Sculpture: top 10 auction results

Every fortnight Artprice provides you with a new or updated ranking in its Alternate-Friday Top Series. The theme of today's TOP article is the Top 10 auction results recorded in sculpture.

Paris resists crisis

Although the global art is in the midst of a crisis, Paris appears to be showing remarkable resistance: the number of auction sales and the volume of lots proposed has remained stable compared with 2008. Moreover, for the first quarter of 2009, the French capital posted a better overall revenue figure than either London or New York on the back of the Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint-Laurent sale at the Grand Palais in February.

Sale of the Bergé - YSL collection: Paris moves up the global art market ladder

The Bergé -YSL sale was a historical sale in more than one sense: the €373.5m total for the three-day auction is the world record for a private collection and the European record for an art sale of any sort.

Pierre Bergé sale – the big event of the year

For at least six months, the sale of the Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent collection has been the focus of much media attention, described as the "sale of the century". At a time when The Art Market Confidence Index (AMCI) is firmly in the red, the means allocated to the sale of some 691 lots are commensurate with the works being presented: exceptional.

Modern sculpture at a high

In the modern period, prices for sculpture have been rising faster than those of painting, with the price index for sculpture reaching a new high in 2007, growth of 100% in 15 years!

A peak in the art market in 2005?

The international art market has never performed so well. The figures are record-breaking!

In 2005 the turnover for Fine Art sales exceeded USD 4 billion, vs. USD 3.6 billion the previous year, despite a practically stable volume of 320,000 lots. This incredible progression came on the back of a price increase of 10.4%* last year, following on from the 19% rise already recorded in 2004. This price inflation translated into a multiplication of sales exceeding USD 1 million

Top prices for 4,614 artists since the start of 2005

Prices of fine artworks continued on an exceptionally strong growth trend in the first half of 2005, and logically enough, the general increase in art prices of 4.1% also generated a sharp rise in the number of auction records.

The Top 10 Artists by turnover

The first half of 2005 proved very eventful for the art market. After several months of high bidding (251 works breached the USD 1 million mark) and a rise in global Fine Art sales turnover of more than 5%, there has been a major change in Artprice’s Top 10 ranking of artists by revenue.

Modern Sculpture takes centre stage…

Over recent months collectors have shown particularly strong interest in the mediums of photography…and sculpture.

Star turns at the Impressionism & Modern Art auctions in New York

Sotheby’s and Christie’s are taking similar approaches to the evening auctions to be held on 6 and 7 May. Both are banking on Renoir and Degas from the impressionists, dropping Picasso, and hoping to continue selling Giacometti sculptures in bulk. Some of the works on offer may seem oddly familiar…

Sotheby’s leads the art market

There were more than 2,600 art auctions held round the world in January-July 2002. The most prestigious, held by Sotheby’s and Christie’s, are followed closely by art experts looking for forward signs of market trends.

Monthly Benchmark

High-profile auctions at Sotheby's and Christie's in the US usually make May the eagerly awaited highlight of the early year art season. And results at the impressionist and modern sales certainly hit the headlines. No one will forget the all-time record price paid for a sculpture, Brancusi's "Danaide", which went for USD16.5m on 7 May 2002.

The art market through the seasons: London at the fore of the art market in June

Prestigious auctions are increasingly concentrated in the same places and during specific seasons. By holding high-profile events at the same time and in the same place when the art season is at its peak auction houses can achieve economies of scale. They seek to galvanise the media with press conferences and other events so as to attract collectors to a sale of some exceptional particularly sought-after pieces.