The global art market – an overview of 2011

Following our summaries of the performance of the Art Market Confidence Index and of the French art market in 2011, we are closing the series with a round-up of the global art auction market in 2011.

Repeat sales in Contemporary Chinese art…

Nearly two months after Sotheby’s, it was Christie’s turn to organise a major sale of Contemporary Asian art in Hong Kong.

KIAF 2011 – Overview

The tenth KIAF having just ended, Artprice takes a retrospective look at one of the most constant Asian fairs, that of South Korea, the world’s 13th market for Contemporary art.

Hong Kong Art Fair – East and West

The ArtHK fair is impressive both in terms of size and diversity (260 galleries on three levels of the Convention & Exhibition Center and 38 countries represented)

The sale of the Ullens collection confirms the strength of Chinese art

Two weeks after the news of China’s domination of the global art market, all eyes were focused on the sale of the famous Ullens Collection at Sotheby's in Hong Kong on 3 April 2011.

Shock wave through the art market… China now ranks first, ahead of the USA and the UK

According to Thierry Ehrmann, founder and CEO of Artprice, the world leader in art market information, “this unprecedented news represents a turning point in the history of the global art market: China is now the number 1 in terms of Fine art auction revenue”.

The highs and lows of contemporary artists

As expected, auction revenue figures for contemporary artists in 2009 contracted quite substantially (divided by 14 in the case of Damien Hirst, and by 3 in the case of Jeff Koons). However, for all that, the market is not in bad condition. The loss of the speculative element has essentially allowed prices to settle back to 2004 levels.

Chinese Contemporary Art today

Over the last five years, Asian and particularly Chinese art has been one of the most dynamic segments on the secondary art market. Alongside the discovery and value appreciation of artists now recognised as the leading lights of Asian art, the phenomenal success of Chinese art at auctions as of 2004 generated wild expectations amongst artists from the region and prompted speculators and investment funds to snap up works by unknown signatures in the hope of riding the next auction rocket.

Hong Kong stirs from slumber

Sotheby’s kicks off its Modern and Contemporary Asian Art sales in Hong Kong on 6 October 2009. The day will be divided into three sessions: 20th Century Chinese Art, Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Paintings and Contemporary Asian Art. The catalogues are ambitious with more than 380 works by Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Indonesian and Korean artists, and a total revenue estimate of close to $25m.

Contemporary Art in convalescence

While London’s auctioneers congratulate themselves on the healthy sold rates at their June Contemporary Art sales (92.5% at Sotheby’s, 88% at Christie’s and 75% at Phillips de Pury & Company), bidders are continuing on a path of caution and sobriety.

London sales: second round

On 23 June, Christie’s will be offering 45 Impressionist & Modern works in London and the following day Sotheby’s will present just 27 pieces. The catalogues feature works by Picasso, Claude Monet and Giacometti. On 25 and 30 June, the two auctioneers will open their Contemporary Art sales

Mixed results in New York

At the end of the first quarter of 2009, the global art market price index showed a 10% contraction. But in New York City, host to some of the world’s most prestigious art sales, the crisis is being felt particularly hard: the same index shows a 35% local contraction since January 2008.

Christie’s and Sotheby’s prepare their prestige May sales in New York

The market is holding its breath ahead of the critical May sales in New York that will inevitably gauge the health of the Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary segments. As expected, the price tags are substantially lower than a year earlier in all three segments

New markets and the crisis

The most speculative and volatile markets over the last four years, emerging art markets have propelled a number of Chinese, Indian, Russian and Middle-Eastern contemporary artists into the global limelight with extraordinary speed. But with so many young artists fetching such big figures at auctions, some kind of meltdown was inevitable.

Christie’s and Sotheby’s in Hong-Kong: the state of play

In 2007, China redistributed the cards in becoming the third auction market globally. Beijing and Hong Kong have rapidly established themselves as new growth relays and the scene of some particularly aggressive investment over the past two years.

Contemporary Korean Art

On the one hand, Korean art is being driven by changes within the country that started 20 years ago with the Olympic Games in Seoul and the first fully democratic elections, and on the other hand, by the remarkable success of contemporary Chinese and Indian artists.
While Asian auction houses, such as Borobudur Singapore and Seoul Auction Center, are driving the market there, the global majors, Christie’s and Sotheby’s, recently integrated Korean art into their Contemporary Asian Art sales. Korea also has its own art fair, the KIAF, whose seventh edition ended in September.

China International Gallery Exhibition: 5th round

Having usurped France’s third place in global art market figures for 2007 (behind the US and the UK) China is consolidating its global presence by hosting art fairs with a genuinely international reach.

Contemporary art in New-York – Confidence reigns…

Art market players had been worried by the idea of a market downturn after the mixed results from the impressionist and modern art sales in New York on 6 and 7 November. However, one week later, the strong sales in the contemporary art sector proved that the market remains buoyant.

Shcontemporary : a new art fair is born in Shanghai

Shanghai and Beijing are the new centres of attraction: galeries are proliferating there and collectors from the world over are invited to discover in situ the dynamism of the Asian scene, encouraged by the effervescence of Chinese art, whose sale proceeds were multiplied by ten in 2006.

Chinese Contemporary Art Market - Cultural revelation

Speculation is showing no signs of slowing and auction sales are ever stronger, and prices ever higher. The price appreciation has been staggering for the generation of young Chinese artists and the number of investors continues to grow. It often takes only a few years for a Chinese artist to see a tenfold price increase, as with ZHANG Xiaogang or CAI Guoqiang to cite just a couple of examples. Symbolic of the price increases: the ten most successful auctions of contemporary Chinese art have been recorded over the past twelve months. In the end, in 2006, 31.3% of the Chinese contemporary artworks sold at auction achieved more than $100,000. Given such price levels, the proceeds on Chinese contemporary art sales increased by a factor of ten in 2006.