Paris, 11 August 2011, Art Media Agency (AMA).
Art market professionals remain optimistic, despite the instability of the world financial markets. Many have stated that art is a refuge value asset, like property or gold.
In an article in Les Échos, a French-language financial newspaper, Martine Robert analyses the outlook of three leading figures on the art market: Artprice, Christie’s and Sotheby’s. All three affirm that the market for high-quality pieces will not be affected. Thierry Ermann, the founder and president of Artprice, states that the key figure is €50,000 to €100,000. According to Les Échos, Ermann believes that works that are worth more than these amounts “are in no way affected by stock market crises.” Although François de Ricqlès, president of Christie’s, provides no price bracket, he also believes that the market for ordinary objects could be destabilised, but that exceptional works will not suffer from the crisis.
If the demand for such pieces remains high, it can be partly attributed to Asian billionaires, who have been fighting tooth and nail for the most remarkable pieces for several years. However, Guillaume Cerruti, the CEO of Sotheby’s France, remains wary and told the same newspaper that “the unique character of each piece and the unpredictable evolution of the market of an artist over time mean that art cannot be compared to assets such as gold or property,” hereby implying that art should not be seen as a financial investment.
An article published in Le Progrès, a regional French newspaper based in Lyon, features an analysis of a small auction in the Haute-Loire, which presented “religious and popular objets d’art, curios, paintings and furniture.” The title of the article is self-explanatory – “Art auctions: Crisis? What Crisis?” – and ninety per cent of the lots were sold in August, usually a slow, if not dead, season.
However, this will hardly surprise economists, who have proven that the art market feels the effect of the financial markets after a delay of six months to one year.