The 2010 international art market round up

January 2011

Viola Raikhel-Bolot, Head of HSBC Private Bank Art & Design Advisory, reflects on the 2010 International Art Market

2010 has seen a solid recovery in the international art market, with major works once again appearing for sale and world record-breaking prices indicating that the high end has emerged from a relatively short period of hibernation, whilst private sales and art fairs have remained strong throughout.

Art market history was made at Christie's New York on 4 May 2010 when a Picasso, Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, sold for USD$106,482,500, setting a new world record for any work of art sold at auction.

The record breaking price fetched by Nude, Green Leaves and Bust meant a second world record had been shattered. In February, Sotheby's set the record to beat of USD$104.3 million with Alberto Giacometti's bronze sculpture Walking Man I.

In addition to the influential private and auction sales, 2010 has also seen a robust return of art fairs with renewed support from collectors and dealers around the world. Fairs in London, Miami and Abu Dhabi have reported brisk sales which support the return of collectors and art market confidence.

Frieze Art Fair in London reported their strongest sales since the fair's inception in 2003. 173 galleries exhibited over 1,000 artists - the largest in the fair's history and 29 different countries were represented which created a positive outlook for the future. Important sales included Damien Hirst's' The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths, for £3.5m.

The second installment of the Abu Dhabi Art Fair was also extremely popular this year. Early sales included Nabil Nahas's mixed media work from his Fractal series to Qatar's Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. Also quick to sell was an untitled Ahmed Alsoudani piece which sold for $200,000 to an international collector. The work evoked a lot of interest in the artist who is reported to feature in next year's Iraq Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

The organisers of Art Basel Miami Beach, America's largest art fair expected more than 40,000 visitors this year and strong sales were made even before the fair opened. Hedge fund manager, Steve Cohen purchased Tim Hawkinson's painting Bike for $180,000. The swirling, almost psychedelic, abstract work, Symphony (2010) by the Indian artist Bharti Kher was sold to a Brazilian collector for USD$175,000.

Following the record breaking successes and return in international art market confidence this year, the stage is set for 2011 to be equally, if not more, prosperous than 2010.

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