Foreign Currency Volatility and the Market for French Modernist Art

David M. Challis, Ph.D. (2019), The University of Melbourne, is a postdoctoral researcher and sessional teacher in the Art History program at that university. His research distinctions include the 2020 Paul Mellon Centre Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Paul Mellon Centre for studies in British Art.

• AcknowledgementsList of IllustrationsList of GraphsList of TablesIntroduction1 Conceptualising the International Art Market2 The ‘Booming Export Market’ for French Modernist Art3 Causes of Translocation4 Foreign Currency Volatility and Translocation5 The Macroeconomic Perspective6 Collector Case Studies1 Economic Disruption and the Monetisation of French Collections1 French Collecting of French Modernist Art2 Capital Flight from France3 Asset Liquidation in Practice4 Private Wealth Destruction in France5 The Popular Front and a Return to Capital Flight6 The Broader European Experience7 The Importance of Supply-Side Factors2 Samuel Courtauld as Private Collector and Public Donor1 Courtauld as Industrialist and Art Collector2 Economics and the Courtauld Collection3 Courtauld and the Purchasing Power of the Pound4 Seurat at the Tate Gallery5 A Comprehensive Collection of Degas6 Sunflowers at the ‘Famous Gallery’7 Securing Modern Masterpieces8 The Courtauld Institute9 Courtauld’s Private Collection on Loan10 Samuel Courtauld as Private Collector and Public Donor3 Albert Barnes as Currency Opportunist and ‘Visionary Art Educator’1 Introduction2 From Pharmaceuticals to the Barnes Foundation3 Collecting French Modernist Art4 US Dollar Purchasing Power and Cézanne at the Barnes Foundation5 Barnes as Currency Opportunist6 Price Inflation and Currency Devaluation7 Barnes as ‘Visionary Art Educator’8 Picasso, African Masks and Object-Based Learning9 Barnes as Author and the Making of Chaim Soutine10 Cézanne and Consumer Transfer at the Barnes Foundation11 Private Collectors and French Modernist Art in America12 The Barnes Legacy4 Kojiro Matsukata and the Economics of Rodin in Japan1 Shipbuilding and Art Collecting2 Japanese Collectors and the Purchasing Power of the Yen3 Rodin’s Reception in Japan4 Eve at the Tokyo National Museum5 Balzac at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts6 The Economics of Rodin in Japan5 Institutional Inertia and the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia1 The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV)2 The ‘Nucleus’ Strategy at the NGV3 The NGV’s Turn toward Modern Art4 An Institutional ‘Tipping Point’ for French Modernist Art?5 The Tate Gallery and Post-Impressionist Art6 FBC Purchasing Power in the Interwar Period7 ‘Modern Art’ Strategy Trumped by the ‘Nucleus’ Strategy8 Ideological Opposition to the ‘Horrors of Paris’9 £2,000 for Cézanne’s ‘Best’ Work?10 Structural Resistances and Degas at the NGV11 Degenerates, Perverts and a Cheap van Gogh12 Institutional Inertia at the NGV6 Assis Chateaubriand at the Museu de São Paulo and the Turn Toward Brazilian Modernism1 Industrialisation in Argentina and Brazil2 Purchasing Power in Argentina and Brazil3 The Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) Appears ‘Almost Overnight’4 World Tour of ‘Masterpieces’ From the MASP5 Ballerinas and Racehorses in São Paulo6 Pietro Bardi as Museum Director and Tastemaker7 Denial of ‘Ultra-Moderns’ and ‘Local Prophets’8 The Turn Toward Brazilian Modernism9 The São Paulo Museum of Modern Art (MAM-SP)10 Tarsila Amaral and Cultural Cannibalism in Brazil11 The First São Paulo International Biennial12 From Vanguard to Rear-Guard in Thirty YearsConclusion1 Private Collectors and Translocation2 Taste Formation and Economics3 Consequences of Translocation4 The Fall of the Franc as a Factor Influencing TranslocationAppendix A: The International Gold StandardAppendix B: Archival Currency Data CalculationsAppendix C: Interwar Translocation of Paul Cézanne’s Paintings of Mont Sainte-VictoireAppendix D: Modern Art as Part of the Broader Art MarketBibliographyIndex

“The role of exchange rate in international acquisition of art has received limited attention. Both art dealers and collectors pay nonetheless attention to the value of artworks once expressed in their local currency. The merit of David Challis’ book is to show how important it is." … "The book is likely to appeal to scholars working on the art markets, on collections and collectors and to economic historians with an interest in the art world and more generally to anyone with an interest in collecting practices and the art market.” Kim Oosterlinck in Journal of Cultural Economics. October 2022