Art market
The art market is the marketplace of buyers and sellers trading in commodities, services, and works of art.
The art market operates in an economic model that considers more than supply and demand: it is a market where art is bought and sold for values based not only on a work's perceived cultural value, but on both its past monetary value as well as its predicted future value. The market has been described as one where producers don't make work primarily for sale, where buyers often have no idea of the value of what they buy, and where middlemen routinely claim reimbursement for sales of things they have never seen to buyers they have never dealt with.[1] Moreover, the market is not transparent; private sales data is not systematically available,[2] and private sales represent about half of market transactions.[3] In 2018, Robert Norton, a CEO and co-founder of Verisart, noted that "Art is the second-largest unregulated market after illicit drugs and it's significantly overshadowed by fraudulent activity."[4]
Economics
Unlike the volumes in some international markets in the financial field where millions of people and firms participate in buying and selling financial interests, or
Thus, because the art market's participants are far more limited in number than the securities or commodities markets, because artworks are not fungible, and because art valuation relies to a great extent on the advice and enthusiasm of a variety of specialized market analysts, these limitations each in turn dictate the size of the market and increase the risk that some items may be over or undervalued.
The art market moves in cycles with activity generally peaking in the spring and autumn when the major auction houses traditionally schedule auctions, and results in the market being seasonal rather than ongoing.[11] While private sales take place all year, those sales are often not publicized as auctions are and thus do not affect the market until they become known.
Art valuations made for an autumn
As art market participants' fortunes wax and wane in the financial markets, buying power evolves and affects participants' ability to afford highly valued works, resulting in new buyers and sellers entering, leaving, or re-entering the market, and an artwork sold to offset losses in the financial market might be sold for substantially more or substantially less than its last
Art sometimes has transient fashionability that also can affect its value: what sells well for a time may be supplanted in the market by new styles and ideas in short order. For instance, in the spring of 2008 a collector offered over $80 million for Jeff Koons' stainless-steel Rabbit, and yet a year later, of four works in the fall auctions at Christie's and Sotheby's in New York, only two of his pieces sold well and one failed to sell entirely.[19] In 2011, Christie's sold Koons' Balloon Flower sculpture for $16.9 million.[20]
Primary and secondary markets
The art market as a whole is affected by its two main parts: the primary art market, where new art comes to the market for the first time, and the secondary market, for existing art that has been sold at least once before. Once a work is sold on the primary market it enters the secondary market, and the prices for which it sold in the primary market have a direct bearing on the work's value in the secondary market. Supply and demand affect the secondary market more than the primary market because works new to the market, mainly contemporary art, have no market history for predictive analysis and thus valuation of such work is more difficult, and more speculative.[21] Gallery, dealer, consultant, and agent promotion as well as collectors acting as alpha consumers (trend-setters) are the forces at work in valuing primary market works.
Market entry barriers
As with blue-chip stocks, works by "blue-chip" or well-known artists are generally valued more highly than works by unknown artists since it is hard to predict how an unknown artist's work will sell, or whether it will sell at all. High barriers to entry for artists[22][23] create scarcity in the supply and demand of the market, in turn driving up prices and raising questions of efficiency.[24][25] While a high market entry barrier may result in having a smaller pool of artwork producers in the auction-level portion of the market, and in greater market predictability by virtue of that smaller pool and thus more reliable valuation measures, its axiomatic effect is of lesser artistic diversity negatively impacting the size of the buyer pool.[26] For this reason, gallerists and art dealers consider what types of works are currently in vogue before deciding to represent a new artist and are highly selective in those choices in order to maintain a level of quality that is saleable. All these concerns are in play when gallerists set prices for emerging artists at a much lower level than for established artists.
This selectivity may also be practiced on the buy side, in terms of gallerists being selective about which buyers to sell to.
Market transparency
With the
In 2011, also in response to criticism on the lack of market transparency and counterarguments that more transparency would ruin the market,[32] The Art Newspaper in association with the Art Dealers Association of America convened an Art Industry Summit panel discussion between major art market decision makers, where panelists discussed whether there was a need for more transparency.[33] The panelists argued over whether auction houses have built-in conflicts of interest by representing sellers with secret reserves, while at the same time representing to buyers initial valuations on those works at auction time. The debate also included the issue of first and third-party guaranteed bids, and whether sellers' reserve prices should be disclosed so that participants no longer bid on an object they have no chance of buying. In response to criticisms regarding chandelier bidding and unidentified third-party guaranteed bids, Christie's International chairman Edward Dolman countered that, without a secret reserve, illegal cartels of bidders would know in advance information that could facilitate their manipulation of the market and corruption of final valuation by selling price at auction.[34]
With the art market's weaknesses (especially lack of transparency and conflicts of interests) becoming better known, serious external conversations about market regulation have begun among major market players; for example, the Financial Times noted that in early 2015, participants at the January World Economic Forum meeting attended a lunch seminar where the speaker warned that the global art market needs to be regulated because of systemic weaknesses which enable inside information trading, tax evasion, and money laundering.[35] The emergence of advanced technologies and data-driven analysis introduces new participants in the field of art market transparency.
In terms of academic research, there is work on the opacity of price formation in finance and economics,[36][12] while critical accounting work highlights the extreme difficulties in calculating the current value of an artwork using the auction sales prices of comparable artworks.[2]
Auction house market structure
The late 1980s were a boom period for art auction houses. However, in early 1990, the market collapsed. The US overtook the EU as the world's largest art market[37] with a global share of 47 per cent by 2001.[38] Ranking second, the UK's world market share hovers around 25 per cent. In continental Europe, France was the market leader while in Asia, Hong Kong continues its dominance. France's share of the art market has been progressively eroded since the 1950s, when it was the dominant location and sales at Drouot surpassed those of Sotheby's and Christie's combined.[39] In 2004, the global fine art market turnover was estimated at almost billion.[40] Art auction sales reached a record billion in 2007, fueled by speculative bidding for artists such as Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, and Richard Prince.[41] The recent rise of the Chinese art market, both in terms of the size of its domestic sales and the international significance of its buyers, has, combined with a rich cultural heritage of art and antiques, produced a huge domestic market and ended the duopoly held by London and New York for over 50 years.[42]
Competitors
Christie's and Sotheby's are the leading auction venues. In 2002,
Segments
Fine art auctions are generally held separately for
Estimates
"Estimates" often reflect the consignor's ambitions as much as the auction specialist's considered opinion. They do not reflect commissions. To secure consignments, auction houses concede high estimates to suit the requirements of art owners.[44] Before an auction, interested buyers typically turn for advice to the auction house specialist who quotes the estimate and often recommends going beyond in order to secure the item.[45]
Auction houses operate contractually on behalf of sellers of goods, charging sellers a fixed commission (fee) amounting to a percentage of the "hammer price" for which a lot is sold.[46] Christie's published its commissions in September 1995, with its fees ranging from 20% on the least expensive lots to 2% on lots sold for over m; Sotheby's followed suit.[46] For Phillips de Pury & Company, final prices include commission of 25% of the first 20% of the next to million, and 12% of the rest, with estimates not reflecting commissions.[47] Objects sold are also subject to a further fee called the "buyer's premium", 15% being typical, with the term implying that by virtue of selling an object, the auction house performs a service for the buyer subject to remuneration. Thus, both the seller and the buyer of an object or lot sold by the major auction houses pay a fee. First implemented in 1975 by Christie's, the assessment of a buyer's premium is one of several auction-house practices to which art dealers object.[48]
Performance-based fees
Beginning in 2014, Christie's charged 2 percent of the hammer price of a work that meets or exceeds its high estimate. The fee does not apply to online only sales.[49]
Guarantees
An auction house may offer a guaranteed selling price, or "guaranteed minimum", a practice designed to give sellers confidence to consign works and to give potential bidders reassurance that there are others willing to buy an item.[50] Auction houses have offered guarantees since the early 1970s to encourage collectors to sell their artworks: The Art Newspaper reported that guarantees were first introduced in 1971 at Sotheby's, when 47 Kandinskys and other works from the Guggenheim Museum were offered with a guaranteed minimum; similar arrangements followed in 1972 and 1973 for the Ritter and Scull collections.[51][52] A guaranteed amount is generally close to the lower estimate, with the seller and the auction house sharing any amount exceeding the guaranteed minimum.[53] In autumn 2008 when the market turned sour, Christie's and Sotheby's had to pay out at least million on works for which they guaranteed a minimum price but which failed to sell. In order to reduce their exposure to such losses, boost the market, and reduce volatility, the main auction houses now prefer that third parties take on this financial risk via "third-party guarantees" or "irrevocable bids": using this practice the auction houses sell a work to a third party for a minimum price prior to the auction and this selling price then becomes the "reserve" below which the artwork will not be sold. If bidding for specified works stops at the minimum price, which remains undisclosed, the "third party" acquires the lot; if bidding exceeds the reserve, the third party splits any profit from its sale with the consignor and with the auction house, the percentage going to each party varying with the deal.[54] These proportions, never disclosed to the public, are negotiated before an auction and specified in the contract signed by the auction house and the third party.[55]
Online sales
In May 1999, Teo Spiller sold a web art project Megatronix to Ljubljana Municipal Museum, which was announced by the New York Times as the first sale of an Internet art net.art.[56] In 2003, Sotheby's abandoned its partnership with eBay after it lost millions through its various attempts to sell fine art over the internet.[57] As of 2018 it was noted that online sales accounted for about 8% ($5.4 billion) of the global art market.[4]
Black market
In addition to upstanding practices, a
See also
- Appraiser
- Art valuation
- Art finance
- Blockage discount
- Guide Mayer
- International trade in fine art
- Valuation
- Sociology of valuation
- Gerald Reitlinger
References
- ^ Plattner, Stuart, A Most Ingenious Paradox: The Market for Contemporary Fine Art, American Anthropologist 100(2):482-493, 1998.
- ^ hdl:11343/113919.
- ^ Levey, Morgan. ""A Fascinating, Sexy, Intellectually Compelling, Unregulated Global Market."". Freakonomics. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ Bloomberg Pursuits. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
- ^ ARTnews: The Top Ten Archived 16 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine, The ARTnews 200 Top Collectors Archived 16 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Insider Art V Magazine, 2008-11-12, vmagazine.com. Accessed 20 June 2012.
- ^ Lindsay, Ivan, Go Figure, Spear's, spearswms.com, 21 January 2011; free archived version. Accessed 17 November 2015.
- hdl:11343/119743.
- .
- ISBN 978-0-691-13710-0. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
- ^ a b c Art Market Cycles, artmarket.com, retrieved 20 November 2011.
- ^ S2CID 55929907.
- ^ Esterow, How to Buy in 2009 Archived 15 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine, ARTnews, March 2009.
- ^ Gerber, Manuel, Primary Art Market Investments - A Safe Haven when All Else Suddenly Correlates? Archived 2013-10-02 at the Wayback Machine, Prime Art Management Ltd., published in Art Fund Tracker, Nov. 2008.
- ^ Campbell, The Art of Portfolio Diversification, Maastricht University, March 2004. (art as an asset class)
- ^ Goetzmann, William N., Accounting for Taste: Art and the Financial Markets Over Three Centuries, The American Economic Review, 83(5), Dec. 1993, pp. 1370-1376.
- ^ Campbell, R.A.J., Art as a Financial Investment, Erasmus Univ., Rotterdam, Maastricht Univ., 2007.
- ^ Mei, J. and Moses, M., Vested Interest and Biased Price Estimates: Evidence from an Auction Market, The Journal of Finance, 60(5), 2005, pp. 2409-2435.
- ^ Inflatable investments, The volatile art of Jeff Koons, The Economist, 28 November 2009.
- ^ Christie's, Auction result, Sale 2355 / Lot 23, christies.com, retrieved 21 November 2011.
- ^ Gerard and Louis, On pricing the priceless: Comments on the economics of the visual art market, European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(3-4), April 1995, pp. 509-518. (membership required).
- ^ Jeffri, Joan, Philanthropy and the American artist: A historical overview, The European Journal of Cultural Policy, 3(2), 2009, pp. 207-233.
- ^ Jackson, M.R., et al, Investing in Creativity: A study of the support structure for US artists Archived 2015-03-19 at the Wayback Machine, The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society, 2004. PDF from Urban Institute, urban.org.
- ^ Bonus, H., Ronte, D., Credibility and economic value in the visual arts, Journal of Cultural Economics 21, 1997 103–118.
- ^ Adler, M., Stardom and Talent, in Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, Vol. 1, Chap. 25, 2006, pp. 895-906.
- ^ Schönfeld and Reinstaller, The effects of gallery and artist reputation on prices in the primary market for art, Working Paper, Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics & B.A., May 2005.
- ^ Lindemann, Adam (2013). Collecting Contemporary Art. Taschen.
- S2CID 213927815.
- ISBN 978-0-691-13403-1.
- ^ Saltz, Jerry, Morality Play, artnet.com, 2009-03-06, discussing the debate and its outcome. Participants included art dealers Richard Feigen and Michael Hue-Williams, collector Adam Lindemann on the "pro" side, and artist Chuck Close, critic Jerry Saltz, and auctioneer Amy Cappellazzo opposing. The debate video is available on YouTube.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
- ^ Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA), Art Industry Summit Archived 16 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Transparency in the market: can we have more of it?, 3 March 2011.
- ^ ADAA and The Art Newspaper, Transparency in the market...can we have more of it?, videos Part 1 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, Part 2 Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine, and Part 3 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, Host Anna Somers Cocks, The Art Newpapaper, 11 March 2011.
- ^ ADAA, video 3 at 22:05 min, et seq.
- ^ Gapper, John, Art world’s shady dealings under scrutiny at Davos, Financial Times, 22 January 2015. Accessed 17 November 2015.
- .
- ^ Knelman, Josh (5 December 2011), "Art Theft: Not Such a Pretty Picture", Toronto Standard, retrieved 28 April 2012
- ^ Bennett, Will (8 March 2002), "Red tape and taxes cost Europe lead in art market", The Daily Telegraph, London, retrieved October 1, 2012
- ^ Adam, Georgina (April 1, 2009). "Opinion: One-offs, but reassuring signs to the market—especially to Paris?". The Art Newspaper. Archived from the original on April 9, 2009.
- ^ Art market trends 2004 Archived 2010-11-16 at the Wayback Machine, Artprice, artprice.com, 2005.
- ^ Reyburn, Scott (December 28, 2011). "Richter Tops Hot Artists as New Buyers Boost Billion Sales". Bloomberg.
- ^ Clare McAndrew (March 14, 2013), US retakes top spot in art sales from China Archived 2013-03-18 at the Wayback Machine The Art Newspaper.
- ^ "Hands up for Hirst - How the bad boy of Brit-Art grew rich at the expense of his investors". The Economist. September 9, 2010.
- ^ Souren Melikian, When Auction Estimates Go Haywire, The New York Times, nytimes.com, October 7, 2011.
- ^ Souren Melikian, Behind stellar sales of art market, a dangerous game, The New York Times, nytimes.com, January 18, 2008.
- ^ a b "Hammer houses of horror". The Economist. July 24, 1997. Retrieved 2012-11-20.
- ^ Carol Vogel, Phillips Sale Totals Less Than Half the Low Estimate The New York Times, nytimes.com, November 13, 2008.
- .
- ^ Melanie Gerlis (September 26, 2014), Christie's takes another 2% Archived 2014-09-28 at the Wayback Machine The Art Newspaper.
- ^ Sarah Thornton, Financial machinations at auctions, The Economist, economist.com, November 18, 2011.
- ^ Adam, Georgina; Burns, Charlotte (2 March 2011), "Guaranteed outcome", The Art Newspaper, archived from the original on 6 September 2012, retrieved 12 November 2012
- ^ Feinstein, Roni (4 June 2010), "The Scull Collection", Art in America, retrieved 12 November 2012
- ^ Melikian, Souren (18 January 2008), "Behind stellar sales of art market, a dangerous game", The New York Times, retrieved 12 November 2012
- ^ Tully, Judd (22 September 2011), Assurance Policies: Third-Party Guarantees May Reduce Risk and Yield Rewards, Artinfo, retrieved 12 November 2012
- ^ Souren Melikian, Picasso Sells at Record Auction Price, The New York Times, nytimes.com, May 5, 2010.
- ^ Mirapaul, M "There May Be Money in Internet Art After All", The New York Times, 1999-05-13
- ^ Just the two of us - The duopoly in fine-art auctions is weakened but very much alive The Economist, economist.com, February 27, 2003.
Further reading
- Blaug, Mark, Where Are We Now on Cultural Economics?, Journal of Economic Surveys, 15(2), 2001, pp. 123–43.
- Dunbier, Fine Art Comparables, tfaoi.org, Part 1 and Part 2.
- The Dunbier System & ENCompass 22,000 Artist Directory Archived 2021-05-18 at the Wayback Machine, an early computerized valuation method no longer updated.
- Reitlinger, Gerald, The Economics of Taste, Hacker Art Books 1982, (3 Volume Set). ISBN 9780878172887. An early, 3-volume study of art market prices over a long period of time by a noted scholar.
- Gerzog, Valuing Art in an Estate, Tax Analysts, Tax Notes, Vol. 117, 5 November 2007.
- Fitz Gibbon, From Prints to Posters: The Production of Artistic Value in a Popular Art World, Symbolic Interaction, Spring 1987, Vol. 10, No. 1, Pages 111–128, (subscription).
- International Foundation for Art Research: IFAR's overview of case law on valuation in the U.S..
- Marshall & Chisti, An Exploration of the Relationships of Physical Features of Art Works to Art Valuations and Selling Prices in Fundraising, Society of Business, Industry and Economics, Proceedings 2006, p. 81.
- Ackerman, Martin S., The Economics of Tax Policies Affecting Visual Art, Journal of Arts Management and Law, 15:3 1985, pp. 61–71. .
- Spencer, Ronald D., The Expert Versus the Object: Judging Fakes and False Attributions in the Visual Arts, (New York, Oxford University Press, 2004). ISBN 9780195147353.
- Thompson and McAndrew, The Collateral Value of Fine Art, Journal of Banking and Finance, Jan 2006.
- Role of critics: Cameron, S., On the role of critics in the culture industry, (subscription).
- Art vs securities, a discussion: from the perspective of a well-known art educator and co-founder of the Mei Moses Fine Art Index, Michael Moses, two podcasts of how art has performed on a historical basis in comparison with securities. Part 1 and Part 2, at ArtTactic.
- Online art market of today,https://artgallery514.com/blog/online-art-market-of-today Archived 2021-05-10 at the Wayback Machine [Art Gallery 5’14]
- Wood, Christopher, The Great Art Boom 1970–1997, Art Sales Index Ltd., Weybridge, Surrey, England, July 1997. OCLC 37881234.