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PARIS, Oct. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

As the Hong Kong art market develops at a phenomenal pace, London is relatively

less attractive than it was ten years ago. Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips

are now selling certain Western masterpieces – for example, by Basquiat, Still,

Richter and Ghenie – in Asia rather than in London, reflecting a general shift

of the global art market towards the East. Artprice looks more closely at this

phenomenon in its latest Contemporary art market report.

Fine Art auction turnover: Hong Kong vs. London

Infographic -

https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1657379/Artmarket_turnover_Infographic.jpg

Calmed Tensions (1937) by Wassily Kandinsky, $29.4 million at Sotheby's London,

the best UK auction result so far this year:

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1657380/Artmarket_Kandinsky.jpg

thierry Ehrmann , CEO and Founder of Artmarket.com and its Artprice department:

"The UK (generating 17% of global auction turnover in H1 2021) has little to

fear from France (7%), but is seeing Hong Kong (14%) attract a growing share of

the high-end market, particularly works of Contemporary and Post-War Art which

have greater soft power significance. I expect to see London make a concerted

effort to retain its hold on this segment of the market".

Market tipping to the East

The most important painting by Gerhard Richter to be auctioned over the past

three years, Abstraktes Bild (649-2) (1987), was sold by Sotheby's in Hong Kong

for $28 million. Initially marketed in the late 1980s by Galerie Lohrl in

Dusseldorf, the painting was resold in New York by Galerie Barbara Mathes.

However, on 6 October 2020, Patrick Drahi's auction firm (Sotheby's) chose to

include it in a prestigious evening sale in Hong Kong where it fetched $10

million more than its high estimate of $18 million.

The itinerary of this painting clearly reflects Richter's success on the

international art market, but it also reflects a fundamental reality of the

global art mMarket: Hong Kong is fast becoming what New York was for European

artists ten years ago: a formidable accelerator. The major auction houses are

seeing Hong Kong as a new market for iconic pieces but also as a marketplace

capable of rapidly boosting young emerging stars.

This year – for the first time ever – Christie's and Sotheby's offered a total

of three major works by Jean-Michel Basquiat in Hong Kong where they either

reached or substantially exceeded their estimates. Together, the three

paintings generated over $100 million, a third of the artist's total auction

turnover so far this year. Hong Kong is therefore becoming the world's second

marketplace for this 'devilish' signature, after New York.

Two completely different structures

Politically, London and Hong Kong are both experiencing pivotal moments in

their histories… but while the former has seen its art sales declining over the

last five years, the latter has been experiencing exceptional growth in this

domain.

True, the two marketplaces still have very different structures. The UK may be

seeing its former colony catching up in terms of fine art auction turnover, but

it retains a much more dynamic and diversified offer thanks to its long art

market history. The British capital has been at the center of international art

auctions since the 19th century, whereas Hong Kong has only been an important

market hub since the beginning of this millennium ...i.e. not more than 20

years.

This is more or less the global art market context as London's Frieze Art Fair

resumes this week, and there can be no doubt that many of its organizers and

participants will be hoping to bring London back into the International art

market limelight, offering a savvy mix of Old Master and Ultra-Contemporary

artworks.

Images:

[https://imgpublic.artprice.com/img/wp/sites/11/2021/10/image1-Londres-Hong-Kong

.png]

[https://imgpublic.artprice.com/img/wp/sites/11/2021/10/image2-Wassily-Kandinsky

.jpeg]

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