During my research for this case study it turned out that the Internet provides a lot of information refering to art fairs, especially to the Art Basel. Initially, I planned to compare six art fairs - Art Cologne, The Armory Show, Frieze Art Fair, Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach. However, I have now concluded this would be much too time consuming. I found enough information via the Internet to concentrate on one famous art fair only. I decided to choose the Art Basel.
On the one side I started my research on the official website of Art Basel, which provided me with general informations about the fair as well as with pictures that I used for my blogs. In particular the press releases and newspaper articles that I found on the website, for example the New York Times article “High Rollers and Blue-Chip Artists at Basel Fair”, written by Carol Vogel, gave me a lot of useful information and an initial overview about the art event.
On the other side I found some sites through google.com, like the website artfairsinternational.com, where I also detected a few articles. The most fruitful source for my research was the online database of factiva.com, where nearly every newspaper article that I used for my case study was found. The worse thing is that you have to be registered at factiva to use the database or you have to be a student like me. Then you can hopefully use the factiva database through your university library search. Other online databases that I used for this case study are findarticles.com, theartnewspaper.com, artinfo.com and the guardian.co.uk. Finally, after my research I have to expand my URLography as follows:
Expanded URLography
Articles on theartnewspaper.com
“European collectors on their annual shopping spree - Opening report: Art Basel”, written by Georgina Adam, Gareth Harris and Elizabeth William, posted 15 June 2006. The article points out the increased influx of potential buyers at the 37th edition of Art Basel. For instance, according to Netjets, 100 private planes were landing in Basel during the art show, 25% more than the in the year before. The article mentions some of the collectors and describes which works they would be buying. One reason for the increasing selling of works of art at the Art Basel could have been the very high quality of this year, with many pieces that are normally hard to find - there were a few unseen Picassos as well as new artworks that were coming directly from the artists' studios to the Art Basel.
“US museums trounce European institutions”, written by Gareth Harris, Osian Ward, posted 15 June 2006.
The artnewspaper revealed some artworks that were bought at the Art Basel by some museums. For example, "the Museum of Modern Art has bought the feature film version of “Zidane, a 21st-century portrait” by Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno, while the Guggenheim has acquired one of a separate edition of 17 from Friedrich Petzel Gallery."
Guardian article
The Guardian article “Surprise resignation of ArtBasel director”, written by Rebecca Wilson, June 13, 2006, announces that “Keller will leave ArtBasel in 2008 to take up the helm at the Beyeler Foundation, replacing current director Christoph Vitali.”
Wall Street Journal Europe article
The article “Showcase of stars, hopefuls --- Swiss fair is world's biggest for modern and contemporary works”, by Margaret Studer, The Wall Street Journal Europe, 9 June 2006, points out new trends concerning painting, sculpture, drawing, photo art and installation art.
Sunday Telegraph article
“Where to buy in 2006 art sales”, written by Catherine Milner, published in the Sunday Telegraph, 1 January 2006, provides the readers with tips for buying art. For instance, the London Art Fair and Maastricht Antiques Fair are depicted. The Art Basel is described as “grand and snobby, only big players with wads of cash need attend.”
Daily Telegraph article
“Artbasel - Cash flows for young blood“, written by Colin Gleadell, 20 June 2006, reflects a description of the exhibits, and sums up the sold artworks of the last edition of Art Basel.
Times article
“Nothing faulty about Basel“, by Derwent May, published 6 June 2006, states the artists, whose artworks were exhibiting at the Art Basel in June 2006.
Articles at artinfo.com
An Art Basel sales report “Art Basel 37: Sales Report: Six-, Seven-Figure Deals“ by Bryant Rousseau.
Another sales report, also written by Bryant Rousseau: “Art Basel 37: Sixty-Second Sales Report: A Snapshot Look at Basel Deals.”
This article “Art Basel 37: ArtInfo Exclusive: Buyer of $15M De Kooning Revealed” by Judd Tully, says that the modern and Post-War collector David Martinez, a Mexican-born financial magnate who lives in New York City, was the buyer of the de Kooning picture, which was sold to him for 15 million dollar at the last Art Basel.
Other interesting websites, but not necessarily relevant for my topic
art-agenda.com
The homepage of the Art Agenda provides their visitors with informations about the exhibitions, programs and events of the world's leading art galleries selected by Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach. Via email the participating art galleries are able to send advertisements in form of an e-mail announcement, including a press release, an image, and a link to the gallery’s website, to the members of the Art Agenda - these are 40,000 international collectors, consultants, advisers, critics, writers, curators, dealers and other professionals from the art buisness
New York Times article
The article "Basel" by Aric Chen, published on 11 June 2006, is a travel guide to Basel, where the Art Basel is mentioned, too.