Following a mammoth New York sales season that landed at the low end of expectations, the art-market mood is distinctly flat as a difficult year draws to a close. The heavily-underwritten auctions reflected a nervousness, later realised, that demand would be slow.

Overall, the evening sales total of $1.56bn was up 30 per cent on the disappointing May season, ArtTactic finds, something of a relief to the market given the geopolitical backdrop. But compared with last year’s equivalent sales, the numbers are down 31 per cent and are 20 per cent down on the same season in 2021.

One overriding concern, says Caroline Sayan, president and chief executive of the art advisers Cadell North America, is that “millennials don’t want to buy what their parents are selling”. She cites this season’s prime collection — 31 mostly postwar works from the estate of the Whitney Museum patron Emily Fisher Landau — which crept over their low estimate to make $351.6mn ($406.4mn with fees) at Sotheby’s.

There are, Sayan notes, several more such estates coming down the line, as part of the so-called “great wealth transfer”, a generational shift of assets. She says that these sales “have to be radically rethought” because “dumping collections on to the market is no longer the magic formula”.

One business happily buying from this season’s sales was Opera Gallery, which has added works by the likes of Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso to its inventory. The gallery, which operates 16 spaces globally, is opening new, larger headquarters on London’s New Bond Street on November 23. Founded by the prints dealer Gilles Dyan in Singapore in 1994, the gallery was initially viewed with suspicion for its retail-focused approach to selling easy-on-the-eye art, while others in the field adopted a more rarefied position. 

Opera now brings higher-value and more recognised artists to a more open-minded market and has recently appointed Isabelle de la Bruyère, a Christie’s long-timer, as its chief executive based in London. Accessibility is still key — de la Bruyère notes that the gallery is called Opera partly because it is a word that is comfortable in most languages — while her plans include raising its game with, for example, more curated shows and the growth of its primary-market offering.

Its secondary market (resale) business remains the focus and such works greet visitors on the ground floor of the new 500 sq m gallery, including, in the window, Niki de Saint Phalle’s “L’Oiseau amoureux” (1990/92, £500,000). The first floor has a solo show by the artist-designer Ron Arad (£49,000-£210,000) while its basement has haunting works by Swiss painter Andy Denzler (£13,500-£130,000). 

The British art market, second-largest in the world last year, still “punches above its weight”, despite considerable recent challenges, but is “at risk” in an increasingly competitive field. So concluded Clare McAndrew, founder of consultancy Arts Economics, at Tuesday’s launch of her latest dedicated report for the British Art Market Federation.

This finds that, as in other market hubs, sales in the UK bounced back after Covid headwinds but that imports of art and antiques — highly correlated to sales — have not grown back as strongly as in the US post-pandemic. McAndrew noted the UK’s “extra layer of political and economic volatility” since leaving the EU in 2020.

Her report demonstrates the economic impact of the art trade — estimated to contribute nearly £1.6bn to the UK economy in taxes — and its ancillary expenditure in industries including insurance, hospitality and IT. The significance of this outlay outside the UK capital is also broken down for the first time. Of the 3,855 art and antiques dealers identified (whose number have been growing since 2020), 34 per cent are based in London, while of the 3,000-plus auction houses, London accounts for just 12 per cent.

Speaking at the launch, arts minister Lord Stephen Parkinson highlighted the industry’s role in the “visitor economy” through museum shows and events such as the Frieze fairs. He acknowledged that “the government must play its part” and promised an update on a review of the UK’s Temporary Admissions system — which allows duty relief on imports — in the new year.

Sotheby’s in-house scientific research unit has been unmanned since May when James Martin, around whom the department was founded in 2016, left the auction house. Sotheby’s brought in Martin and his previous company, Orion Analytical, after it found a painting that the auction house had sold privately as by Frans Hals for £8.4mn was a modern forgery.

Sotheby’s did not comment on the circumstances of Martin’s departure in response to FT questions but said that the company “remains committed” to the department. It added that “having invested in the best state of the art equipment available”, Sotheby’s will “continue to analyse property in its own laboratories and is moving to an arrangement that is best suited to the company’s business needs”.

According to LinkedIn, Martin is now working on a conservation science project aimed at cultural heritage institutions, due to launch next year. He did not respond to requests for comment.

Art Basel has launched a platform for selected works from its Miami Beach fair that require buyers to donate a minimum 10 per cent of the cost to charity. Called Access and based on a blockchain to record ownership, it goes live on a dedicated website from Monday and will run until December 10 with about a dozen works. These include those by artists based in Miami, such as Hernan Bas (Fredric Snitzer gallery) and Mark Handforth (Luhring Augustine). The Access works will be at the Art Basel Miami Beach fair, identified with QR codes and priced in the $25,000-$285,000 range, says Noah Horowitz, chief executive of Art Basel.

The donation pledge would go to one of two charities, as preferred by the buyer, either The Miami Foundation or the International Committee of the Red Cross; Art Basel has split an initial donation of $25,000 between both. Access may get rolled out to Art Basel’s other fairs, Horowitz says.

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