A Master Picasso Dealer on How to Build an Artist’s Market
Bill Acquavella has been selling very expensive art for a very long time.
Picasso: Seven Decades of Drawing is at Acquavella Galleries through Dec. 3.
Courtesy of Acquavella Galleries. All works by Pablo Picasso ©2021 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Acquavella Galleries’ current show of rarely seen, extremely high-quality drawings by Pablo Picasso has become a must-see for New York’s art world. Bloomberg Pursuits spoke to the gallery’s 84-year-old president, Bill Acquavella, about the Picasso market, the state of trophy art, and Lucian Freud’s gambling debts. The interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. Picasso: Seven Decades of Drawing runs through December 3
First, congratulations on the show.
I’ve got seven decades of his work—86 pieces, starting from pre-cubism, even earlier. The Met lent us some work, the MoMA, Art Institute of Chicago. We borrowed from museums, but 90% of it comes from private collections, which means most people have never seen the work.