Over the past 18 months, the emergence of the mainland Chinese auction house as a strong regional force and the growing clout of new Chinese collectors has injected a serious dose of optimism into the market, and led ArtTactic to conclude that the current trend sets out the possibility that Chinese contemporary art volume in 2010 might even come close to pre-crisis historical levels.
Highlights of ArtTactic’s latest report:
• 71% of respondents believe the market has already rebounded (35%) or will do so within one year (36%). This is significantly higher than in December 2009, when only 22% of respondents said they thought the market would rebound within a year or earlier.
• The 27% positive increase in the Chinese contemporary art confidence indicator is driven by substantially better Hong Kong and mainland Chinese auction results in the first half of 2010, as well as pick-up in primary market activity.
• 53% of respondents believe the market will go up over the next 6 months, 39% belive it will level out, and 8% believe the market will fall.
• The Confidence Indicator (which now sits at 73) suggests that a significant amount of optimism has re-entered the Chinese art market, and the primary driver for the Chinese contemporary art market going forward will be economic growth.
• The lower end of the Chinese contemporary art market (works priced below US$50,000) has the highest market confidence, although the top end (works above $1 million) shows more positive than negative sentiment — reflected in the success of blue-chip artists in this year’s spring auctions.
• The speed of the recovery in the Chinese contemporary art market has accelerated in the first half of 2010.
• The strong growth in the domestic auction house volume suggests that market share is shifting away from Hong Kong towards the Mainland. Last year showed the strength of the domestic collector base and the ability of domestic auction houses to attract top quality consignments.
• Top 10 prices reveal the difference between domestic and international taste. Although there are overlaps with blue-chip artists like Liu Ye, Yue Minjun, Zhang Xiaogang and Liu Xiaodaong, mainland Chinese auction houses focus on Chinese contemporary oil paintings by artists like Guo Reunwen, Yang Feiyun and Shi Chong. Conceptual artists like Ai Weiwei, Zhang Huan and Cai Guo-Qiang who are popular at auction in Hong Kong are rarely seen in Mainland auctions.
• The Chinese contemporary art market currently consists of two parallel markets: one catering to domestic demand and the other catering to a predominantly international art market. In terms of growth, the domestic market is having the upper hand.
• Sell-through rates at Sotheby’s and Christie’s Hong Kong have risen significantly, approaching 80% and rising, over an autumn 2008 low of slightly more than 60%.
• The average Chinese contemporary artist confidence indicator stands at 60.1, up 14.4% from December 2009. A total of 84% of the contemporary artists in the survey have shown a positive increase in their short-term confidence levels.
• Zeng Fanzhi has moved from rank 18 to rank 2 on the artist confidence indicator, Cai Guo-Qiang has risen from rank 13 to rank 4, and Yang Fudong is in the top position for the second time in a row. Other artists in the top 10 include Zhang Huan, Xu Bing, and Ai Weiwei.
• In the long-term artist longevity indicator, Ai Weiwei shares the top spot with Cai Guo-Qiang, with no change in the artists rounding out the top 10, which include Yang Fudong, Zhang Huan, Xu Bing, Zeng Fanzhi and Gu Dexin.
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Taking centre stage is the group of prints by Pablo Picasso from a Private European Collection, comprising 58 lots (23-81) and estimated to realise in excess of £2.5 million. Three of Picasso’s greatest prints will spearhead this section and these are Le repas frugal (lot 23; est. £120,000-180,000), La Minotauromachie (lot 27, est. £400,000-600,000) and La femme qui pleure (lot 28, est. £500,000-700,000). Each of these works is singularly important in the development of Picasso’s graphic oeuvre, reflecting key themes and demonstrating a mastery of technique that is unsurpassed. Throughout his life, Picasso restlessly explored the medium of the print, employing many techniques, including lithography, linocut, etching and drypoint. The rarity of these prints in a single sale alongside further examples of virtually every technique and style of Picasso’s printmaking represents an unparalled event in the international auction market.
From the same Private European Collection comes a superb lithograph by Henri Matisse, dating to 1925 and entitled Grand Odalisque à la culotte bayadère (lot 13). Estimated at £150,000-200,000, it is the most important and monumental lithograph in which the artist depicts his favourite model Henriette Darricarrère. Matisse had chosen lithography in the 1920s to produce a series of sensual odalisques in exotic settings and the present work shows Henriette seated with one leg raised and tucked under, a pose which fascinated the artist. The play of light and shade and the contrast between the rich textures – the bold stripes of the culotte, the floral pattern of the drapery that covers the chair and the model’s silken skin – all combine to dramatic effect, offset by Henriette’s calm and authorative gaze.
]]>Under the theme “Diversity in Aesthetics,” more than 800 scholars from over 60 countries will gather to share views about aesthetics philosophy, Gao Jianping, general secretary of the International Association of Aesthetics (IAA), told a press conference Monday.
]]>A total of 150 sculptures are on display in four exhibition halls at the museum, revealing the artist’s personal interpretations of the kaleidoscopic human world. The exhibition also provides an insight in part, to the great contemporary sculptor’s lifelong artistic achievements.
]]>There is a gradually growing interest in contemporary ink painting both within China and abroad, with the introduction of modern styles as a unique way to celebrate the old art form while acknowledging an ever-changing society and artistic style, according to independent art critic Liu Siyan.
]]>Born in 1919, Wu was a native of Yixing in east China’s Jiangsu Province.
In 1947, he went to France to study Western painting and returned to China in 1950. He taught at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts and Tsinghua University.
Wu integrated the Chinese ink and wash technique with Western painting methods. He is now widely regarded at home and abroad as the father of modern Chinese painting.
]]>A great many artists attended the event, among them Doug Aitken, Kader Attia, Carol Bove, Christo, Yona Friedman, Douglas Gordon, Rodney Graham, Susan Hiller, Joseph Kosuth, Paul McCarthy, Richard Phillips, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Ugo Rondinone, and Lawrence Weiner. And over 60 museum groups, representing almost all the worlds major museums visited Art 41 Basel, significantly more than last year, as did major private collectors from North and South America, all of Europe and the emerging markets of the artworld.
]]>The strongest bidding in this year’s sale was for 25 modern Egyptian artworks consigned by a respected Saudi collector, Dr Mohammed Farsi. This was expected to make $1.2m-$1.7m, but racked up $8.7m, with all the lots sold.
The collection was said by trade sources to have been offered to Qatar—whose Museum of Modern Arab Art is due to be inaugurated in a temporary space this December—but finally went to auction at Christie’s.
Prominent among Christie’s staffers taking telephone bids at the sale was Isabelle de la Bruyère, glamorous director for the Middle East, who was previously Dr Farsi’s daughter-in-law. She snaffled a number of lots including the evening’s prize, the Egyptian artist Mahmoud Said’s “Les Chadoufs”, 1934, which sold for a startling $2.4m, almost ten times its high estimate (est $150,000-$200,000). Trade sources said that it was destined for Qatar.
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