“Screaming” Market
Even if you are not an art collector, you probably know that Edvard Munch’s Scream realized a record $119.9 million. A non-art collector commented to me “the art market must really be doing well”. It gave me pause as I realized that, as with all media these days, this one transaction so widely written about leads people to make a broad assumption about an entire market place. The art market is showing signs of some healthiness, in spots, but a much more complex analysis than that is needed. There is a fairly well written commentary by Abigail Esman from Forbes analyzing the Post Impressionist and Modern results at:
The American painting sales just went off this week and to many they seemed fairly successful. Sotheby’s and Christies will boast success. For those of us who have been around in the market we know that Sotheby’s offered 60 lots to their 222 lots in a sale in 2006. They carefully chose a few higher end better name works and edited the rest. That’s because there is little middle tier to lower tier American buying. A rather clear indicator to the broader question of “Are you better off today than you were five years ago?” I think the purchaser of the Munch might be better off (and possibly not an American). And the question I would like addressed is where is the astute reporting and media interpretation of what is really going on in the art market?