Charles Saatchi has been selling paintings and the dealers are worried.
IT HAS BEEN in the air for months: Charles Saatchi, according to New York's uniquely garrulous and paranoid clan of dealers and artists, is selling, and he is selling in a big way. The possessor of what is unquestionably the world's largest and finest collection of contemporary art, Saatchi has sold before - but never, according to the rumours, on anything like this scale.
During the past six months, hardly a week has gone by without yet another whisper about a sale from Saatchi's collection. Major works by Anselm Kiefer previously thought to be in Saatchi's possession were, it was said, changing hands for prices in excess of dollars 1m; Saatchi was rumoured to be selling equally major pictures from his unrivalled holdings of works by Georg Baselitz, Francesco Clemente, Julian Schnabel and others. Saatchi, the most spectacular collector of recent times and probably the most active collector in British history (with the exception of King Charles I), had bought their work in greater bulk and more intelligently than any other individual or institution. Now, as one New York dealer put it a week ago, 'the word is that he's cashing in.'
While a good many artists and dealers have clearly been upset by Saatchi's actions, no one feels absolutely confident about the motives behind them, and Saatchi himself absolutely declines to discuss his dealings, whether in art or business. While he may not be collecting as actively as he was a few years ago, his name still inspires sufficient awe in most art world people for them to request complete anonymity when discussing him.
Earlier this week the rumours hardened into fact. On Wednesday a spokeswoman for the Saatchi Collection told The Independent that 'approximately 40 to 50...
