ArtMarket® Insight, la actualidad del mercado del arte

Artprice announces upcoming launch of Artprice Decorative Arts [14/05/2006]

In 2005, Artprice turned itself within a year into the world’s leading marketplace for fine art, with nearly 34,000 works offered for sale every day and 90,000 daily visitors, up by 93% between October 2005 and April 2006.

Artprice’s popularity, and its new Artpricing estimate service, have also revealed massive demand for trading and for pricing data in Furniture and the Decorative arts, particularly among its clients.

GERMAN PHOTOGRAPHY – From reality to fiction [10/05/2006]

Bernd and Hilla Becher are the leading lights of “objective” photography in Germany. Their approach refutes the anecdotal and focuses on inventorying anonymous “industrial sculptures” that appear throughout our environment. The radicalism of their documentary work had a strong impact on their students including Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Thomas STRUTH and Candida HÖFER. This later generation of photographers assimilated much of the Becher’s approach, although sometimes freeing itself from the “objective” view of reality by altering their images. From an auction and museum preference point of view, the later generation seems to have become more popular than the objective purism of the Becher period.

Picasso portrait of Dora Maar becomes the world’s second most expensive painting [04/05/2006]

Just two years after setting the world auction record for his Garçon à la Pipe (sold for USD 93 million on 5 May 2004), Pablo Picasso came close to repeating the feat when a 1941 portrait of his muse, Dora Maar, was knocked down for USD 85 million at Sotheby’s prestigious Impressionist & Modern Art evening sale.

La Force de l’Art at the Grand Palais [03/05/2006]

“La Force de l’Art” opens to the public from 9 May to 25 June, bringing together fifteen exhibitions for the first of a new triennial series of shows intended to restore France to the forefront of the international art scene.

Explosion of prices in New York [26/04/2006]

Art prices continued to climb in the first quarter of 2006. In the middle of the spring/summer auction season and a few days ahead of the prestigious “Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale” in New York, the Artprice Global Index shows that prices rose a further 16% over just four months! Since the beginning of the year, 117 lots have already exceeded the million dollar mark, compared with only 66 over the same period in 2005.

The Views of Venice at the top of Old Masters sales [25/04/2006]

Within the Painting segment, Old Masters works have always been considered as safe-haven assets, compared with modern or contemporary works. And the figures tend to confirm this trend. While prices for modern and contemporary paintings have climbed 33.2% and 41.1% respectively since April 2001, demand for pre-19th century paintings is today at the same level as five years ago.

David Hockney [23/04/2006]

Born in 1937 in Bradford (Yorkshire), David Hockney entered the Royal College of Art in London in 1957. In the 1960s, he moved away from abstract expressionism and began experimenting with figurative art combining abstract, figurative and pop art. He began producing engravings in 1961. A few years later when he had moved to Los Angeles, he began applying new light and colours to his work. His work became naturalistic and more autobiographical. He painted interior scenes and his famous swimming pools, in particular The Bigger Splash which won him international acclaim. He also produced numerous portraits, often of close family members or friends. From the 1970s, he started dedicating more time to large-format double portraits, an aspect he would apply later in his watercolours.

Hans Bellmer (1902-1975) [18/04/2006]

Surrealist Hans Bellmer is on show at the Musée National d’Art Moderne (Paris) until May 22.In 1933, Hans Bellmer made a Doll, an artificial “being” of wood, papier mâché and a biomorphed anatomy “with multiple anatomical possibilities”. This was the start of a subversive process that challenged the myth of anatomical perfection promoted by the third Reich. He dismembered his Doll’s body and recombined it in incongruous combinations to evoke the feeling of “disturbing strangeness” he had discovered on reading Freud. Bellmer never showed his dolls as exhibits during his lifetime, using them merely as models for the formal work of his paintings, drawings, engravings or photographs.

HYPERREALISM – “Clichés” of reality… [09/04/2006]

Hyperrealism, which emerged in the USA in the 60s, inherits its attachment to a banal everyday version of reality from Pop art. The artists draw their subjects from real life; but it is a “second-hand” real life, because they do not create their works directly in front of the person or thing they are depicting, but from photographs. They demonstrate a great, often laborious, technical virtuosity, to transcribe a reality that has been examined under a microscope.

OP ART – The optical illusionists are back [02/04/2006]

Op Artists exploit the way the retina works to induce a series of apparent metamorphoses on the flat unchanging surface of their pictures. They ensnare our vision with optical illusions, playing with the phenomenon of retinal afterimages and with the changing position of the viewer in front of the painting.

A boom in the drawings market [20/03/2006]

For the past 15 years, collectors and curators of drawings have met at the Salon du Dessin during the last week of March. The salon that is to be held at the Palais de la Bourse in Paris will bring together some 30 galleries that will exhibit almost 1,000 drawings from all periods.

Auction data in 2005 showed that the drawings segment represented almost 24.4% of total Fine Art transactions and 12.7% of turnover (vs. 11.6% in 2004).

Installations [15/03/2006]

With the emergence of a mass consumer society in the 1950s in the United States, and then later in Europe, the notion of disposability became an integral part of Western lifestyles. The significant changes in habits and mentalities that accompanied the new lifestyle had an impact on our conception of art. Previously considered eternal, art began to reflect current realities and many artists emancipated themselves from the desire to produce perennial works. Art can also be ephemeral and temporary. Collectors have recognised this and have invested in works whose preservation often presents a number of challenges. They are aware that museums are also keen to enrich their collections of installations that can be, in some cases, very fragile.

Art Market Trends 2005 [08/03/2006]

Art Martket Trends 2005 – historic figures Contents Art price latest trends The popular segments of the market New York: prices surge by 34.5% London: A first exceptional season! France contributes 6.6% in 2005 Hong Kong ranks fourth in the market The most buoyant art movements of 2005 TOP 10 ARTISTS TOP 100 auction records […]

YOUNG BRITISH ARTISTS – British art and a scent of scandal [08/03/2006]

Almost ten years after the Sensation exhibition, the YBAs have achieved a certain maturity that inspires a sense of confidence compared to their somewhat speculative debuts.

Symbolism – Giving shape to ideas [28/02/2006]

With so few major works coming up for sale, prints constitute the majority of sales in this segment.

The leading lights of symbolism are Edward Coley BURNE-JONES (English), Pierre PUVIS DE CHAVANNES, Gustave MOREAU, Félicien ROPS and Odilon REDON (all French), Arnold BÖCKLIN (Swiss), James ENSOR (Belgian) and Edvard MUNCH (Norwegian).

The prophets of modern art [19/02/2006]

The group of artists known as the Nabis (“prophets”) came together in 1888. The big names include Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard, Maurice Denis, Paul Sérusier, along with other lesser known artists such as Félix Vallotton, Henri-Gabriel Ibels, Jan Verkade, Georges Lacombe, Paul Élie Ranson and Ker Xavier Roussel. To date, however, there has been no auction devoted entirely to “Nabi” art despite the fact that the Nabi group is recognized both in Europe and in the USA. French auction houses account for more than one-third of transactions and dominate the market for Nabi works in volume terms. Nevertheless, Anglo-Saxon countries account for the lion’s share of auction revenue.

TOP 10 ARTISTS [05/02/2006]

The Top 10 artists grossed USD 576 million in 2005, compared to USD 393 million in 2003, a figure that represents 13.6% of the total art auction market. Unusually, a contemporary artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and an old master, Canaletto, were among the top sellers. The top three names however are unchanged…

Artprice attacks the valuation market with its launch of Artpricing [01/02/2006]

At a global level, the art market has never been as buoyant as it is today. The figures are unprecedented; in 2005 the total volume of Fine Art auction sales was more than USD 4.1 billion (source ©2005 Art Market Trends by Artprice).

Driven by this dynamic trend, Artprice’s virtual marketplace is now offering a daily average of 25,000 works of art, making it a keystone of today’s global art market, and connections to Artprice.com have been growing at an average monthly rate of 23% since June 2005. In this context of art market buoyancy in parallel with the boom of the Internet, there is a rapidly growing demand for a reliable valuation service. In fact, Artprice already receives hundreds of spontaneous requests for accurate valuations every day.Therefore, in addition to its databases, its 21 million auction results, its indexes covering 342,000 artists (in November alone Artprice recorded 1,890,000 consultations of auction results and 120,000 index consultations) Artprice has launched a new, simple and customised valuation service in February 2006 called Artpricing ®

2006 – Cézanne centenary [25/01/2006]

In 2006 two exhibitions will mark the centenary of the death of Paul Cézanne, one at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and the other in Aix-en-Provence. These events might revitalise the market for Cezanne’s works, that has lost steam over the last five years.

PHOTOJOURNALISM – Collective memory and photography [16/01/2006]

Edward STEICHEN, Cecil BEATON, Henri CARTIER-BRESSON, Robert CAPA, Raymond DEPARDON, Robert DOISNEAU, Walker EVANS, Dorothea LANGE, Marc RIBOUD are some of the biggest names in photojournalism, which for many years was considered a secondary form of art, much like scientific or ethnographic photography. Photojournalists bear witness to their time, using the camera to capture the real. Their photos have an important impact culturally as they become part of our collective memory, mainly through dissemination by the media.

A peak in the art market in 2005? [08/01/2006]

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

Artprice ranks “best performer” in 2005 on all French financial markets [04/01/2006]

According to the Euronext Paris rankings for 2005*, Artprice.com posted the best annual performance after its share price rose by more than 808% (taking into account its performance on all the French markets: A, B and C compartments of Eurolist by Euronext, SRD, Alternext, Marché Libre and Valeurs étrangères).

MINIMALISM [02/01/2006]

Strong demand on the US market has pushed prices for the centre-pieces of 1960s Minimal Art to record highs.

A difficult recovery for the French art market [25/12/2005]

Since 2001 the situation for the French Fine Art auction market has been critical. Prices remain stable but transaction volumes have contracted, and French auction houses have seen their market share diminish as a result of the success of their Anglo-Saxon counterparts.

The most buoyant art movements of 2005 [12/12/2005]

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.

Record for Russian Art Sales [05/12/2005]

On 30 November and 1 December 2004, Sotheby’s and Christie’s each generated revenues of GBP 9.3 million at their prestigious Russian Art Sales. This year, the auction houses reached a new record with turnover of GBP 22 million for Christie’s on 30 November and GBP 22.2 million for Sotheby’s the following day. Even with high bought-in rates (32% and 28% respectively), the two houses well exceeded their most optimistic forecasts. Prior to its Russian Sale, Sotheby’s only hoped to achieve GBP 12-16 million in turnover.

Old Master paintings: 17th century Northern Schools [04/12/2005]

In the segment of Old Master works, the Dutch and Flemish Masters command some of the highest auction prices. Peter Paul Rubens’ Le Massacre des Innocents currently holds the auction record for this segment after fetching GBP 45 million on 10 July 2002 at Sotheby’s in London.

In the United States, the Artprice Global Index is now higher than the peak of 1990 [28/11/2005]

Artwork prices in New York are now higher than they were in 1990. Inflation in the New York art market has accelerated considerably over the last few months. After rising by 18.5% in 2004, prices have exploded by 41% since the beginning of the year. They are now 33% higher than the summer 1990 levels when the speculative bubble that had boosted the market finally peaked. A few months later, the bubble burst and prices fell by 38% between July 1990 and October 1993!

Old Master paintings [21/11/2005]

December is usually a plentiful month for Old Master paintings. 3000 Old Masters were offered for sale in the three weeks before Christmas of last year. Prices on this segment have risen 26% over the last twelve months, but only 36% over the last ten years. This compares with an 85% increase of the Artprice Global Index (all periods combined) since November 1995 (on the basis of auction sales in euros), implying that Old Masters has been one of the least speculative segments in the art market. On the positive side, the segment has proved ideal for risk averse collectors. With a reduced volume of sales (5.7% of Fine Art auctions), prices are reasonably well protected.

Contemporary art: lots of new records in New York [09/11/2005]

In New York, after the success of the impressionist and modern art sales, the auction world has again been rocked by record sales, this time of contemporary art at Christie’s and Sotheby’s. In total, the two evening sales generated USD 272 million, including USD 21,250,000 for Cubi XXVIII, a monumental sculpture by David SMITH. Created in 1965 and measuring almost 2.8 metres in height, the work had been estimated by Sotheby’s at between USD 8 and 12 million.