the market, treating art less as cultural capital and more as financial commodity. Art investment funds, fractional-ownership platforms like Masterworks , and art-backed lending all gained traction. Even major banks launched art advisory services. Yet many of these ventures failed to deliver returns, Spiegler writes, leading to disappointed investors and skewed valuation models. The speculative frenzy inflated prices, distorted collecting habits, and caused the resale market for emerging artists to crash almost as quickly as it rose. Financial tools like third-party guarantees and ranking algorithms only heightened the volatility. “So, how did the financialisation of the art market work out?” Spiegler asks. “Pretty poorly. Especially when you consider the knock-on effects.” The result, he argues, is a market that “comprised [art’s] strengths while highlighting its weaknesses.” His solution? The trade must pivot from selling art as an asset to promoting collecting as a “Instagrammable sapiosexy pleasure” for the wealthy and intellectually inclined—those who care about culture, ideas, artist access, and social signaling. Easier said than done.