Art
Christie’s Annual Revenues Swell, Buoyed By Contemporary and Asian Art
Christie’s, the
privately-owned auction house, saw global sales climb 14 per cent
in 2011 to
$5.7 billion, bolstered by demand from wealthy buyers for
contemporary and Asian art.
Post-War and contemporary art registered the biggest rise in
auction sales of $1.2 billion – an increase of 27 per cent on
2010, said Christie's in a statement. The second
strongest category was Asian Art which increased 17 per cent and
totaled record
annual sales of $890.1 million. The highest price of the year was
paid for Roy
Lichtenstein’s (1923-1997), I Can See the Whole Room!...and
There's Nobody
in it!, 1961, on 8 November in New York for $43,202,500 a
world record
price for the artist at auction.
“Christie’s ability to curate and offer sales of art to a
growing
audience has led to continued demand across geographies,
collecting categories
and at all levels. This is a very encouraging set of
results”, said
Steven Murphy, chief executive of
Christies.
“While we are seeing more investors collecting, there
are many more collectors who are increasing their investment in
their
collections as the explosion of interest in art, fuelled by
globalization,
facilitated by the technology that increases access to
information and images,
meets the art that is coming to the market.”
The auction house, which is owned by French
billionaire François
Pinault, said growing appetite from the emerging markets for
collecting was also reflected in the 2011 uptick. The swelling
pool of millionaires in the East is driving sales in passion
investments like art, wine and cars. While US and
European clients still account for 77 per cent of sale
registrations, 13 per
cent are from Greater China, an increase of 2 per cent on
2010. Registered
clients from Russia and the CIS increased 15 per cent over the
year. New
clients represented 12 per cent of the value of global sales,
while private
sales soared by a half to $808.6 million on 2010.
“As we approach
the sales over the next fortnight in London, we are optimistic
about the market
in 2012. We also remain committed to our role as cultural
stewards
through our auctions, private sales and exhibitions,” added
Murphy.
