What can we learn from the auctions in New York this May? The sales have presented new insight into the current state of the art market while pointing to the direction that it could be going as we head into the second half of 2024. Read below for our top five takeaways.
Blue-Chip remains Blue-Chip
While art is excitingly, and crucially, always evolving; on the auction block established names continue to thrive. After a few years of ultra-high ultra-Contemporary sales, emerging artists’ success at auction is slowing. This is in-line with a general correction in the market, but big names of course have been a haven for consistency.
Rediscoveries
No one loves a come -back kid more than the art world. From Van Gogh’s posthumous prominence to the 9th Street Women, time and new perspectives help us to reevaluate artists. The recent penchant for female Surrealists has been brewing (and we’d like to think we had the writing on the wall with our The Female Gaze: Women Surrealists in the Americas and Europe exhibition in 2019. Leonora Carrington’s $28.5 million sale at Sotheby’s last week certainly underscores the hunger and placed the artist in top five highest-selling female artists at auction, and surpassing fellow Surrealists.
New Records
Carrington wasn’t the only artist to achieve new heights. New artist records were set for Felix Gonzalez-Torres ($13.64 million), Lucy Bull ($1.81 million), Martin Wong ($1.6 million), and Faith Ringgold ($1.57 million). Across different media and decades, each record tells a different story. For Gonzalez-Torres, which came from the collection of the late Rosa de la Cruz, we can look at the intersection of a masterpiece and the power of important collections. For Ringgold, we can look at the prominence of textile work, influential artist, and her recent passing. For Bull, we can examine the frothy Contemporary art market. While the art market is undergoing a course correction overall, these records speak to the continued desire for collecting and strength in the market.
Precarious Security
In a world where trust lies in big names and deals are often made on a handshake, everyone’s feathers were a bit ruffled when Christie’s revealed a major cyberattack on the eve of the marquee sales (the second in under a year). While some of the nuances of the art world remain idiosyncratic, it is a cold reminder that we operate in the world at large and are under the same risks.
Course Correction
Parallel to the ultra-Contemporary market, we are on the heels of a few anomalistic years. As Josh Baer put it, “$20 million is the new $50 million.” The May auctions were in line with the adjustment we’ve seen through 2023 but successful with most of the evening auctions achieving over 90% buy through rates for a total of $1.4 billion in sales.
If you’d like to learn more about Heather James Art Advisory and our holistic approach to collecting and managing art, visit us at https://www.heatherjames.com/advisory/ or email us at [email protected].
