The Art Market in 2018
Editorials: thierry Ehrmann & WAN Jie
WAN Jie: founder and President of Artron Art Group, and founder of Art Market Monitor of Artron (AMMA), thierry Ehrmann, founder and CEO of Artprice.com
The global Art Market has posted a third consecutive year of growth on the back of a record volume of transactions
Artworks are circulating and changing continents more than ever before, exposing, as they move, the mechanisms and stakes of the soft power competition between major nations
The Chinese art market continued the restructuring that started in 2015 with the country’s auctioneers currently trying to reduce their unsold rates
In Western countries, more than half of the works sold at auction sell for under $1,000 (52%), a ratio that climbs to 79% if we raise the budget to $5,000
Jenny Saville and David Hockney became the world’s most valued living artists in the general climate of confidence that followed the Rockefeller collection sale
While technology foreshadows massive changes in the Art Market, the latter has once again been focusing much of its attention on blue-chip Modern Art
The market showed a strong appetite for second generation American Expressionists and for the major names of European and Chinese Expressionism
A new range of indices developed by Artron now allow professionals and amateurs alike to follow the Chinese Art Market over the long term
In 2018, seven bodies of work dominated China’s Fine Art market, reflecting all the richness and depth of a rapidly maturing market, while the auction performances of seven artists clearly stood out last year
Generating just 5% global Fine Art auction turnover from 9% of the lots sold, the Old Masters segment remains generally discreet, relatively stable, but profitable in the long term.
Simple investment strategies have demonstrated that Art can generate competitive returns over the medium and long term
In the first half of 2018, Modern Art returned to ‘auction leader’ position with two results above the $100 million threshold
Five hundred artists from more than 40 countries occupy the most stable segment of the Global Art Market, accounting for 72% of its total secondary market value
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The Art Market in 2018
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