The first half of 2011 was the best in the history of the art market - largely due to China's art market, confirming its leadership position

Despite the slow growth in the first six months of this year and the growing debt crisis that strengthened the panic in financial markets, the art market has experienced the best first half in its history. The worldwide sales of works of art in the first half of 2011 totaled $ 6.3 billion - the dynamics of the art market is even better than during the peak period of 2007-2008. Moreover, the results of the first half of 2011 has already exceeded the total result of all of 2009. A comparison with the first semester 2010 worldwide auction revenue rose 34%. Such unusually high growth contributed to the expansion of China's art market and design decisions taken at the "old" markets.

In 2010, China became the largest market for the first time in the world of art , and this year it has strengthened its leading position. Total auction revenue in the first half of the Middle Kingdom in 2011 amounted to $ 2.2 billion, and again the UK and U.S. are behind the results of 1.6 and 1.4 billion respectively. Titans of the art market from Christie's and Sotheby's, which in 2008 got 72%of the global auction sales, this time managed to "bite" only 53%of the global market pie. Despite optimistic statements by the two leaders on the growth of its revenues in the first half, their success is still not so great to still maintain their duopoly in the art market, which is rapidly developing as China, seven of the ten leading auction houses are now in the Middle Kingdom and undermining their competitive leadership Christie's and Sotheby's, which lasted forty years.

methods of crisis management, developed by auction houses in 2009, continues to bear fruit. Rejecting the guaranteed prices and adjusting the proposal on the art market by customer demand, the auction houses were able to achieve extremely low percentage of unsold lots in the first half of 2011. Without a buyer the remaining 34%of lots that is less than 35%threshold in 2006, and after then swing speculation was such that almost all sold at prices at the time was considered the transcendental. Market adjustment to new circumstances evident in the fact that prices have become more acceptable, and offer lots in the lower price range increased. In the first half of 2008, only 66%of lots had estimeyty below 5000 dollars, while this year the number of lots increased to 72%.

affordable price range expansion occurs simultaneously with improvement in the upper sector of the market: three years ago from the work with the estimate over a million dollars went under the hammer only 73%in the current year have already been sold to 84%more expensive than lots of one million. In general, in the period from January to June this year at least 944 works went to the new owners, surpassing the bar of one million dollars. It works on 200 more than the same period in 2008, which is still regarded as unsurpassed in the dynamics of six months for the art market.

In 2008, the prices on the art market fueled by the obvious financial excitement. But following the collapse of financial markets began a prolonged recession and on the art market, which lasted 16 months and reached 31%. The growth of the Chinese art market penetration and sales strategy auction houses are the factors that ensured the subsequent recovery of the art market. Leaving aside arguments about the speculation, with 2009 prices on the art market grew by 36%, and only one for the first half of 2011 showed an increase of 15%.

in 2008 asking price dynamics segment of postwar and contemporary art from 2009, shoppers turned their attention toward art and artists of the XIX century modernists. So, in 2011, one hundred of the best auction results of the first half, only eight have been achieved with modern art, whereas in 2008 the most successful in hundreds of lots fifteen belonged to the authorship of such artists as Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, etc.

Further evidence of China's growing influence on the world art market was the presence of two Chinese authors in the leading position in the conditional rating of one hundred most successful artists in auction turnover. First place in this list is now owned by Zhang Datsyanu (Zhang Daqian), whose work in this half-year brought $ 360 million. This is followed by Qi Baishi (Qi Baishi) with a score of 274 million. The traditional leader of the ranking of Pablo Picasso (Pablo Picasso) for the first time in the last ten years, it only takes ninth place. In the past six months eight of the fifteen most successful artists were Chinese. The works of Zhang Datsyana six months have generated almost equal to the total revenue of works by Picasso for the full year 2010.

At a time when the current situation on the art market increasingly resembles the dynamics of the 2008 Are the players made the art-market structural changes to prevent the fall in prices for works of art after the correction of financial assets? The second half started successfully bids on the July London Old Masters, coming September, will certainly be an indicator of how the art market reacted to the volatility of the stock exchange this summer and macro-economic debt crisis.

Prepared by Mary Onuchina, AI

Sources : artinvestment.ru