What the Art Market has to say about Andy WARHOL (1928-1987)

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Takashi Murakami – Western-style Manga Art [27 Sep 2010]

The world’s most successful contemporary artists also have excellent business acumen.

Contemporary Korean art [21 Sep 2010]

A strong symbol of the dynamism of Contemporary Korean art, the 9th edition of the Korean International Art Fair (KIAF) came to an end last week.

Jean-Michel Basquiat – Best auction revenue of the year in the contemporary paintings and contemporary drawings categories… [06 Sep 2010]

A controversial figure who enjoyed substantial media exposure, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work moved quickly from the anonymity of the New York subway to the spotlight of galleries and bourgeois homes.

May 2010: Top 10 auction results [11 Jun 2010]

Every other Friday, Artprice publishes a ranking of auction records. This week, discover the highest prices recorded in May 2010.

Return of market effervescence [17 May 2010]

With a large number of major collectors clearly back in acquisitive mode, the results of the big sales in New York during May amply covered the price expectations and were a far cry from those posted in May 2009.

Christie’s and Sotheby’s anticipate price increases [03 May 2010]

For their Contemporary Art sales on 11 and 12 May 2010, Christie’s and Sotheby’s are betting on high prices for masterpieces signed Warhol, Klein and Rothko. But above all, the catalogues contain a number of major works that the crisis has withheld from the market.

Ahead of the May sales [06 Apr 2010]

Ahead of the major Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art sales in May, collectors have been making their annual pilgrimages to art fairs around the world. During March and April, those interested in Contemporary art have been particularly attracted to the Armory Show, Art Paris, Art Tokyo, Art Brussels, Cige, etc.

The 2009 podium: Picasso, Warhol, Qi [23 Feb 2010]

As the art market convalesced in 2009, the world’s top auction performers generated much smaller totals than in previous years. Regulars in the Top 10 ranking like Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Alberto Giacometti, Edgar Degas or Claude Monet saw their annual revenues contract by 55% – 77% compared with 2008.

Contemporary Art sales in London: excellent results [15 Feb 2010]

With a total revenue figure up 255% compared with February 2009, Christie’s and Sotheby’s Contemporary Art sales have confirmed the recovery of the top end of the art market (combined revenue of $79,5m in February 2010 vs. £22.3m from the same sales in 2009).

Contemporary Art sales in London [01 Feb 2010]

Christie’s and Sotheby’s apparent price optimism for their Impressionist and Modern sales on 2 and 3 February 2010 is equally visible in the catalogues for their Contemporary Art sales on 10 and 11 February. The two majors are expecting a combined total of £69m from their evening sales, a figure which would represent a 54% more than February 2009 high estimate.

The print market: some useful tips [04 Jan 2010]

Prints are an important element of the art market representing between 10 and 17% of global auction transactions and between 1.6 and 3.6% of global fine art auction revenue over the last decade.

New York sales perk up… [16 Nov 2009]

Is the art market recovering? That’s at least the impression given by Sotheby’s impressive $117.1m total revenue from its Contemporary Art sale on 11 November 2009. The figure is way above the auctioneer’s total estimates which were at worst a third and at best a half as much. Christie’s on the other hand was far from posting a “surprise” total with just $63.9m from 39 lots sold the previous day.

All eyes on the autumn sales [05 Oct 2009]

The first September sales have produced lacklustre results. In a climate of serious prudency – with no room for over-bidding or risk-taking – only the safest bet on the contemporary market (Andy Warhol) has lived up to expectations. However, one exception to the market’s general gloom has been the thirty year-old Indian artist Jitish Kallah.

Paris resists crisis [13 Jul 2009]

Although the global art is in the midst of a crisis, Paris appears to be showing remarkable resistance: the number of auction sales and the volume of lots proposed has remained stable compared with 2008. Moreover, for the first quarter of 2009, the French capital posted a better overall revenue figure than either London or New York on the back of the Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint-Laurent sale at the Grand Palais in February.

Contemporary Art in convalescence [06 Jul 2009]

While London’s auctioneers congratulate themselves on the healthy sold rates at their June Contemporary Art sales (92.5% at Sotheby’s, 88% at Christie’s and 75% at Phillips de Pury & Company), bidders are continuing on a path of caution and sobriety.

London sales: second round [22 Jun 2009]

On 23 June, Christie’s will be offering 45 Impressionist & Modern works in London and the following day Sotheby’s will present just 27 pieces. The catalogues feature works by Picasso, Claude Monet and Giacometti. On 25 and 30 June, the two auctioneers will open their Contemporary Art sales

Contemporary art sales in Paris: place of honour for Lalanne [01 Jun 2009]

While New York’s auction houses hosted sales of South American art, the Paris offices of Sotheby’s and Christie’s were selling Contemporary Art during May. The results are better than expected for Christie’s primarily due to the sale of a collection of works by François-Xavier & Claude LALANNE.

Mixed results in New York [26 May 2009]

At the end of the first quarter of 2009, the global art market price index showed a 10% contraction. But in New York City, host to some of the world’s most prestigious art sales, the crisis is being felt particularly hard: the same index shows a 35% local contraction since January 2008.

Affordable art: a diversified market [18 May 2009]

For 10 years now a special “roaming” art fair has been dedicated to affordable art contributing to dispelling the notion that art is elitist and beyond the budgets of the masses.From 4 to 7 June 2009, the Affordable Art Fair is returning to Paris, at the Espace Champerret, having already visited London, Sydney, Amsterdam, New York and Brussels. Young collectors and informed non-professionals seeking new talents can discover more than 600 artists at prices ranging from 100 to 5,000 euros.

Christie’s and Sotheby’s prepare their prestige May sales in New York [04 May 2009]

The market is holding its breath ahead of the critical May sales in New York that will inevitably gauge the health of the Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary segments.As expected, the price tags are substantially lower than a year earlier in all three segments

Artprice’s TOP 10 ranking: the art market heavyweights in 2008 [15 Mar 2009]

Every year Artprice publishes its ranking of artists based on auction revenue. At the end of 2007 the figures were remarkable: the market’s Top 10 had generated a combined total of $1.8bn, up no less than 50% on the previous year’s total. In 2008 the total was $100m lower than for 2007 at $1.7bn, a figure representing 20% of the total global art auction market on 1.5% of its transactions.

The Middle Eastern market – Sotheby’s arrives in Doha [22 Feb 2009]

In August 2008, the Art Market Insight published an overview of the boom in Iranian art. The United Arab Emirates, the new eldorado of cultural tourism, is building its Louvre in Abu Dhabi and its Guggenheim in Dubai, the city that has established itself, in two years, as the new capital of the Middle Eastern art market. In 2008, auction revenues in Dubai amounted to USD 34.9 million, a +70% increase on 2007.

American Pop Art – the bubble is leaking air… [21 Sep 2008]

The general price index for American Pop Art – the epicentre of art market speculation since the beginning of the decade – is showing signs of waning. Although Andy Warhol is the third most expensive post-war artist, along with Francis Bacon and Mark Rothko, auction sales of his works since the start of 2008 have been less successful… Could this be a first sign of market saturation?

The TOP 10 artists [13 Mar 2008]

Every year Artprice compiles a ranking of artists based on the total revenue generated by public sales of each artist’s work, with Pablo Picasso invariably taking the number one position on the market podium. Not so in 2007: after nearly 10 years, the champion of modern art has been dethroned by the guru of Pop art, Andy Warhol. Second in 2006, Warhol became the global market leader in 2007.More than just one name replacing another, this ‘event’ reflects a veritable sea-change in the auction world. While in the 1990s the very pinnacle of the art market belonged to the impressionists, particularly Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet, and then, after 2000, to the moderns with Pablo Picasso and Gustave Klimt, today, and possibly for some time to come, the market has hoisted contemporary art to the summit of the pyramid.

The speculative bubble in the art market reaches its peak in November 2007 [21 Jan 2008]

The art market recorded a 7th consecutive year of price rises in 2007. The annual increase at global level amounted to +18%. It was accompanied by Fine Art proceeds of USD 9.2 billion, an increase of 43.8% over the year, swelled by the proliferation of million-ticket sales, auction hammers having come down on 1,254 sales of over USD 1 million in 2007, compared with 810 in 2006. 2006 had already recorded an unprecedented number of transactions and 2007 was an exceptional vintage.

Contemporary art in New-York – Confidence reigns… [19 Nov 2007]

Art market players had been worried by the idea of a market downturn after the mixed results from the impressionist and modern art sales in New York on 6 and 7 November. However, one week later, the strong sales in the contemporary art sector proved that the market remains buoyant.

‘Contemporary Art – evenings sales’ in London: £140 million [25 Jun 2007]

Having achieved a historic result in this sector on 16 May last in New York ($384,654,400), Christie’s opened the ball of the London contemporary art sales on 20 June with sale proceeds of £67,470,800 in 83 lots. The following day, Sotheby’s outstripped its competitor, selling 66 lots for a total of £72,427,600. In 2006, the total London proceeds of the two auction houses’ contemporary art evening sales amounted to close to £56 million.

Christie’s confirms its leading position in contemporary art [21 May 2007]

The thrill of the New York contemporary art auctions is no longer the thousand dollar sale but those achieving millions of dollars. At the height of the May sales, a work by Mark ROTHKO went for 65 million dollars, becoming the most expensive post-war work in the market. These days the Sotheby’s and Christie’s contemporary art auctions are raising proceeds in excess of those on “Impressionist & Modern Art”. In 138 lots, the 15 and 16 May sales generated, all costs included, 639,528,400 million dollars, compared with 515,012,000 million dollars on 123 lots the previous week in the “Impressionist & Modern Art” sales.

Great expectations for New York’s May auctions [02 May 2007]

On 8 November last year, Christie’s New York managed to far outstrip its principal competitor Sotheby’s with a record sale that generated USD 491 million from 78 lots!This year Sotheby’s is planning a spectacular response with its New York sales of ‘Impressionist and Modern Art’ and ‘Contemporary Art’ that it estimates will generate between 416 and 561 millions dollars.

Top 10 artists [13 Mar 2007]

Each artist makes their own, large or small, contribution to the total market. And ranking them by auction turnover gives a good indication of market conditions, preferences and trends. Every year Artprice ranks artists by this criterion.

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