Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

If the UK Wants a More International Brexit, It Should Take Care to Protect Its Art Market

January 18, 2017 by Marion Maneker

Gilbert & George, Street Party (2008)

Aside from the useful reminder that London’s role as global art-trading center is not as long-lived—especially in contemporary art—as many might assume, Jonathan Jones has a good essay on how the spectacular success of the YBAs and Contemporary art has benefitted Britain’s position in the world:

In the 1980s London had only a few art dealers, most of them around the Cork Street area in the West End. Only Anthony d’Offay played an important part in the global contemporary art scene with his representation of Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys and Jeff Koons. The explosion of artistic creativity in London at the end of that decade revolutionised metropolitan galleries, with Matt’s Gallery, Maureen Paley and White Cube among those leading the way. By the time Tate Modern opened in 2000 London was in the midst of a surge that has made it one of the world’s artistic capitals, with every major world gallery seeking to get in on its booming business. […]

The vogue for art sustained by the rise of the London art market has also energised galleries and festivals in Liverpool and Manchester, and sustains the Scottish art scene. Free movement is obviously essential to this most worldly of businesses. The paradox is that it is precisely the parts of British life we can be most honestly patriotic about that Brexit will smash. Since its “cool Britannia” takeoff in the 1990s, London has now kept its status as a world cultural capital for 20 years. That is a much longer period of artistic eminence than it enjoyed in the 1960s. It is in fact the most spectacular age of global eminence in art it has ever enjoyed. We are rubbish at football but good at art – and selling art.

Will a hard Brexit spell disaster for London’s cosmopolitan art scene? (The Guardian)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • LA's AppealLA's Appeal
  • William Powhida Doesn’t Think Much of Your Online ArtWilliam Powhida Doesn’t Think Much of Your Online Art
  • Art: Commodity or Public Trust?Art: Commodity or Public Trust?
  • Country v. City in Aboriginal ArtCountry v. City in Aboriginal Art
  • The Remorseful KleptomaniacThe Remorseful Kleptomaniac
  • The Smoking Deaccessioning Gun?The Smoking Deaccessioning Gun?

Filed Under: General

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • After Pandemic’s Rapid Change, Sotheby’s Has 8 Predictions for 2021
  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • For 2020, Phillips Brought in Total of $760.4 million, Down 16 Percent from 2019; Asia Sales Up 24 Percent
  • A Season of Resilience: Fall 2020 Hong Kong Auction Analysis
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • A Season of Improvisation: Fall 2020 New York Modern and Contemporary Art Auction Analysis
  • Soulages First Owned by Senegalese Poet-Politician Léopold Sédar Senghor Sells in France
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • Christie's Announces $70m Picasso Self Portrait
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor