Amid a climate of economic uncertainty, auction results are one of the most important factors to reflect the changing art market.
William Summerfield, a specialist in modern British and 20th-century art at Roseberys auction house in London, reported a steady increase in sales from 2022 to the present.
Bonhams auction house hit its best sales in nearly 250 years with $552 million. They are responsible for bringing exhibitions of historically significant artists like Van Gogh and Gauguin, which has helped the auction maintain a solid track record.
Louise Bourgeois’s Spider (1996), which sold at Sotheby’s this past May for $32.8 million, had the highest price ever paid at auction for a work by a woman sculptor.
Louise Bourgeois, Spider, 1996. Photo: Sotheby’s.
By contrast, in the first half of 2023, sales at auction houses Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips fell 18 percent year-on-year, ArtTactic said.
Auction results are a factor in evaluating the market, as artwork prices are often not made public. Judy Robins, a Denver-based interior designer and longtime art collector, said she has always attended auctions to stay up to date with prices that dealers were offering.
Dan Sallick, board chair of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., told Artsy: “I recommend paying closer attention to what museums are acquiring and showing on their walls as a truer measure of long-term importance”.
Auction at Roseberys. Photo: Roseberys
Although auctions represent the art market, they also have certain limitations. For example, auction results do not represent the needs behind specific works.
In addition, after pandemic, many galleries have turned to selling works online instead of through galleries. This makes the value of the works secret, lacking transparency with the media and the public.
In the current situation, auctions are not everything. This job partly reflects the dominant market factor, while people’s behavior and feelings towards work are the most valuable indicators.
According to Summerfield at Roseberys (UK), when works are well priced and of good quality, the market will thrive. Sallick, from Hirshhorn (USA), expected the market to thrive in 2024. The market can grow in the long term, thanks to the limitless art resource, and the job of collecting is never finished.
Robert Fontaine, owner of a gallery in Miami Beach (USA) assessed that at this time there is no dominating art movement. In order for the art market to achieve transformations, Sallick believes that collectors should notice potential artists and follow trends, thereby approaching the audience’s preferences.
Artsy
