Overview
This course offers students the opportunity to develop an understanding of Art as an Asset Class, a recent, 21st Century phenomena, with surprising roots in earlier periods and cultures.
This course provides a history and understanding of the how and why art became broadly accepted as a separate financial asset class, with practical knowledge for understanding types of art investments, and their role in modern portfolio theory and as a hedge in times of rising inflation; how art is and is not correlated with other asset classes, the risks and rewards of art investments, the role of liquidity in the market, and the risks of black swan events and market dislocations.
Additionally, we will cover why some art investment vehicles have been successful and others not. The course will address art financing, the types of it available in the marketplace and under what terms and conditions.
Learning outcomes:
- Gain a comprehensive understanding of fine art as an asset class from a specialist with extensive experience in the field
- Learn about art lending, investment risks, and ascertaining value
- Benefit from inside knowledge of iconic historical precedents and learn about the future of art as an asset class
Academic Profile
Michael Plummer
Principal, Artvest Partners LLC
Mr. Plummer is a Principal and co-Founder of Artvest Partners LLC, which counsels Private Collectors, Museums, Foundations, Dealers and Fortune 500 Companies on strategies and investments related to art businesses, art financing and art collections. In addition to its creation of the TEFAF New York Art Fairs, Artvest has guided clients and partners from around the globe on projects of lasting economic and cultural significance.
In early 2016, Mr. Plummer, along with Artvest co-Founder Jeff Rabin, established a joint venture between Artvest and TEFAF Maastricht bringing the venerable art fair to the US market. The new entity resulted from a complex four-party deal, conceived and negotiated by Artvest, among Spring Masters, the Haughton International Show, the Park Avenue Armory and TEFAF NL with Artvest owning a 49% stake in the newly formed TEFAF New York based in the US.
Debuting in October 2016, the new TEFAF Art Fairs were an instant critical and commercial success. Artvest integrated TEFAF New York into the cultural fabric of the Americas by creating an active Advisory Board of leading Collectors and Museum Directors, a robust cultural program, and in partnership with Bank of America, an engaged financial and cultural sponsor. For the Opening Night Benefit, Artvest partnered with the Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, raising substantial sums over multiple Fairs for cutting-edge research. Luxurious, intimate, and tightly curated, the Fairs were considered a game-changer in the Art Industry.
Additionally, Artvest re-invigorated the TEFAF brand by creating a dedicated Fair, TEFAF New York Spring, focused on 20th Century Art and Design. This realignment was essential for the success of the TEFAF brand in the American market, given its longstanding focus on historical art. Mr. Plummer was co-Fair Director of both TEFAF New York Fall and TEFAF New York Spring from launch through 2018.
Throughout its 13-year history Artvest has guided a diverse international group of private and institutional clients. In 2013, while consulting for Citibank's Equity Research Group, Mr. Plummer and Artvest conducted a comprehensive, thirteen-year analysis of Sotheby's that quickly led to activist investors taking sizeable positions in the company. In 2014, Mr. Plummer and Artvest were named as the Expert Witness for the Detroit Institute of Arts and the City of Detroit in that City’s Chapter 9 bankruptcy trial.
During the same period Mr. Plummer and Mr. Rabin acquired an art fair held annually in May at the historic Park Avenue Armory rebranding it Spring Masters New York. Bringing together sixty-five leading dealers across collecting categories and from around the world, the Fair introduced a radical new hexagonal floor plan designed by architect Rafael Viñoly.
Formerly Chief Operating Officer of Christie's Financial Services, Mr. Plummer was responsible for the structuring and development of an opportunistic art fund. The fund, designed as a private equity style offering, was the first developed by a major auction house in partnership with a leading investment bank. Additionally, Mr. Plummer was responsible for developing art-lending facilities for Christie's, overseeing global loan underwriting practices, creating specialized art indices, and comprehensive art market sector analysis.
Prior to Christie's, Mr. Plummer created one of the earliest US art funds and conducted pioneering research on art as an asset class. He remains one of the industry's leading speakers, and has lectured at New York University, Christie's Education, Sotheby's Institute of Art, and The Wharton School. Additionally, Mr. Plummer's observations on the art market have been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, NPR, Fox Business News, the Financial Times, and The Art Newspaper, among others.
Previously, Mr. Plummer was the acting Chief Operating Officer of Sotheby's International Realty and was instrumental in the profitable restructuring critical to the parent company's highly successful IPO in 1989. Having started his career in Sotheby's Treasury Department, Mr. Plummer oversaw one of the industry's first significant art loans.
Mr. Plummer is a co-Founder of the Luxury Marketing Council. From 2012 to 2014, he was Chairman of the American Friends of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), where he reinstituted a Fulbright Scholarship providing full scholarships to deserving American students.
Mr. Plummer received a BS in Economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
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