A boom in internet sales has boosted the low-end art market and could ultimately lead to the collapse of showroom auctions, the boss of industry tracker Artprice, which publishes its annual report on Wednesday, said.
Market analysis company Artprice said there will be fewer blockbuster auctions in 2023 compared with the previous year, with the overall transaction volume reaching $14.9 billion, a 14% drop.
But the overall number of transactions hit a record high of 763,000 pieces, while low-end art “exploded” with 423,000 pieces priced under $1,000.
“The market has clearly shifted to the internet, driven by new buyers whose average age has dropped from 63[over the past two decades],” Artprice CEO Thierry Ehrmann told AFP.
Even traditional auctioneers who have long suffered from “number phobia” are now starting to compete on the Internet, he said.
“Showroom auctions are destined to disappear,” Ellman added.
As Asia fully emerges from pandemic-era restrictions, high-end auctions are up in China and Hong Kong, but large-scale sales are down in Western countries.
The U.S. market still led the way with $5.2 billion in sales, but fell 28% as there was no repeat of the huge private collection auctions of recent years.
This was followed by China ($4.9 billion) and the United Kingdom ($1.8 billion), with the latter continuing to decline post-Brexit, with sales down 15%.
-India Prosperity-
India performed strongly, with sales rising 76% to a record $152 million.
Female artist Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941) holds the record for a single painting, with “The Storyteller” sold for $7.4 million.
Artprice highlights widespread appreciation for female artists, with Japan’s Yayoi Kusama among the top 10 most valuable artists for the second year in a row (sales of $189.7 million), and Joan Mitchell (sales of $112.6 million), Georgia O and other artists also command high prices. ‘Keeffe ($56.2 million) and Louise Bourgeois ($50.2 million).
The number of deals for female artists has doubled in five years and tripled in ten years.
Overall, the artists who earned the most money were long-time favorites Pablo Picasso and Jean-Michel Basquiat, with China’s Zhang Daqian (1899-1983) in third place.
The bubble around NFTs, digital certificates used to identify ownership of artwork online, burst in 2022 but stabilized somewhat last year.
NFTs are popping up in traditional institutions like the Center Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, while Sotheby’s and Christie’s auction houses organize major auctions of digital art.
The most valuable digital artist of the year is Canada’s Dmitri Cherniak, with sales of $7.9 million.
More broadly, Modern Art (artists born between 1860 and 1919) remains the most popular segment of the market, accounting for 41% of turnover, followed by Post-War Art (1920-1944) with 25% , and contemporary art (after 1945) at 17%.
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