低価格帯作品のネット取引が盛況 既存の競売に陰り　２３年アート市場

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】世界のアート市場のデータベースを提供するアートプライスは６日、２０２３年の市場動向についてリポートを発表した。２３年はインターネット上で低価格帯の作品が数多く取引された一方、ショールームでの伝統的な競売が落ち込んだことが明らかになった。（写真は、オークションハウスでの競売の様子〈資料写真〉）
　リポートによると、２３年は競売での高額作品の取引が少なく、業界全体での取引総額も１４９億ドル（約２兆２３００億円）と前年比で１４％減となった。
　その一方で、取引された作品数は７６万３０００点と過去最高を記録。比較的低価格帯の作品が「爆発的に」取引された。１０００ドル（約１５万円）以下で取引された作品は、４２万３０００点に上った。
　アートプライスのティエリ・エールマンＣＥＯは「新しい購買層の流入でアート市場の主なマーケットがインターネットに移った」と述べ、購買層の平均年齢についても過去２０年で６３歳から４１歳に下がったとＡＦＰに説明した。
　また、これまでインターネットの活用に消極的だった伝統的な競売会社でさえも、今ではその姿勢を改めているとし、「ショールームでの競売は消え去る運命にある」と続けた。
　国別では米国が市場を牽引。取引総額は５２億ドル（約７８００億円）を記録したが、前年比２８％減となった。
　２位は中国の４９億ドル（約７３００億円）。３位は欧州連合（ＥＵ）離脱（ブレグジット）の影響が続く英国で、前年比１５％減の１８億ドル（約２７００億円）だった。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/03/07-17:02）

A boom in internet sales has boosted the lower end of the art market and could ultimately doom showroom auctions, said the boss of sector-tracker Artprice, which published its annual report Wednesday.
Artprice, a market analysis firm, said there were fewer blockbuster auctions in 2023 compared with the previous year, and the overall turnover of $14.9 billion was down 14 percent.
But the number of overall transactions hit a record high of 763,000, with an explosion at the lower end of the spectrum where there were 423,000 sales of art for under $1,000.
The market has clearly shifted to the internet, driven by new buyers whose average age has fallen from 63 to 41 (over the last two decades), Artprice CEO Thierry Ehrmann told AFP.
He said even traditional auctioneers who suffered from digital-phobia for a long time were now competing on the internet.
Showroom auctions are doomed to disappear, Ehrmann added.
With Asia fully emerging from pandemic-era restrictions, high-end sales were up in China and Hong Kong, but there were fewer big-ticket auctions in Western countries.
The US market remained the leader with $5.2 billion in sales, but that was down 28 percent since there was no repeat of the huge private collection sales of recent years.
It was followed by China at $4.9 billion and Britain with $1.8 billion, the latter continuing its post-Brexit decline with sales down 15 percent.
- Indian boom -
India showed strong growth, with sales up 76 percent to a record $152 million.
A woman artist, Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941), holds its record for a single painting, with The Story Teller fetching $7.4 million.
Artprice highlighted the growing appreciation of women artists more generally, with Japan's Yayoi Kusama among the 10 most valuable artists for the second year running (with sales worth $189.7 million), and high prices for the likes of Joan Mitchell ($112.6 million), Georgia O'Keeffe ($56.2 million) and Louise Bourgeois ($50.2 million).
The number of transactions for women artists has doubled in five years and tripled in 10 years.
Overall, the artists who generated the most cash were perennial favourites Pablo Picasso and Jean-Michel Basquiat, followed in third place by China's Chang Dai-chien (1899-1983).
The bubble around NFTs -- the digital certificates used to identify ownership of online artworks -- burst in 2022 but managed to stabilise somewhat last year.
NFTs appeared in traditional institutions like the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, while auction houses Sotheby's and Christie's organised major sales of digital art.
The most valuable digital artist of the year was Canada's Dmitri Cherniak, who generated sales of $7.9 million.
More broadly, modern art (artists born between 1860 and 1919) remained the most popular segment of the market, accounting for 41 percent of turnover, followed by post-war art (1920-1944) at 25 percent and contemporary art (after 1945) at 17 percent.