Text/Chen Yuqi
Real estate, stocks, and art are recognized as the three major investment areas.
However, in the past two years, the global economy has been overshadowed by the epidemic, the stock market has been repeatedly turbulent, and "housing is not speculation" has become the keynote, and the art market has shined. With the rapid expansion of the domestic rich population, the collection market has quietly moved east: Asian buyers contribute nearly 40% of the turnover, NFT art has become a new trend, and young collectors have run into the market.
The well-stocked Chinese market has attracted a number of international auction houses to cross the ocean and dig deep into this "rich mine".
The westerly winds are gradually moving easterly
The London Spring Auction has traditionally been seen as a bellwether for the world trade in art. This year, the big test ushered in a slight change.
After two years, Christie's Shanghai auction, which was suspended due to the epidemic, will return on March 1. Zhuang Jun, director of Christie's "Art of the 20th and 21st Centuries: Shanghai Evening Auction", introduced that this auction for the first time adopts the form of joint auction between Shanghai and London, which will be started by the Shanghai evening auction, the London auction relay, and the support of the Hong Kong and New York auction halls, so that the four regions radiate global collectors and truly achieve global linkage.
According to reports, the Shanghai evening auction is led by three major lots, including Picasso's work "Sleeping Woman (Marie Tres Walter)" created in the 1930s, Baschia's "Leader" created in the golden age, and Zao Wou-ki's late romantic masterpiece "Night at the Imperial Palace Hotel".
Zhuang Jun commented that the Shanghai evening auction is not large, about 20 lots reflect diversity and tolerance, taking into account the collection interests of senior collectors, millennials and even younger generations.
Artprice data shows that in 2021, the total turnover of contemporary art works reached $2.7 billion, more than doubling compared to 2020. Contemporary art, which took the lead in recovering from the epidemic, has become a "blue ocean" in the industry.
"Contemporary art, as a global form of language and expression, attracts the attention and interest of collectors across borders, ages and cultural backgrounds." Zhuang Jun said.
Especially western modern and contemporary art, the west wind and the east have gradually become the trend of the Asian art market in recent years. In 2021, the Chinese market (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) sold 1 billion contemporary works in 12 months, accounting for 40% of the global turnover.
Image source: Artprice's 2021 Contemporary Art Market Report
Among them, the most eye-catching is the black graffiti artist Jean Michay Baschia. The black genius painter, who died at the age of 27, is one of the representatives of the "graffiti art" in the United States and a superstar in the global art market.
45 paintings were auctioned a year, 10 of which were sold for more than 10 million US dollars, with a total transaction value of nearly 400 million US dollars, and Forbes even named 2021 the "Year of Baschia".
This Baschia craze also naturally caught fire in China.
In June 2021, the contemporary art evening auction "Jay Chou x Sotheby's" curated by Jay Chou brought Baschia's influence in Asia to a new boom. In November, Christie's largest solo exhibition in Baschia, "Radiance", landed in Shanghai.
At Christie's Shanghai auction, Baschia's oil painting masterpiece will debut at the Chinese mainland auction.
Shan · Michel Baschia "The Leader"
Estimate: RMB 80,000,000 - 120,000,000
Image source: Christie's
The painting, Titled The Leader, was created in 1982. This was Baschia's golden age, when he held his first solo exhibition, which was quickly snapped up, and he met the already famous Andy Warhol, and the two hit it off.
According to reports, the work of "The Leader" was inspired by Baschia's trip to Modena, Italy. With vibrant brushstrokes, rich layers of texture and multi-layered paintings and repaints, the artist demonstrates the confidence and maturity that characterizes Baschia during an important period in his artistic career.
In the top ten auction records for Baschia's works, 1982's paintings account for half, including the most famous "Untitled" bought for $110 million by Japanese art collector Tomoku Maezawa.
The West is not bright and the East is bright
In the past two years, the global economy has been shrouded in a haze due to the epidemic, but the art market has shined.
Artprice data shows that in the first half of 2021, the global art auction market generated about $6.9 billion in total sales, up 3% from the first half of 2019.
Behind these figures are the highly active Asian market and young collectors who are running into the market.
Previously, Zhang Wenjia, regional director of Fxnesse China, revealed that London and New York used to be the preferred cities for collectors of Western contemporary works, but in 2021, some collectors will specifically ask to be placed in Hong Kong, China.
Yang Yuancao, Chairman of Christie's China, said at a global online press conference: "In the second half of 2021, the total purchase volume of Chinese mainland customers surpassed that of Hong Kong, China, becoming the largest collector group in the Asia-Pacific region. According to data provided by Christie's, Asian buyers will buy a total of US$1.68 billion in 2021, an increase of 117% compared with before the epidemic, and nearly 40% of the total online auction transactions in the world will be contributed by Asian buyers. And one-third of Asian buyers are millennials.
The chinese market is "buying gas" is soaring, pushing major auction houses to embrace this change.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, major auction houses have accelerated the online auction process: in July 2020, Christie's Spring Auction was auctioned simultaneously at four auctions around the world for the first time; Phillips and Poly jointly launched the Twin Cities Auction for three times, using live broadcasts, while accepting bids from on-site collectors, telephone booths and online bidding from Hong Kong and Beijing.
"To win the Chinese mainland market, we have adopted a tailor-made Asian local strategy." Zhuang Jun introduced that Christie's is the first auction house to launch a full-featured WeChat Mini Program, and it also became the first international auction house to enter the Little Red Book in the spring of 2021, and also participated in the China International Import Expo.
Can Shanghai replace Beijing?
Beijing has long been at the heart of the Chinese mainland art auction market.
According to the "2020 China Cultural Relics and Art Auction Market Statistical Annual Report" released by the China Auction Association, Beijing occupies nearly three-quarters of the country's market value, with a profit margin of 11.87%; Shanghai's turnover accounts for only 9.8% of the country's total, but the profit side is more than three times that of Beijing.
Image source: China Auction Association "2020 China Cultural Relics and Artworks Auction Market Statistics Annual Report"
In order to build a more international art trading center, Shanghai has introduced a series of preferential policies: the "June × N" system for the temporary entry of cultural relics is triald in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone; the "Cultural Relics Auction Leading Enterprise Support Plan" has been launched; more than 200 art exhibitions have been held every year; and the first cultural relics and artworks exhibition area has been set up at the Expo.
Zhuang Jun said that on the one hand, he chose Shanghai because Christie's set up a representative office in Shanghai in 1994, which has a deep relationship with Shanghai, and it is also the first international art auction house to obtain an independent operating license in Chinese mainland, on the other hand, there are also favorable policy factors.
In addition to Christie's, a series of initiatives have attracted many auction houses to set their sights on Shanghai, such as Kuangshi's auction business has been adjusted from Beijing to Shanghai as a whole, and Guangzhou Huayi International has established a Shanghai branch.
In addition, from 2021, the "Pilot Cooperation Agreement on comprehensive reform of social cultural relics management" signed by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Shanghai Municipal Government was officially implemented. The cooperation agreement proposes to support foreign auction enterprises to auction some foreign artists who died after 1949 collected abroad.
Zhuang Jun analyzed that this means that the paintings created by Picasso, Dali, Chagall and other famous artists before 1949 are expected to be auctioned in China.
At this Shanghai auction, Picasso's "Sleeping Woman (Marie Tres Walter)" composed in the 1930s was among the auctions.
Pablo Picasso, The Sleeping Woman (Marie Tres Walter)
Estimate: RMB 26,000,000 - 33,000,000
According to reports, the 1930s is known as the metamorphosis period of Picasso's artistic career, and the frequent appearance of the "beef monster" and the image of the lover Mary Tres occupies an important place in his works. For example, in 1937, Picasso was commissioned by the Spanish Republic to create the immortal masterpiece "Guernica", which is famous all over the world.
The Sleeping Woman (Marie Tres Walter), also written in 1937, was written by Picasso based on his lover Marie Tres. The work is based on the collection of Picasso's granddaughter, Manina Picasso, and is the first time it appeared on the shooting scene.
In the painting, the protagonist Mary Tres's head rests on her hand, a simple arc depicts her closed eyes, and her head shines like a crescent moon.
From the perspective of the subject matter of his works, Picasso's portraits based on his lover Marie Terrace have always been popular among the market and collectors. Among Picasso's top ten most expensive works at auction, there are three paintings based on Marie Terrace, two of which sold for more than $100 million.
Yang Yuancao said: "Today, Shanghai has become one of the exciting and important coordinates of the global art market, and the innovative form of the joint auction between London and Shanghai shows Christie's continuous investment and confidence in the Chinese market under the epidemic. ”
(Editor: Li Dan Proofreader: Peng Yufeng)