The Canon Index: How Art Becomes Valuable
In The Canon Index: How Art Becomes Valuable, Jorg Rozier argues that an artist's standing in the art world is not a matter of taste, but of position — a measurable outcome of the network in which an artist operates. Gallery representation, institutional validation, market activity and production output all leave a trace, and together they reveal how firmly an artist is anchored within the international system of museums, biennials and leading galleries. The book formalises this into the Canon Index, a score that captures an artist's network position independent of price.
Art advisory
Collecting art
Building on that same logic, the book introduces the Price Position Ratio, which sets the price of a given work against the price that its network position would justify. Read together, these two measures locate any acquisition within one of four quadrants — the most sought-after being the artist with a strong, proven position whose work has not yet been fully priced accordingly by the market.
We apply this framework directly in our advisory practice. Rather than relying on connoisseurship alone, we use the Canon Index to identify artists whose institutional standing is already secure, and then look for the moment — the right auction house, the right timing — where the market has not yet caught up with that standing. It is this combination of a defensible position and a favourable price that we bring to every acquisition we recommend to our clients.
From our collection:
Takesada Matsutani
Untitled, 1978
signed and dated 78
graphite and turpentine on paper
65.3 x 50.3 cm.
25 11/16 x 19 13/16 in.
Provenance
Vente : Auktionhaus Quentin, Berlin, Kunst & Antiquitäten, 22 avril 2023, lot 123
Acquis lors de cette vente par le propriétaire actuel
From our collection:
Barnaby Furnas
Suicide no.6, 2002
signed, titled, dated and located '''SUICIDE #6" 11/02 NYC Barnaby Furnas' (on the reverse)
urethane on canvas
60 x 417⁄8 in.
Executed in 2002.
Provenance
Boesky Gallery, New York
Collection privée, Italie (acquis auprès de celle-ci en 2002)
Galerie Perrotin
From our collection:
Josh Smith
Untitled (4), 2006
Silk screen print and oil paint on canvas
152 x 122 x 3.6 cm 59 13/16 x 48 1/16 x 1 6/16 ins
Unique
Provenance
STANDARD, Oslo
Exhibited:
JOSH SMITH
" STANDARD NORWEGIAN SHOW"
04.05.-04.06.2006 / PREVIEW: THURSDAY 04.05.2006 / 19.00-21.00
From our collection:
Pamela Rosenkranz
Spill, 2008-2009
Four Works: (i) Spill (Tussan); (ii) Spill (Rennie!); (iii) Spill (Thomapyrin); (iv) Spill (Modasomil)
(i) signed, titled and dated 'Spill (Tussan) Pamela Rosenkranz 08' on the backing board
(ii) signed, titled and dated 'Spill (Rennie!) 09 Pamela Rosenkranz' on the backing board
(iii) signed, titled and dated '09 Spill (Thomapyrin) Pamela Rosenkranz' on the backing board
(iv) signed, titled and dated 'Pamela Rosenkranz Spill (Modasomil) 2009' on the backing board
each photogram, in artist's frame
each 31.4 x 24.9 cm (12 3/8 x 9 3/4 in.)
(i) Executed in 2008.
(ii-iv) Executed in 2009.
Provenance: Karma International, Zurich
Galerie Andrea Caratsch, St. Moritz
Exhibited: (ii) Zurich, Karma International, Prose Pour Des Esseintes, 5 March - 11 April 2009
From our collection:
Marcel Dzama
untitled
Technique: ink and watercolor on light cardboard.
Dimensions: 32 x 25.5cm. Notation: Signed lower right: Marcel Dzama. Frame/base: frame (46 x 39.5cm).
Provenance: Gallery Sies + Höke, Dusseldorf
From our collection:
Jean Pierre Raynaud
Tableau Barré, 1984
India ink on canvas in artist's frame
24 3/4 × 24 1/2 × 2 3/4 in | 62.9 × 62.2 × 7 cm
Provanance: Galerie Daniel Varenne, Geneva | Acquired from the previous in 1985, Private Collection | Freeman's | Hindman, Chicago Art + Design, 18 July 2024, Lot 267 | Important Private Collection, California
Exhibited: Jean Pierre Raynaud, November 1984, Forum Internationale Kunstmesse, Galerie Daniel Varenne, Zurich
Literature: Jean Pierre Raynaud - Catalog Raisonne, Volume 2, 1974-1997, Durand-Ruel, pg. 87, no. 665, archive no. 3017 J.P. Raynaud, Fabre and Duby, pg. 14
From our collection:
Darren Almond
Study XII
Provenance White Cube London, 1998
Mallin Collection at Sothebys, New York 2024
Exhibited Kunsthalle Zurich, 2001
Collected by a major museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Tate, Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, and The Museum of Modern Art
From our collection:
Richard Serra, Venice Notebook 2002, #17 (G. 1926, B.-W. 161)
High auction record US$4.3m, Christie's, 2013
Blue-chip Represented by internationally recognized galleries.
Collected by a major museum
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)|Centre Pompidou|Tate|Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum|Whitney Museum of American Art|The Metropolitan Museum of Art|Leeum - Samsung Museum of Art|National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.|Guggenheim Museum Bilbao|Louisiana Museum of Art|San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)|Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden|Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)|Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA)|Dallas Museum of Art|Museo Reina Sofia|Art Institute of Chicago|Nasher Sculpture Center|MCA Chicago|Moderna Museet, Stockholm
From our collection:
Antony Gormley | Clearing II, 2007 | Framed
High auction record £5.3m, Christie's, 2017
Blue-chip Represented by internationally recognized galleries.
Collected by a major museum
Centre Pompidou|Tate|Louisiana Museum of Art|San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)|Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden|Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)|Nasher Sculpture Center|Moderna Museet, Stockholm
From our collection:
Carlos Cruz Diez | Caura 5, 2015 | Framed
High auction record US$879.0k, Sotheby's, 2018
Blue-chip Represented by internationally recognized galleries.
Collected by a major museum:
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) | Centre Pompidou | Tate | Louisiana Museum of Art | Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden | Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)| Moderna Museet, Stockholm
