Prime Movers

International art supremos Iwan and Manuela Wirth explain their winning strategy in Asia to Nione Meakin

I wan and Manuela Wirth, the premier power couple of the global art world, have been priming the Asian market for years with a drip feed of artists little known locally, showing their work at Art Basel in Hong Kong and its predecessor. It’s a technique that pays off handsomely. One of the artists they represent, French-American Louise Bourgeois, was relatively unknown here when the Wirths introduced her work at the Hong Kong International Art Fair in 2011, but by October last year the dedicated duo had helped develop Bourgeois’ reputation to the point that one of her bronzes, Quarantania, went to auction in Seoul and sold for HK$36 million, the sale’s top price. The Asian “discovery” of Bourgeois is a neat illustration of not only the Wirths’ influence in…

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Tatler Hong Kong (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2016

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