Varney, Ronald
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(Article) Luxury Corner - Dazzlers: navigating the jewellery market
01.03.2020
Luxury Corner offers a glimpse into the world of auctioned jewels by Ronald Varney (United States). -
(Article) The Duchy of MoMA - glass walls and glittering promises
01.06.2020
Turning to the art world, Ronald Varney (New York) shares his delightfully written intrigue about the history of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Ron traces the history of MoMA and along the way recounts numerous stories of how diligent the leading museums have been to secure ?promised gift' paintings. He lists a number of ?zippy' books on the subject. Among these are Making the Mummies Dance by Thomas Hoving of the Met; The Boston Raphael by Belinda Rathbone (concerning the ill-starred reign of her father, Perry Rathbone, as director); and Self- Portrait with Donors by John Walker III, longtime head of the National Gallery. Each of these books is peppered with tales of chasing gifts from wealthy collectors who often prove elusive, dishonest, manipulative, parsimonious and ruthless. Sometimes they even want immortality as part of a deal. Even the Tate in London is included: ??Ambivalent' would be a good word to describe the Tate in London in the 1950s as it languidly built up its holdings of modern art, director Sir John Rothenstein disparaging Cubism as little more than ?Bijou follies'. Donors to the museum during this time were thus occasionally dismissed, along with their proposed gifts, if the art seemed too new, too daring.? Private collectors and donors will all enjoy his witty article. -
(Article) Luxury Corner - Charming rogues (of the art market)
01.09.2020
In recent months I have been keeping a manila folder with articles on art crime gathered from online sites like Artnet and ARTnews, all of them with screaming headlines (like the above) and narrating sordid tales of fraud, theft, deception and betrayal. I have been gathering these bleak dispatches mainly because they are appearing more and more often. Curiously, they seem mere refractions of the art market, like beams of light that play off the surface of the water and leave one bedazzled. But despite the radiance they cast, the crimes are real and ruinous. -
(Article) The phantom of Sutton Place - art collectors visible and invisible
01.12.2020
Another delightful piece by Ronald Varney (United States), ?The phantom of Sutton Place: collectors visible and invisible?. No pandemic stresses in this article. Ron begins with a critical view of the flashy excesses of the contemporary art market, which have been ?on pause' during the pandemic but which he assures us will be springing right back. During this pause he uses the quiet time to dig up the hidden stories of several noteworthy collectors in the past. Drawing on his experience at Sotheby's, Ron puts together several intriguing back stories of collectors who worked at being invisible, unlike collectors today. Ron's article has no tax or regulatory concerns, just some fun stories that collectors large and small will enjoy. -
(Article) Luxury Corner Nakashima living rooms - the revenge of brown wood
01.03.2021
For a visit to the art world and our Luxury Corner, we have another entertaining piece by our frequent contributor and art consultant, Ronald Varney of New York. This time the intriguing title is "Nakashima living rooms - the revenge of brown wood". -
(Article) The clearing house of dreams - art market transactions, planned and unplanned
01.06.2021
Given the prevalence of art collections by wealthy families there are numerous lessons and fascinating stories from the art world, as shown in the latest contribution from Ronald Varney in "The clearing house of dreams - art market transactions, planned and unplanned". He begins with a characterisation of the global art market as "gaudy and theatrical, mystifying and intimidating, bursting with big prices and pumped-up prophesies of what will be the 'next hot trend'". When family collections are involved, he cautions that even when they are "savvy and well-advised in matters of art market transactions - they have made a plan, say, for distributing art within the family, making donations to a museum, or even starting their own private foundation or museum in order to keep the collection intact for future generations" - surprises can happen. And so his stories begin. -
(Article) Cabanas on Madison Avenue - luxury New York dining in 2020, improvised
01.09.2021
A stroll among some favourite New York restaurants by Ronald Varney -
(Article) Caves of wonder - art lost and found in a warehouse
01.12.2021
In ?Caves of wonder - art lost and found in a warehouse?, Ronald Varney compares family collectors to museums in the sense that both tend to store somewhat forgotten art works. ?Families are similar to museums in this regard: they probably have valuable art languishing in storage; much of it has been accumulated through decades of acquisitions and gifts; they may have no use for it; they are paying storage fees with no end in sight; and sooner or later they will need to inventory all this art and make a plan for it.? He proceeds to tell several stories of those ?caves of wonder? ending with an attic in Baltimore, Maryland -
(Article) At least diamonds are forever - art and divorce
15.06.2022
"At least diamonds are forever - art and divorce", another charming set of stories from our special contributor Ron Varney, an art consultant based in New York. Ron notes that the grand auction houses depend on a natural trio for their consignments: death, debt and divorce. He includes some great stories, as usual, including a butler carrying out a theft of a painting at the divorcing wife's behest and placing her proceeds in envelopes on her breakfast tray. Then there's the vengeful recent divorce - including a court-ordered auction of the art collected over some 56 years of marriage by New York real estate mogul Harry Macklowe and his wife Linda, who was the true collector. But as her marriage to Mr Macklowe fell apart, with no amicable resolution possible, it was left to a judge to order the entire collection valued and sold at auction. Ron adds a gloss: "while Mrs Macklowe seems to have comported herself with dignity throughout this cruel ordeal, her husband took a more gloating, cringeworthy approach. On the sides of a new apartment tower that he had developed on the corner of Park Avenue and 55th Street, he displayed, billboard-style, two large colour photographs of himself and his new wife." -
(Article) The Black Strat - art and philanthropy
15.12.2022
Ronald Varney reflects on modern trends where art and philanthropy increasingly overlap. He gives some fascinating accounts of sales in recent years, including that of the guitar of David Gilmour of Pink Floyd.