Art Price has released it’s 2008 Trends report. There’s great information in here if you’re willing to do the leg work. But let’s see if we can pull out some highlights.
- Sotheby’s and Christie’s together account for only 16% of art sales but 73% of the value.
- London and New York are now tied for market share with 35.6% and 35.75 respectively.
- Picasso, Bacon, Warhol, Hirst, Monet, Giacometti, Richter, Degas, Fontana and Yves Klein are the top ten artists by auction turnover in 2008.
- ArtPrice.com doesn’t think the art market will suffer a five year slump similar to the last rapid downturn in the early 1990s because of the broader global buyer base.
- But if you look at the figures on global turnover, the art market has a long way to fall just to reach the levels of 2001-2003 which was the last slump in the current era. Auction turnover then was a third of 2007’s peak.
