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.

Contemporary Indian art

Long considered as just one of the emerging movements in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), Indian Contemporary art has managed to carve out a distinct place in the global art market with its own independent identity.

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.

Beijing: a taste for tradition

Beijing now competes with New York in terms of revenue totals; however, it is in fact a very different market:

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”.

Strong demand for Chinese Modern art

In the autumn of 2008, Hong Kong was the first art marketplace to suffer the effects of the economic crisis on the art market.

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.

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

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 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.