Destination: China
March 21 2012
Look east everyone - China is now the world's biggest market for art and antiques. Last year, China had a 30% share of the world's art and antique market, ahead of the US with 29%. The UK is in third place with 22%. To give you an idea of how the UK punches above its weight in the global art market, France is in fourth place, with just 6%.
The figures come from the annual TEFAF report into the art market. Other interesting facts include:
- The Chinese art and antiques auction sector was the strongest growing market worldwide with a dramatic rise of 177% in 2010 and a further 64% in 2011.
- The global art market continued to recover in 2011, increasing by 7% to €46.1 billion, an increase of 63% since the market crisis of 2009. The volume of transactions also increased by 5% to 36.8 million.
- The driving forces behind the recovery were strong sales in the Chinese auction market and the rise of fine art sales (over decorative art).
- The Modern and Contemporary sectors combined to account for nearly 70% of the fine art market. Both continued a strong recovery in 2011, leading them to levels in excess of the boom of 2007-2008.
- The art market took nearly a decade to recover from the recession of the 1990s whereas the contraction in 2009 has been relatively short-lived. This is due, in part, to its increasingly global nature.
