The new elite in the contemporary art market [06/18/2003]

The prices commanded by young generations of artists have recently begun to rival those of established auction stars, reaching all time highs in the last three years. Contemporary art auctions are becoming as lucrative as the legendary “Impressionist and Modern Art” auctions (see ArtMarketInsight of 25 November 2002, see ArtMarketInsight of 21 May 2003). In 2001 Andreas GURSKY 's Paris Montparnasse (USD540,000) was the top photography sale while Bruce NAUMAN took the number three spot in sculpture and Sigmar POLKE in prints. Last year Jean-Michel BASQUIAT sealed his popularity with a USD5 million sale for Profit I. Barely four years after her auction debut, the 33-year-old Young British Artist Jenny SAVILLE is seeing canvasses snapped up for more than USD400,000 (see ArtMarketInsight of 2 Septembre 2002). Artprice surveys the rising stars of a generation of artists that are as likely to send a frisson through the auction rooms as Picasso, Renoir or Van Gogh.

The Top 20 most expensive artists at the start of the 21^st century

Artists born after 1940: ranking by highest hammer price at auction between 1 January 2000 and 30 May 2003

So far this century, most of the Top 20 selling contemporary artists (born after 1940) are from English-speaking countries, and promoted by such prestigious art galleries as Gagosian, Anthony d’Offay, Saatchi, Sonnabend, Sperone Westwater, etc. Practically all the record sales have been in New York, home to most of the collectors of young contemporary artists that can compete in million plus bidding rounds. This explains the high number of American artists in the Top 20, followed closely by British and German artists. The more active a country’s market, the greater the chance of getting their home-grown artists onto the list. The one exception is France. Despite being the third economic player in the fine art market, France has no artist in the Top 20. The top French artist, Christian BOLTANSKI , ranks 80^th, with sales of USD120,000 dollars, followed by PIERRE & GILLES in 147^th position, and Fabrice HYBER , 188^th.

Among the top four artists, three are sculptors. Only Jean-Michel Basquiat, who died in 1988, has reached the USD5 million dollar threshold for a painting. Increasingly, painting seems to be taking a back seat to three-dimensional works. Bruce NAUMAN 's Henry Moore bound to Fail, back view, the priciest sculpture, was acquired by Phyllis Wattis (San Francisco), going for USD9 million in May 2001 at Christie’s. Nauman, who won the Lion d’Or at the 1999 Venice Biennale, is also one of the oldest artists in the rankings. Jenny SAVILLE (1970), the youngest, is last in the Top 20. However, the canvasses she has up at auction at Sotheby’s on 25 and 26 June 2003 could well see her climb a few notches.

On 14th May 2003 two artists moved up the list: Chuck CLOSE (USD1.3 million dollars for Cindy II) and Takashi MURAKAMI (USD500,000 dollars for Miss Ko²). Ranking changes very quickly, especially since the popularity of these young artists is particularly prone to change as new stars are regularly thrust into the limelight. Thus, after sky-rocketing between 1998 et 2001, Bruce Nauman’s popularity has been falling for a year now. In contrast, the ranking of dead artists (Jean-Michel BASQUIAT , Felix GONZALEZ-TORRES and Blinky PALERMO ) seem to climb steadily. For these artists’ with a forever fixed corpus of work, the shortage of supply keeps prices high.