THE ISSUES Art sales
Alberto Giacometti’s Grande tête mince (1954) failed to attract a single bid at Sotheby’s New York in May
Not only are many of the auction houses’
clients keeping their hands firmly in their pockets for now, some may soon disappear – or at least be replaced. The ‘Great Wealth Transfer’ is expected to see baby boomers pass on an estimated $84 trillion in cash and assets to younger generations over the next two decades. This is likely to catalyse a surge of inherited collections coming to market, but it could also precipitate a profound shiſt in the profile of buyers and collectors, which would be accompanied by a transformation of the prevailing tastes and dynamics. Such a step-change is likely to redirect
funds toward emerging artists and digital media, empowering younger, socially con- scious collectors. According to Katie Carder at Phillips, the transformation would en- compass ‘digital technology, innovation, evolving definitions of collecting, and how the art market is connecting with the next generation – all factors that seem to be influ- encing these structural shiſts’. Gen X is the most art-hungry demograph-
ic. Having surveyed 3,600-plus HNWs, Art Basel/UBS came up with a mean self-report- ed art expenditure figure of around $578,000 per year, per collector, on art as of 2023. Emerging artists and digital work are taking
an increasingly large share, with 52 per cent of recent art spending going towards new or emerging artists – up 8 per cent on previous years, reflecting a growing appetite for inno- vation and fresh perspectives. This is al- ready extending into new ownership mod- els, fractional investing and digital platforms – a broader transformation in how art is valued, collected and consumed.
AVERAGE RETURNS ON
ARTWORKS HAVE DROPPED TO THEIR
LOWEST SINCE 2000 – VIRTUALLY ZERO
To respond to these structural changes,
salerooms are pivoting away from the state- ly-home clear-out and trying to engage with the tastes and demographics of a new gener- ation of collector: younger, more digital in outlook, and more likely to hail from Asia or
Africa. All the big four have recently made major moves to help them navigate the changing landscape.
I
n January, Christie’s appointed Bonnie Brennan as chief executive. A whole- some, blonde, Michigan-born Irish- American saleroom veteran, Brennan cele- brates ‘the female eye’ and is herself an am- ateur artist. She worked at Sotheby’s for 15 years before jumping ship to Christie’s. Her appointment reflects Christie’s conviction that America is the future, according to a senior executive at one of its competitors. Brennan has a tough act to follow. Under
her predecessor, Frenchman Guillaume Cerutti (who has stayed on as chairman), Christie’s sold 10 artworks for more than $100 million each, including Leonardo’s Sal- vator Mundi for $450 million in 2017, as well as the collection of Microsoſt co-founder Paul Allen, which raised $1.5 billion, the largest ever sale of a collection at auction. A 16 per cent plunge in auction sales to $4.2 billion in 2024 was partly offset by sig- nificant growth in private sales, which rose 41 per cent to $1.5 billion, the second high- est in Christie’s history, which suggests a growing interest in discretion and flexibility.
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