Auction season starts for art lovers

Auction houses this year are aiming high with new and old works of Turkish art. While last year they saw good sales even though there was a global crisis, this year they are targeting high sales.
The auction season starts with three events that will be held by Antik A.Ş. and Beyaz Auction house between Nov. 6 and 10.

Mehmet Güleryüz-The Fall

The ever-growing Turkish art scene and increasing investor interest are important reasons for this development.
Antik A.Ş. is an auction house based in Istanbul and one of Turkey’s most prominent. It is preparing to host its first auction of the season on Nov. 7.

This time the auction house will be selling works by Memet Güleryüz, Alaettin Aksoy , Mübin Orhon, Hakkı Anıl, Adnan Çoker, Erol Akyavaş and Selim Turan.

With investors continuing to show interest in Turkey’s art market in the aftermath of the global recession, as observed during several auctions in Istanbul, Antik A.Ş. is hoping to attract hundreds of businesspeople and art lovers to Swissotel and once again expects to sell a good amount.

Mehmet Güleyüz’s work titled “The Fall” will be up for auction, and Alaettin Aksoy’s “The Happiness” is one of the highlights. Erol Kayavaş’s work titled “The history of sacred and mysterious things” is also expected to attract attention.

Erol Akyavaş- The history of sacred and mysterious things

Antik A.Ş.’s previous auctions resulted in sky-high prices for classical paintings. Şevket Dağ’s “Hagia Sophia” sold for 1.7 million liras.
Antik A.Ş. has sold 250 of the 255 works that it has made available. Among those was an abstract painting by Burhan Doğançay, whose “Blue Symphony” sold for 2.2 million liras last year.
Speaking to journalists at a previous auction, Turgay Artam, chairman of Antik A.Ş., said antique works of art have received great interest in Turkey. “The number of collectors has increased significantly,” he said. “Due to the global crisis, people are investing in works of art worldwide.”

The annual volume of Turkey’s art market stood at only $7 million during the 1970s, but with free-market reforms in the 1980s, the market grew rapidly, and today the annual worth is estimated at $200 million. Still, the figure comprises a meager part of the global art market, which commands an annual worth of around $50 billion.

Beyaz Auction, Turkey’s leading art auctioneer, is set to open its 2010-2011 season Nov. 6 with a catalog of contemporary and modern art.

The catalogue features many masterpieces and will be printed with five different covers – a first in Turkey – because, as Beyaz Auction Executive Board Chairman Aziz Karadeniz said, the designers could not agree on which item in the collection should be on the cover.
“There are more than 10 pieces of art in the auction that were strong candidates for the cover, but we have limited the number of covers to five since we don’t have enough time to deliver the catalogues to art lovers,” said Karadeniz.

More than 350 pieces of art, with paintings from 150 artists including Abidin Dino, Asım İşler, Avni Arbaş, Balkan Naci Islimyeli, Bedri Baykam, Elif Uras, Erol Akyavaş, Ertuğrul Ateş, Fahrelnissa Zeid, Haluk Akakçe, Mehmet Guleryüz, Komet, Temur Koran, Neşe Erdok, Nuri İyem, Ömer Uluç and many other renowned names, will be up for auction in Istanbul at the 13th Beyaz Auction.

Beyaz Auction was established in 2006 with the mission to support contemporary and modern Turkish art at home and abroad, as well as to introduce the contemporary and modern art world to Turkish collectors.
The Beyaz Auction will take place during two sessions. The first is scheduled for Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. and the second Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. The auctions will be held at Istanbul’s Sofa Hotel.