Art market powers ahead despite credit woes

Deborah Brewster
Sales in the art market this week exceeded even the most optimistic expectations, with buyers at major New York sales defying widespread fears of a market slump as a result of the credit crisis.
Sotheby’s had its biggest sale ever by dollar value on Wednesday night, selling $362m worth of contemporary works. It sold a 1976 painting by Francis Bacon, “Triptych, 1976” for $86m, easily exceeding its estimate of $70m. The price was the highest ever paid for a contemporary work at auction. Bacon’s works would only fetch about $10m each a few years ago but the latest prices put the artist, who died in 1992, in the same price league as Picasso. Like many of his works, the triptych — which attracted three bidders — featured a distorted human form and was inspired by Greek mythology.
The previous night, Christie’s sold Lucian Freud’s “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping”, a painting of a voluptuous JobCentre supervisor, for $33.6m, setting a new record for the work of a living artist. It also sold a 1952 work by Mark Rothko, “No 15”, for $50m, which was above its $40m estimate. Christie’s sale generated $348m in total.
The final prices do include a buyers’ commission of more than 12 per cent which is not included in the estimates. But the results were surprisingly strong and confirmed the ascendancy of contemporary art, which has firmly supplanted the Impressionist and Old Masters works favoured by the previous generation of collectors.
The prices also support the view that the art market has become increasingly global, with buyers from new markets such as India, China and the Middle East, which provides a depth of support which was lacking in previous market booms.
Sotheby’s and Christie’s jewels auctions in Geneva this week saw $100m in sales and Sotheby’s also reported strong demand for its contemporary Indian art sale this week.
The New York contemporary sales this week followed solid Impressionist and Modern auctions last week. Together, the two main auction houses sold close to $2bn in artworks during the two-week season – about 25 per cent more than last year. Sotheby’s and Christie’s each hold about 600 auctions a year, but the most expensive works usually sell during the May and November auctions in New York.
On the strength of the May sales, the two auction houses are already promoting their June sales of Impressionist and contemporary art in London

About visionsart

Visions Art is a premium gallery for Modern and Contemporary Art. Established in 2001 in Mumbai, advising private and corporate collectors on predominantly Indian Contemporary Art. Since 2003, the gallery opened up its new space in heart of south Mumbai, India. The permanent gallery space is designed as a private art space where both changing and its permanent collections are shown. The gallery’s program draws upon a diverse range of disciplines and intellectual perspectives while maintaining a clear progressive thread. Supporting mid-career and historic figures, as well as launching emerging artists. The gallery represents works by artists who are considered to be at the forefront of Indian contemporary art and is constantly looking to establish a roster of the more progressive artists from India and abroad. Indianartnews.info is a news post blog providing a viewers updates on the latest news and events related to indian art from across the world

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