A Lifetime of Value

At a Paris art exhibition in 1861, the American artist James Whistler displayed a new painting, “Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket.” Its minimalist treatment, reflecting an emerging style in Europe’s avant-garde art culture, attracted the attention of art buyers and art critics alike. So did the price tag: 200 guineas.?

One of the era’s leading art critics, John Ruskin, dismissively called the painting “willful imposture” and expressed outrage that the gallery displaying the piece would ask “two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face.”

Whistler, seeing this scathing review in the newspaper, was not only offended; he sued Ruskin for libel. During the trial, Ruskin’s attorney asked "Did it take you much time to paint the Nocturne in Black and Gold? How soon did you knock it off?"

Whistler replied, "Oh, I 'knock one off' possibly in a couple of days – one day to do the work and another to finish it ..."?

The attorney persisted. "The labor of two days is that for which you ask two hundred guineas?" “No,” retorted Whistler, "I ask it for the knowledge I have gained in the work of a lifetime."

No correlation between time and value

Art is a supreme example of the subjective nature of value. Millions of people adore the work of Pablo Picasso. Millions more detest it. What’s worth millions to some has negative value to others.?

Picasso’s early work was actually a study in realism. He learned to paint by imitating the methods of the Dutch masters. But as he developed his own style, his work became more and more abstract and representational. In 1945, Picasso produced a series of 11 lithographs he titled "The Bull." The first images show a finely detailed bull -- proof that Picasso could draw just as well or better than his contemporaries. But as the series progresses, the renditions become more and more symbolic. The last drawing presents the essence of a bull; a simple rendition accomplished with just a few graceful lines.

To the art buyer, should the detailed drawing (which requires more time, paint, and brush strokes) be valued higher than an abstract rendition of the same object? Are art lovers buying the effort of the artist? Should a large painting command a higher price than a small one??

As the subjective theory of value explains, the value of a good or service has nothing to do with the cost of producing it.??Rather, value lives exclusively in the eye of the beholder.

The million dollar napkin

In a videotaped interview, famed graphic designer and?Pentagram?founder Paula Scher relates her experience designing a new logo for the financial institution Citi. At the time, Citibank was merging with Traveler’s Insurance. As Scher tells it, “I drew the Citi logo, after we had the first meeting, on a napkin. They had to merge Travelers with Citibank. Traveler’s had an umbrella, and Citi is a word; the lower case “t” is an umbrella. You stick an arc on the top and you’ve got it.”

Said Scher of the experience: “It didn’t take long; it happened in a second, and now it’s all over the world. How can it be that you talk to someone and it’s done in a second? But it is done in a second —?it’s done in a second and 34 years. It’s done in a second, after every experience and everything in my life that’s in my head.”

A second and 34 years. That’s a perfect distillation of what professionals really sell, and what clients really buy: expertise and experience, not time and effort.