Summer Art Market Performance: Highlights, Trends & July Sales 2023
MyArtBroker
The world’s only private sale network dedicated to blue-chip Prints & Editions.
As July comes to a close, the art market gears up for the summer season, with buyers often on vacation and major auctions taking a break until October. However, this doesn't mean the art world is quiet.
In the print market this month,?Jean-Michel?Basquiat?and?Andy Warhol?have stayed in the spotlight, whilst other artists - including?Thierry Noir?- have seen several successful sales in July, continuously outperforming high estimates. Meanwhile, all eyes have been on?Banksy, anticipating his next move after the much-celebrated?Cut & Run Exhibition.
The art market's online July sales offer a mix of prints and editions, and paintings and are the first round of Q3 sales. Two exceptional works were offered by Jean-Michel Basquiat–Anti-Product, a unique print, selling at $50,400 USD (fees included), an impressive 7.4 times its estimate, and Flexible (after Basquiat) realising $126,000 USD as the highlight in Christie's Contemporary Edition sale. Meanwhile, Banksy made a mark at Phillips with two notable screenprints– Rude Copper achieving ￡60,960 (fees included), and CCCP Love Is In The Air, fetching ￡53,340 (fees included). Also, at Sotheby’s a Basquiat Anatomy work performed exceptionally well offered with no reserve bringing in $40,640 USD against a 7,000 high estimate.?
Sheena Carrington - Market Editor, MyArtBroker .
July Art Market Total Sales
In July, Christie's and Sotheby's conducted online sales, while Phillips held a live auction alongside online sales. In total, 1430 works were sold, generating ￡14.9 million with a sell-through rate of 82%. The chart below represents Post-War and Contemporary sales in London and New York.
Current Art Market Stories
In July, the art world buzzed with discussions on financial underpinnings, particularly after Simon Lee Gallery entered administration, impacting smaller London galleries specialising in emerging contemporary artists amid Brexit dynamics. Despite this, London Gallery Weekend saw increased visitors. Auction figures were lower overall, but Sotheby's turning the Whitney Museum's prior space into a showroom and Bonhams achieving its best-ever first-half year results showed resilience. Read our take on the latest auctions in our June Auction reports which analyses the profits yielded on an increased amount of resale works.?
The New Yorker released an intimate biography of mega-gallerist Larry Gagosian, highlighting his keen understanding of wealthy individuals' desires for art as a passion asset, driving demand and creating a liquid and lucrative art market. Gagosian's relentless approach in the secondary art market and his hosting of extravagant art-filled dinner parties demonstrated his passion for art. While controversies surrounding Gagosian were mentioned, including phone calls to women, sales to oligarchs, and a potential bidding ring with the Mugrabi family,? his significant impact on the art market, especially contemporary art was acknowledged, and as we see it, formidable. To learn more about the art market, its history, and peak performance years to which Gagosian contributed, read our comprehensive report here.?
领英推荐
IN-NETWORK DEMAND
Demand in our network this year is consistent with the top four most covetable artist's portfolios:?Banksy,?Warhol,?Haring?and?Hockney.
Warhol remains the most consistently circulating artist in our network this month,?and despite the market's dip following the boom in 2020, the sustained demand for Banksy's work is an undervalued trend. The decline in turnover of his most coveted prints corresponds to a decrease in circulation.
In terms of series, the network has shown strong demand for?David Hockney's iPad prints, with?Endangered Species?and?Campbell's Soup Cans?by?Andy Warhol?maintaining a consistent presence. Meanwhile,?Stik,?Alex Katz,?and Damien?Hirst?have also been trending upward since the beginning of June in our data.
For more, sign up to our email newsletter or get in touch here: https://www.myartbroker.com/contact-us