Boom on Canvas

While there is a recession in the U.S. economy, one group of Americans more accustomed to bust than boom is in the midst of a new wave of prosperity. They are Manhattan's abstract expressionist painters, who until three years ago could rarely afford to move out of their coldwater, walk-up studios. Now their shows are selling out, and at record high prices.

Perhaps most in demand is the work of Jackson Pollock, whose paintings reached a top price of $10,000 before his death two years ago. Major Pollock canvases are now bringing up to $30,000 each. But the boom is by no means all Pollock. Among the sellout shows this year: Mark Rothko (top price $5,000), Hans Hofmann (top $7,500), Philip Guston (top $4,000), and William Baziotes, whose recent show sold out at $3,500 top even before it opened. Adolph Gottlieb's show sold eight of ten (top $4,000), and Sculptor Seymour Lipton's show sold 16 of 21 with a top price of $15,000.

Among the buyers flocking to Manhattan galleries is a new and growing breed: European dealers and collectors bent on buying U.S. moderns. In recent months London's venerable Arthur Tooth & Sons has bought works of Pollock, Clyfford Still, Guston and Baziotes. Rome's Tartaruga gallery picked up paintings by James Brooks, Ad Reinhardt, Donati, Marca-Relli, Rothko and Franz Kline. Still others have been shipped to Paris.

Says 57th Street Dealer Sidney Janis: "We've got something they don't have. The first thing the Europeans talk about is the vitality of the new art in America." Gallery Owner Rose Fried put it another way: "The French can cook up a better cuisine, but right now we've got the more vigorous stew."

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