![]() I have had more than six confirmed sales, and maybe two or three more-but I don’t spend a lot of time pre-planning how the stand will be presented: I focused my arrangement on three central objects, which were the most visually arresting, and the display just fell into place. ![]() ![]() I brought Mayan objects, around 50, this year. I’m not someone who thinks about things like this a lot in advance. What have you brought with you this year? It’s attracting more foreigners, a few Russians and Americans, but predominantly I’m seeing a wider spectrum of Europeans each year. The décor and presentation of the event is also better than before. It has changed a lot and the quality of the fair has improved dealers are bringing better pieces. ![]() There is already an international interest in these objects. The next steps for the pre-Columbian market will be Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, which are developing rapidly economically and will become the markets of tomorrow. Now, all dealers are international and buy back objects sold before the second world war, or before the regulations were tightened. Where are buyers coming from? Are they mostly South American?īefore the regulations on the trade in pre-Columbian pieces were tightened, the most important dealers and collectors were Mexicans, who sold to international dealers. There is huge potential to increase the number of clients because of the growth of this kind of cross-collecting. They often buy several pieces, up to a dozen at a time, but they are also buying paintings, tapestries and antiquities from other places. There are people interested in pre-Columbian objects, but they are not necessarily real experts. Now, that kind of collector is very rare. When I began dealing, there were many collectors, meaning individuals who knew the speciality almost as well as the dealers. Certainly the behaviour of buyers has evolved. There are other private galleries, but in total there are only about ten dealers in the world.Īre there many buyers in the field? The number of galleries would suggest not. Now there are even fewer you have Merrin Gallery in New York, which presents very important pieces, and Stendahl Galleries in Los Angeles. When I opened, there was only one gallery in Belgium focusing on pre-Columbian art, some in New York and maybe three in Paris. I realised very few dealers specialised in this field. My motivation for opening the gallery in 1970 was simply the love of the objects. With affinity, you still have your judgement, which is important for an expert. ![]() It is not passion that drives me-with passion you become blind, you are so in love you cannot see the object clearly. But you have to distinguish between passion and affinity. Santo Micali: Mexican art is an art that delivers messages, it’s powerful, symbolic. The Art Newspaper: Why did you become interested in pre-Columbian art? Micali presented a stand of Mayan objects at this year’s Brussels Antiques and Fine Art Fair (Brafa, 21-29 January, see p72), where we spoke to him on the last day of the fair. He is also a member of the Syndicat National des Antiquaires (see p69), which promotes a common code of ethics, a topic of growing relevance given Mexico’s increasingly hardline stance on trading in items without solid provenance. Throughout his 40 years in the business, Micali has sourced a number of items for museums including the Janssen-Arts MAS collection, one of the most important pre-Columbian collections in Europe. Santo Micali, the manager and founder of Galerie Mermoz in Paris, is one of the few dealers to specialise in pre-Columbian, Mesoamerican and South American art-a field that is, he says, experiencing a new lease of life, thanks to the expanding interests of fine art and antiquities collectors. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |