The annual Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report is out. With pages and pages of well-researched insights on the global art market from the previous year, the report covers topics from NFTs and online sales to auctions, dealers and fairs. It’s dense and certainly doesn’t qualify as light reading so here at Pavillon54 we break down some relevant findings from this lengthy 2022 report.
Global
After what seemed like unending interference and confusion from the global pandemic, 2022 was anticipated as the year the art market would return to ‘normal’. While there has certainly been growth in sales and a robust return in events — a thorough understanding of the developments in various sectors and regions gives a more nuanced report. Global sales grew 3% to an estimated $67.8bn — this is because the high-end, multi-million dollar market continued to be the driver of growth in 2022. This brings the market higher than its pre-pandemic level in 2019. But notably the auction market shrunk slightly last year.
This graph indicates sales in the major art markets over the period 2009–2022. Courtesy of Art Basel
The US kept its top spot in the global ranks with their share of the total sales value increasing by 2% for a total of 45%. After a significant decline in the pandemic years, this is one of the strongest art market recoveries and it has largely been chalked up to major sales at the high end of the auction sector. The UK took second place with 18% of sales — a rise of 5% to $11.9 billion in 2022 — although sales were still below their pre-pandemic level in 2019 of $12.2 billion. Interestingly enough, the report findings reveal that the UK was the most international market in 2022, with 60% of dealer sales made to overseas buyers. China’s share decreased by 3% (to 17%) taking the region to third place position.
Auctions
With results such as Sotheby’s end of the year and the unforgettable Paul Allen sale — which totalled the largest figure for a sale in the market’s history at $1.6 billion — hope was that the auction market would see significant growth. But instead, according to the report, auction sales fell 2% last year, dropping to $30.6b. The report cites the drop in growth as due to cancellations and postponements of major auctions at the end of 2022 in mainland China, due to a stringent zero-COVID policy and a resurgence of infections. In total, global auction sales made up 45% of the market in 2022, down 2%.
All of the top 50 works by lot price were at Christie’s, Sotheby’s or Phillips, and all sold at prices of above $30 million, leading to a record year for these three auction houses. This indicates that sales in the auction market are largely driven by wealthy collectors buying top-selling lots — a sign perhaps that uncertainty steered by political and economic instability, the war in Ukraine, and rapidly increasing inflation rates, are driving collectors to make safer, low-risk options.
Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn (1964) sold at Christie’s New York at a price of $195.0 million making it the second-most expensive work to ever sell at auction
Gender
Despite the attention given to gender parity in the market and some general improvements in the area, the representation of female artists remains consistently lower than their male counterparts. Price consistency has also been slow to evolve. According to the report, the share of female artists represented by galleries was 39%, up from 37% in 2021. In the primary market alone, progress appears to have stalled in the past two years, with the share of female artists now at 42%, marginally down on the 44% achieved in 2019. The data speak for themselves — although formally we continue to profess the achievement of gender equality, a different picture is emerging.
Image courtesy of Art Basel
What do all these figures mean for the African art market?
While the Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report is quite thorough, it is deeply focused on the Euro-American market and is not as ‘global’ as the title indicates. There are several reasons of course such as the youthfulness of the African art market and that the report largely focused on high-end sales (including antiques and classic cars). As such, the African share of the art market is not even a blip on the global screen.
In South Africa auction house Strauss & Co reported sales totalling $20.6m in 2022 narrowly missing their highest annual total of $20.7m achieved in 2021. This has been attributed to significant development in the art ecosystem in the last few years mainly the opening of major institutions mainly Zeitz MOCAA, Javett-UP and the Norval Foundation.
South African auction house Strauss & Co sees a near-record year. Image courtesy In Your Pocket.
Some positive signs regarding the African market indicated by the report include dealers from markets within Africa reporting an increase of just 1% on aggregate from 2021 and the launch of new events and fairs on the continent allowing collectors to re-engage with live events and sales.
In April, African Art Galleries Association (AAGA) in collaboration with Artsy (the leading US-based media and art platform), hosted an online fair. AAGA was formed in response to the need to support contemporary African art sectors in the continent in response to the interest in contemporary art from the continent. IRL events specifically focused towards contemporary african art are still pushing forward strongly with 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair going full force with hosting their New York version in mid-May.
Image courtesy of Allevents
And on the auction front, markets are looking positive for collectors of contemporary African art — auctioneers like Piasa, Artcurial, Bonhams and Sotheby’s regularly host sessions dedicated to contemporary african art. 2022 saw a record number of works by African artists sold at auction (more than 2,700), almost twice as many as before the Covid pandemic. In 2022 works by Contemporary artists born in Africa generated $63 million at auction versus a previous record of around $47 million in 2021.
All in all, the contemporary African art market has its own successes and downfalls requiring a market report of its own. A global report of this nature doesn’t do this sector justice to the artists, collectors and dealers.
By Khumo Sebambo