Tracking the international art market’s winners

Here's a succinct look at whose stock is soaring in the internationally art market currently, courtesy The Wall Street Journal.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Renoir's soft-focus depictions of Victorian women and children are a clear favorite of Asian collectors. They're starting, as many new buyers do, with the broadly appealing Impressionists. Renoir's prices are lower than those of older peers like Monet.

Claude Monet
The master of Impressionism seems to sell best during the uncertain days of a new auction cycle, when collectors prefer to stick with classics. At the start of the last market swell in 2005 and 2006, at least 18 of Monet's speckled pastorals sold for more than their high asking prices at major evening auctions. Prices for Monet's paintings dated after 1905 are also expected to benefit from the recent high-profile show at the Gagosian Gallery.

Alberto Giacometti
This onetime favorite of European collectors has gone global, with bidders from the U.S. and Russia joining in and pushing up his asking prices, dealers say. Four months ago, Sotheby's in London sold his ‘Walking Man I’ for $104.3 million, a record at the
time for a work of art at auction. The buzz from that sale gave confidence to bidders during this latest round in New York.

Alexander Calder
The Philadelphia sculptor of kinetic abstract sculptures has floated above the recession. He had a banner year in 2009, with a record $41.5 million worth of his art selling at auction. Six of his priciest pieces sold during the doldrums, including the 1934 mobile, ‘Five Pieces of Wood’, which Sotheby's in London sold last June for $4.2 million. Part of the reason for the strong sales was that the artist had been undervalued for too long.

Jasper Johns
Rarity helps, especially in a recession. Between 2005 and 2009, nine works by this Pop pioneer sold, for roughly $13.3 million combined. Johns's ‘Flag’ sold for $28.6 million, above its $15 million high estimate.

Jean-Michel Basquiat
The graffiti-influenced 1980s artist is the recovery's comeback kid. After his brightly colored paintings pushed above $14 million in early 2007, collectors watched his prices plummet. Now, Basquiat's asking prices have dropped to between $2 million and $6 million.