Signs of renewed confidence in the art market
Hedge fund manager puts on Sotheby's exhibition
There are signs that the art market is coming back to life, having has a tough 18 months. New research suggests that 70% of collectors are looking to buy.
The latest report from the Art Market Confidence Index, published by website Artprice, shows confidence in buying art has risen 28.3 points in the last six weeks, from a record low of -20 at the end of January, to 8.3 today.
Nearly three quarters of collectors are in the market to buy, and most believe art prices have further to fall, with only 32% saying art prices will rise over the next three months.
The majority of respondents to the survey also see the current financial situation worsening, with 39% saying the financial climate will get better over the next three months - a telling indictment on the counter-trend between art and financial investments.
Thierry Ehrmann, chief executive of Artprice, said : "The sector that will continue to decline most rapidly is the upper segment of the art market, the lots sold above $100,000 and contemporary art, this segment of high price contemporary art weights 0.75% of the total auctions that took place in 2008."
He added: "London and New York have been more impacted by the crisis, art prices felt by 22% in those two cities in 2008, while only 15% in Paris, so auctions there will not have as far to fall."
Separately, Steven Cohen, the New York based billionaire hedge fund trader who bought British artist Damien Hirst's signature work, the shark in formaldehyde for $30m, is putting on an exhibition of his art collection at Sotheby's.
The April Exhibition is entilted Women.
The works, which has never before been shown to the public, will include masterpieces like Edvard Munch’s Madonna and Pablo Picasso’s Le Repos to Willem de Kooning’s Women III and Andy Warhol’s Turquoise Marilyn.
“I was on a visit to the Cohen’s home several weeks ago,” said Tobias Meyer, Sotheby's Worldwide head of contemporary art.
“While seated at the dinner table, Picasso's Le Repos and Warhol's Turquoise Marilyn were both directly in my line of sight. As we left that evening I turned to Steve and suggested that we show his Women at Sotheby’s. ‘Let’s do it’ he said."
del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
reddit
StumbleUpon