Art sale

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Art sale refers to the process of selling a work of art either by the artist directly to the buyer or through the art trade .

Historical background

Art has had its own market since ancient Greece and Rome . In the higher educated classes, an art collection was a good form. As a rule, the works created were commissioned work for the wealthy nobility. The artist did not have to worry about the marketing of his pictures, but was recommended if he did a good job and hoped that this would give him new orders.

In the Middle Ages , the church was the artist's most important client. They saw themselves as craftsmen and only very rarely signed their works. A trade in art objects did not arise until the beginning of the 15th century. At this time, the art market in the Netherlands , unique in Europe at the time, began to flourish. Works of art were offered in public markets. There was an increasing number of works that were no longer purely commissioned. Some artists were lucky enough to be employed permanently as court painters .

In 1744, Sotheby’s oldest art auction house was founded in London and the sale of art through auctions increased. This was accompanied by a new self-image for the artist as an artist personality, which later culminated in the genius cult of the Romantic period. Around the time of the French Revolution and due to the increasing influence of the bourgeoisie, a new group of buyers for the artists was added. They were particularly interested in the traditional paintings that were previously reserved for the nobles.

With Impressionism , the classic method of the auction house was supplemented by the art mediator, who sold the initially difficult to convey images, which were considered not socially acceptable, to interested galleries . More and more galleries appeared.

In Germany, the art market was severely weakened by the Second World War . While Paris, London and New York continued to develop as art metropolises, Germany had lost all art centers. The turning point came with the creation of Art Cologne in 1967, which made Cologne the capital of the art trade.

In connection with the documenta created in 1955 , a wide audience could be reached in order to draw more attention to art. At that time, documenta was seen as a preliminary stage for the dissemination of works to museums. The economic boom of the 1980s meant that galleries for the first time sponsored unknown artists, who then became well known. Her works were sold to museums for high prices or to private collectors at auctions.

Art market today

The art market today is an enormous economic factor (art sales worldwide 48.1 billion euros in the record year 2007, 42.2 billion in 2008, 31.3 billion in 2009 according to the art market report by Tefaf and cultural economist Clare McAndrew). The ways in which art are sold have multiplied. While sales in the higher price segment are still mainly traditionally via galleries and auction houses, the methods in the medium price segment for artists who want to sell their objects have adapted to modern technology (e.g. sale via the Internet).

A distinction is made between the so-called “primary market”, which is covered by the galleries that receive and resell the work directly from the artists they represent. The "secondary market" is i. d. Usually the auction houses that determine the resale value of a work of art and take over the sale by auction. As a rule, artists do not deliver their works of art directly to auctions. A spectacular exception was the auction of works fresh from the studio by the British artist Damien Hirst at Sotheby’s in London, which he launched under the title “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever” and which had a total turnover of 70.55 a day before the Lehman Brothers went bankrupt Grossed millions of pounds.

In addition to the classic methods (such as word of mouth, classified ads, exhibiting works at trade fairs and flea markets or in antique shops), art is also increasingly being sold on the Internet. Many artists have their own homepage or sell their works on various art platforms and internet galleries. Art auctions also take place over the Internet with virtual catalogs.

Procedure (example: art mediation in modern art sales)

At the end of the 20th century, the first online art databases were created, which systematically documented the published results of art sales worldwide and made them accessible (sometimes for a fee). Despite these databases and the associated price overview, the secondary art market is very intransparent for laypeople and can only be assessed by professionals in the art trade. For art laymen it is difficult to see where and under what conditions the sale of individual works of art or art collections is optimally possible.

What sales value an art object can achieve depends to a large extent on the type of sale and the correct positioning in the market. Selling a work directly in the art trade (auction house, gallery, private collector) not only requires a high level of negotiation skills, but also experience and contacts in the art market.

The structures of the art trade are complex. That is why art laymen and collectors are increasingly turning to the services of independent art brokers. These convey the work of art or the collection to the right buyer on behalf of the customer or position a work of art or the collection - after research and comparison of the sales results achieved so far for the respective artist - on the best possible sales point.

The sale of art through art mediation goes through the following phases:

estimate

As part of an initial estimate, each individual work of art is assessed and classified by art experts (including with regard to classification, authenticity, condition). A market research is then carried out on this basis and an initial estimated value is determined, whereby in addition to material and aesthetic properties (such as material and design, size, signature, condition, effect), the art-historical significance, previous sales results and possible market interests are also taken into account . This gives an estimated price or an estimated price range.

Sales strategy

After individual analysis and appraisal of the individual works of art, the sales strategy is developed in order to optimally position the individual work of art or the collection on the market. Here, taking into account the opportunities, risks, costs and individual wishes of the seller, the point of sale is selected that allows the seller to expect the best result.

Mediation

The work of art is conveyed to the point of sale that is most promising (collector, auction house, private sale, gallery, etc.) and the further sale is accompanied on the basis of the market forecasts made.

Web links

Wiktionary: Art sales  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

literature

  • Alpers, Svetlana, Rembrandt as a company, Cologne 2003
  • Schneckenburger, Manfred (ed.), Documenta idea and institution, Munich 1983
  • Boll, Dirk, The fight for the art trade and auctions position themselves on the art market (diss.), Halle 2005

Individual evidence

  1. See Art Magazin 2010 ( Memento of the original from March 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.art-magazin.de
  2. When Damien Hirst lets millions flow / Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2008