Date: Fri 02-Apr-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

ArtNet

Full Text:

High-End Art Auctions Brought To The Web By Artnet.com

NEW YORK CITY -- On March 29, artnet.com began a new standard of buying and

selling art in the international marketplace. On their web site, works of art

can be bought and sold anytime, from anywhere. Dealers will be able to present

their offerings to collectors on the other side of the globe.

Unprecedented in the art market, artnet.com is launching online auctions of

important works by modern, contemporary and photography masters including

Picasso, Chagall, Miro, Warhol, Johns, Rauschenberg, Basquiat, Nauman,

Chamberlain, Fontana, Tapies, Cornell, Kertesz, Mapplethorpe, and Man Ray with

estimates ranging from $2,500 to $250,000.

"Online auctions at artnet.com will transform the art market from a secretive,

intimidating network to an open, accessible market," said Hans Neuendorf,

chairman and CEO of artnet.com. "Our auctions will combine the high level of

service and attention to detail expected from high-end art dealers, with the

immediacy and low cost benefits of the web. We predict that artnet.com

auctions will take the power out of the hands of the auction houses and put it

into the hands of collectors and dealers by providing them with access to a

highly sophisticated yet low-cost platform to buy and sell art on the

international marketplace. As a seasoned Internet company dedicated to

broadening the art market, artnet.com is ideally suited to lead this

transition."

Artnet.com is poised to redefine how collectors buy art, just as online

brokerages have redefined how individuals buy stock. Artnet.com auctions

reduce traditional transaction fees associated with buying and selling art by

up to 80 percent. According to Artnet.com, collectors become experts and more

confident art buyers when the right resources and tools are at their

fingertips, and they consider themselves to be the market leader for art

information and the only art auction site in the world providing access to

comparative prices, trends, news and analysis so collectors know more before

they buy.

Artnet.com is not an auction house per se, but a web company committed to

expanding the art market for dealers and collectors. Artnet.com strives to

provide a sophisticated but friendly online auction platform to match buyers

with sellers. They only accept consignments from dealers. Private consignors

are referred to participating dealers. Artnet.com auctions will run from seven

to thirty days with new works of art going online every day. Sellers pay no

fees to consign lots. Successful bidders only pay a low five percent buyers

commission.

Artnet.com is the first online company to adopt the business model of selling

high-end art online. A valuable work of art is a known entity with a

documented history that can be traded online with less risk. Highlights of the

online auction which began March 29, include a Lucio Fontana painting,

"Concetto Spaziale, Attese," 1959 (est $200/250,000); a John Chamberlain

sculpture, "Haystack Elk," 1989 (est $70/90,000); a Marc Chagall print "Red

Maternity," 1980 (est $22/24,000); an Ansel Adams photograph, "Yosemite

Valley, Summer," (est $10/15,000); and a Joseph Cornell box construction,

"Blue Sand Box," (est $90/120,000).

Artnet.com is the only source in the world to gain an overview of the global

art market -- what is going on at the auctions, galleries, art fairs, and even

in artists studios worldwide. Collectors can browse exhibitions and

inventories of over 700 of the world's galleries on artnet.com and appraise

works by comparing prices against 1.8 million with the subscription service

Fine Art Auctions Database which browsers can receive for $29.95 per month.

Artnet.com Magazine , is a free virtual magazine, a daily source for art

market news, reviews and opinion written by a network of correspondents from

the art capitals of the world. Artnet.com also features a bookstore with over

11,000 art books in print, and an art search engine spanning over 10,000

arts-related web sites.

Artnet.com was formed in 1989 by a group of art dealers for dealers and

collectors alike. The goal? A larger, more liquid art market with no

geographical or time barriers, sourced by up-to-the-minute information on

prices, trends, news and analysis. A more efficient and reliable way to

appraise works of art and sell works of art. Formerly known as ArtNet, the

company based in New York City, has recently changed its name to artnet.com to

reflect its commitment of utilizing the web to create a larger, more

accessible and more efficient art market.