Favorable wind blowing in the art markets

Amidst all the gloom and doom around, a big boost to the world art market came in the form of Sotheby's rounding out New York's major fall auctions with a sale that fetched 315.8 million of contemporary and postwar art -well over its high estimate of $270 million. It was the third-highest sale total achieved by its contemporary art dept. (Its peak is at $362 million evening sale in 2008.)

"The sale blew every expectation away," said Tobias Meyer, Sotheby's worldwide head of contemporary art who also served as auctioneer. Art market observer Adam Lindemann’s take on the stratospheric prices achieved was something like this: “If it (the art market) could speak, it would have cackled and then quoted Mark Twain by stating, ‘the rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.’ Most of the artworks successfully found new homes at reasonable if not modestly bullish prices.

"So what’s my advice to those intrepid collectors committed to moving forward? These days I’ll take my cue from the wisdom of old Ben Franklin, who once said, Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see...” An article by The ET Bureau, emphasizing the growing faith in contemporary art in billionaires, pointed out: “The reasons are as abstract as the subject on sale but millionaires, billionaires and collectors with ready cash seem to be racing to the art market to buy what they think is more tangible than any other available investment options.

The article quoted Associate Vice President (Specialist, Post-War and Contemporary Art and Head of Evening Sales), Koji Inoue, as saying: “This strong trend will continue in the market," over phone. "I think it is has been spurred by collectors who are not really looking at art as an investment. It is more buoyed by a powerful store value. They weren't necessary speculators and as they were offered with a once in a lifetime opportunity, they could not let it pass on, no matter what the economic standards are."