IN the art market, prices can soar, just like for any other valuable commodity. As a result, some artists are more "bankable" than others. Artnet's latest semi-annual report reveals who those artists are.
The online sales platform looked at the artists whose works sold best at auction between January 1 and May 30, 2023. It has ranked them according to their period of creation.
Peter Paul Rubens dominates the European Old Masters category. Six of his works were auctioned in the first six months of the year, four of which found buyers. These included ‘Portrait of a Man as Mars’, a canvas dating from the 1620s from the illustrious Fisch Davidson collection. It sold for US$26.2 million (RM121.57 million) last March at Sotheby's in London. This sum, however, failed to set a new sales record for the Flemish master (set at US$58 million). Overall, Rubens' creations generated US$54.7 million.
Francisco Goya and Bronzino come second and third respectively in Artnet's ranking of the most profitable artists in the European Old Masters category. Thirty-two works by the Spanish painter and engraver have appeared on the market since the beginning of the year, compared with just one by Bronzino. This was ‘Portrait of a Man with a Quill and a Sheet of Paper, Possibly a Self-Portrait of the Artist’ – a painting that was returned after being looted by Nazis. It fetched a record US$10.7 million in January at Sotheby's in New York.
To no big surprise, Pablo Picasso was the top-selling artist in the Impressionism and Modern Art category. The Spanish painter alone generated over US$272 million at auction, with a 91% sell-through rate. Proof, if any were needed, that his signature remains one of the most coveted, despite recent discourse alluding to controversies surrounding his life. René Magritte and Willem de Kooning follow Picasso on Artnet's list in this category, where only one woman appears – American artist Georgia O'Keeffe. Her works have been auctioned for a total of US$43.3 million since the beginning of the year.
Four women in the Ultra-Contemporary category
On the whole, few women are found on Artnet's various rankings of the most bankable artists at auction, across all categories. There are two in the list dedicated to Postwar art: Yayoi Kusama and Louise Bourgeois. The Japanese painter ranks second behind Gerhard Richter, while the Franco-American sculptor is in seventh place, ahead of Lucian Freud and Cy Twombly.
Cecily Brown was the only female artist to make it into the Contemporary art ranking. She appears in third place, with total sales of US$33 million. Not enough to overtake Jean-Michel Basquiat (1st place) and Yoshitomo Nara (2nd place), but enough to beat Banksy (4th place). George Condo, Takashi Murakami and Keith Haring also made their mark.
Ultra-Contemporary art, which has been on the rise for the past two years, also has its own preferred artists. Who are they? Matthew Wong (1st place) and Jonas Wood (2nd place). The former continues to provoke bidding battles despite his untimely death in 2019 at the age of 35. All five paintings by this Canadian painter that have appeared on the market since the beginning of the year have been sold, for a total of over US$14 million. That's half as much as the works of American Jonas Wood (US$6.9 million). Four women (Loie Hollowell, Caroline Walker, Shara Hughes and Ayako Rokkaku) appear in this category, which includes artists under 40.
Artnet's various rankings of today's most profitable artists can be consulted in the 2023 edition of the semi-annual "Intelligence Report." – ETX Daily Up, August 26, 2023
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