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INVEST IT ART
Why Watch the Chinese Art Market
• The latest TEFAF (The European Fine Art Foundation) Art Market
Report showed that China is the second most important art market in
the world, with a 24% share of the worldwide market and a turnover of
€11.5bn in 2013. In 2007 it held just a seven per cent share.
• The art market has never been more international with international
art and antiques exports rising 25 per cent to an all-time high of €18bn
in 2013.
• Online sales are growing rapidly too. TEFAF estimates that online
sales within the art market could top €10bn by 2020.
• 75% of China’s high net worth individuals expect to be richer in five
years’ time
• Christie’s held its first auction in Shanghai last year and achieved sales
of USD 25m. Sotheby’s first Chinese mainland auction, in Beijing, raised
USD 37m and included the record USD 14.7m sale of Zao Wou-Ki’s oilon-canvas
painting ‘Abstraction’.
than one billion residents, a burgeoning appetite for
art and western culture, China clearly has immense
buying power. So the impact on the art world cannot
be over-estimated. But I would also offer a word of
caution because Chinese tastes can fluctuate, so the
market should be watched closely.
Are there are any quirky ways in which Chinese
tastes are affecting the market?
Chinese interest in contemporary art is pushing
prices, for sure. Additionally, Sotheby’s has reported
that paintings featuring the colour red commanded
a premium at its auctions last year. This is driven
in part by the powerful, emotive properties of the
colour but increasingly because it is considered
lucky by the Chinese. It is certainly something worth
remembering for collectors!
Has China’s interest in art resulted in a new artist
community in the region? Should we be looking out
for up and coming Chinese artists as well as looking
to deal with Chinese collectors?
Chinese culture has transformed – from extreme
left-wing politics to the current situation where
freedom of expression is now possible. This radical
shift has nurtured a new generation of Chinese
artists who have grown up against a backdrop of
China’s metamorphosis into an industrial nation
which leads the world stage in economic growth and
consumerism.
Zhao Yao’s work has struck a chord in the west; his
first solo exhibition in the UK was a success in 2013.
Artists such as Wang Guangle, Li Shurui and Zhang
Xiaogang are worth exploring too, while Ai Weiwei
and Cao already have a high profile in the west. Work
by Chinese 20th Century artists Huang Zhou, Zao
Wou-Ki and Zhang Dagian continue to sell well. In
fact the latter was only out-sold by Andy Warhol and
Pablo Picasso in 2013 in terms of auction revenue.
More recently, Shin Meekyoung’s modern twist on
ancient Chinese pottery proved popular at this year’s
Start Art exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London.
What kind of work has Crown Fine Art
undertaken in China?
An important project for us was a Fine Arts &
Calligraphy exhibition to celebrate the 60th
anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic
of China.
It was a privilege to be asked to co-ordinate it for
the Beijing Military Museum of the Chinese People’s
Revolution – exhibiting in both Macau and Hong
Kong. There were 216 artworks in all, including
sculptures, calligraphy, oil paintings, engravings,
water colour and traditional Chinese ink paintings
Any more difficult or unusual jobs?
Installing art at the world’s tallest hotel, the Ritz-
Carlton in Hong Kong, was a challenge and required
a head for heights! The hotel has 118 floors and
is 1,640 feet tall. We installed more than 1,100
artworks, shipped from all over the world, in the
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