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.

Hong Kong show good resistance

Of course, art market participants are being cautious, fearing contagion of the nervousness surrounding the global economy to the art market.

Living artists over 80

Every other Friday Artprice posts a theme-based auction ranking. This week: the 10 best auction results generated by living artists over the age of 80.

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.

Nicolas De Staël

For the second time in fifteen years, the Swiss Pierre Gianadda Foundation has put on a major retrospective exhibition of the painter Nicolas de Staël (18 June – 21 November 2010).

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.

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.

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.

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.

London - European auction capital

Traditionally in February, it is London that kicks off the season of European public auctions with major sales organised by Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

The most buoyant art movements of 2005

Artprice has established a ranking of art movements based on price progressions in 2005.

Propelled by a major exhibition since 5 October at the Pompidou Centre, Dada takes the lead with a 137% rise in its price index since the beginning of the year.
However, the Dadism movement lasted only eight years from 1916 to 1924 and supply remains very limited. Not a single work by Duchamp, Sophie TAEUBER-ARP or Hans ARP produced during this short period appeared at auction in 2005.

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.

Contemporary Chinese art: dwindling supply puts upward pressure on auction prices

The major auctions of contemporary Chinese art traditionally take place in April and October and, for several years, Christie’s has outdone its main rival, Sotheby's, in this segment.