Art News Galore

China overtakes UK in art market

Filed under: Art Sales — Alan @ 4:44 pm

In a report published last Monday, Britain’s position as the second largest art and antiques auction market has been superseded by China. Writing for the European Fine Art Foundation, whose annual art and antiques fair will open in Maastricht this week, economist Clare McAndrew reported that auction sales in China rose to nearly 6 billion Euros which accounted for 23 % of the world market in 2010, a huge growth which hardly featured in any report 5 years ago.

The UK has fallen to 3^rd place with 22%, a drop of 5% since 2006, while USA continues to lead with 34%. The Government has been warned by the British Art Market Federation that the proposed artist resale royalty tax (Droit de Suite), which is due for implementation next year, on the sale of all works by European artists who died up to 70 years ago, i.e. Bacon, Picasso including the biggest money earners, could further reduce market share by diverting trade away from the UK.

This would negatively influence the cultural economy of Britain. The report does not provide any statistics which prove that the Droit de Suite, already in effect in the UK on the works of living European artists, has had any impact on the art trade here.

Brian Adam Douglas, an American street artist, has opened his first UK exhibition at the Black Rat Press Shoreditch, East London and has enjoyed a total sell out with his return to the standard framed picture style.

Has the art market turned a financial corner?

Filed under: Art Sales — Alan @ 9:14 am

As the market of contemporary art continues to recover, London auction houses completed a stellar weekend, with sales that are far better for a few of the most popular well known European artists.

Although spending has been curbed for the last several months, collectors competed over the weekend for works by Martin Kippenberger from Germany and metal sculptures by a handful of UK artists.

While colourful artworks and sculptures are “in” once again, bidders were still quiet on pieces of work that were over one million pounds and a selection of video art. The current bidding choices are expected to reflect the sales at the upcoming New York major art auctions in the later autumn months.

Still, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, two of the most prominent auction houses, sold £26.3m this past weekend in combined sales which beats the estimate of £18.7. However, compared to last October sales, the revenue is still down by 51%.

One of the reasons may have been a lack of items to auction, with Christie’s only putting up 25 pieces on the market, which is only half of what the typical giant auction house would have included in its bidding catalogue.

At least however, the weekend sales show that serious art collectors are ready to pick up the bidding paddle again.