• Superyacht owners struggle to protect priceless art pieces from damage
    16 replies, posted
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/feb/02/cornflakes-on-the-basquiat-perils-of-superyacht-art From champagne corks flying towards a Picasso to cornflakes splashed on a Basquiat painting, the perils facing billionaires’ floating art collections aren’t those sailors typically fear on the high seas. But the world’s ultra-rich are filling superyachts with so many masterpieces that conservationists are teaching captains and crew how to care for art as well as to pamper passengers. Pandora Mather-Lees, an Oxford-educated art historian and conservationist, started giving lessons after a billionaire asked for help to restore a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting damaged not by sea spray, but by breakfast cereal. “His kids had thrown their cornflakes at it over breakfast on his yacht because they thought it was scary,” Mather-Lees said. “And the crew had made the damage worse by wiping them off the painting.” Mather-Lees said that she saw a gap in the market for art awareness and handling lessons while walking around the Monaco yacht show, where the world’s biggest superyachts are displayed every September. Her €295-a-day course aims to give crew an understanding of “the art collector and the intrinsic value of the objects on board” as well as knowledge of “where to go for specialist help in an emergency”. In another incident, a superyacht crew held an impromptu party in the owner’s quarters and a champagne cork struck the canvas of a multi-million pound work.
Christ if I had the money for stuff like that I'd keep it behind a glass frame, just too much of a risk of damage leaving them open to the elements. You'd think there would be a bit of concern from these people but I guess having too much money and nothing to really do with it makes you careless.
Oh, poor billionaires who have more money than they could possibly ever spend.
More concerned for the art TBH. These people may own these pieces temporarily but they are the heritage of many more, seeing them mistreated upsets me something fierce.
Most super rich people i know are self made or old money types, and are absolutely respectuful like that, sometimes to a fault. People like this tend to be the kids of self made people, and don't have that old money sense of honor and rigid upper class behavior drilled into them, which results in shit like this. Say what you want, but that "lordly" aristocratic behavior developed for a reason.
Good point made there, even from my own experience I've seen the attitude difference between the older upper class and the younger generations. Still you'd at least expect them to have some sort of common sense, expensive things should be protected or at least, put out of reach of anything that could damage them.
Oh wow you're telling me that keeping oil paintings an AC system away from salt water and sea air ISN'T good for them?
Im surprised there isn't something for paintings like what the fishing industry does for marlin. Given their nature when you catch one you take a bunch of photos to prove its size etc then throw it back and you get a fake one of the same dimensions with a certificate stating you caught one that big. How hard is it to just make somewhere safe for artwork like this that when it gets sold you give a replica to the owner with a certificate of ownership for them to display rather than risking the real deal. Like in a well kept house I can understand but on a boat...?
these superyachts rarely travel
Man, I would not feel comfortable owning these pieces, let alone storing them in a damn yacht. I'd feel far more comfortable buying them and selling them at a discount to reputable art museums specifically so these assholes can't accidentally shoot champagne corks at them and other people can appreciate them. I can't imagine the salty air is that great for them either, though I don't know for sure how damaging it could be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBLLJzn7Jss
Everything about this article pisses me off
Whenever one of these expensive worthless pieces and waste of material gets broken,sunk and whatnot. I cheer.
Climate controlled lexan boxes? You're fucking rich, figure it out.
You know this whole thing says a lot about the state of the world: billionaires hoarding and destroying through complacency, un-replaceable culture because there's nobody around to tell them no
well, at least if there's a land based apocalypse all the yacts will preserve the art, right?
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