An attendant sits in front of an art installation in Hong Kong. Art sales have reached an all-time high in recent years, buoyed mainly by demand from China, the U.S. and the U.K. (Photo : Reuters)
Global art sales experienced a record 7-percent growth for 2014, with China still among the top three markets, according to a report published this week from the European Fine Art Foundation.
The report said that sales for the previous year reached $54.1 billion, the highest recorded amount ever for the international art market.
In terms of volume, sales rose by 6 percent to 39 million, although the number of transactions is short of the market's peak in 2007.
"It continues to be a highly polarized market, with a relatively small number of artists, buyers and sellers accounting for a large share of value," said Clare McAndrew, a cultural economist and author of the report.
The U.S. still tops the list of biggest markets by value by 39 percent, followed by China and the U.K. with 22 percent. China briefly took the top spot from the U.S. in 2011, but has since lagged behind, according to the foundation.
In 2014, the biggest art sector in terms of value was postwar and contemporary art, which made up 48 percent of all fine art sales. Modern art came in second with a 28-percent share in the auction market.
The past year also saw the departures of the heads of Christie's and Sotheby's, the two biggest art auction houses in the world. Although both houses have been fierce competitors over big-ticket sales, analysts have speculated whether those sales lead to substantial profits to the companies, the Los Angeles Times said in a report on Thursday.
The foundation said that online art sales have also experienced growth with an estimated 6-percent share of global art and antiques sales by value. It also said that the top art-specific sites in 2014 were Art.com, Artspace.com and Gagosian.com
