Jia Chen

Date of Award

2024

Document Type

MA Project - Restricted Access (SIA Only)

Project Type

MA Project - Business Plan

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Art Business

First Advisor

Zhang Jin

Abstract

After experiencing negative impacts of the pandemic for nearly three years, the
world still in a more challenging environment with significant geopolitical tension,
especially the instability of global politics and economy, intensification of the
Ukrainian war, rapid rise of inflation rate, and upcoming economic recession of
supply issues in key markets. However, in recent years, auction houses and art
collections have continuously set historic sales records, and the art market has shown resilience to negative impacts. The world's problems seem to have no impact on the art market. Due to the restrictions on operations, tourism, exhibitions, and activities caused by the pandemic, sales of the art market shrank by 22% to $50.3 billion in 20201, but online auction deals have entered a period of rapid development, which is not limited by time and space conditions, not only provides convenience for collectors around the world to bid, but also provides important channels for auction houses to open up regional markets and obtain new collectors. The art market recovered in 2021, with a market value of $65.9 billion USD and 31% increase from 2020, surpassing before pandemic level of 2019. With the recovery of the entire art exhibition calendar and high-profile collection and sales growth of auctions, the art market has returned to a more stable momentum by 20222. Against the backdrop of global economic recession and uncertainty, high-net-worth individuals are increasingly focused on collecting and investing in high-end artworks, and the financial attributes of mature artworks are valued. This explains why in 2022, global revenue reached the fourth highest in history, with $16.5 billion and total trading volume of 704,000 pieces, increase of 4.7% compared to the peak in 2021. The global auction art market has set new auction records for top artists.

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