Art market recovery

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Christie’s International said that it is confident of the art market recovering after sales declined 24 percent in 2009, a “demanding year.”

Total sales decreased to 2.1 billion pounds ($3.4 billion at today’s rate), the London-based auction house said in an e- mailed statement today. Revenue from contemporary art was the most badly affected by the economic crisis, falling 59 percent to 244.3 million pounds.

Collectors responded to the financial crisis in 2009 by selecting the best 20th-century classics, Old Masters, wine and jewelry, and rejecting some contemporary works at international auctions by Christie’s and its rival Sotheby’s. Private bidders, especially from Asia, have been boosting success rates even as totals decline. Average selling rates by lot at auctions increased 5 per cent to 80 percent in 2009, said the company.

“These figures were much better than we expected,” Edward Dolman, Christie’s chief executive, said in a telephone interview. “The art market is vulnerable and we thought we’d be down 50 percent, as we were in the last recession in 1991.”

Bolstered by the record 342.5 million-euro ($480 million) success of the collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge in Paris in February, Impressionist & Modern works dominated Christie’s 2009 earnings, with 500.9 million pounds of sales. Asian art, for the first time, was the second-highest contributor at 265.1 million pounds, said the auction house.

Yves Saint Laurent

The Saint Laurent sale -- the most expensive single- ownership collection ever auctioned -- was held when confidence in markets had been at their lowest ebb, said Dolman.

“It showed us the reality of the new masterpiece market,” he said. “People are looking for exceptional objects, and they’re looking for the same things. Most of the top lots went to Middle Eastern and Russian buyers, underbid by Asian clients. Our new clientele was in place.”

Saint Laurent contributed six out of the 10 most expensive items sold by Christie’s in 2009. The highest price of the year was the 29.2 million pounds paid for Raphael’s 16th-century drawing, “Head of a Muse,” in London in December.

Old-Master sales were up 1 percent, one of only four out of 13 categories at Christie’s to register higher income in 2009. The category that increased the most was 20th-Century Decorative Arts, up 149 percent -- boosted by the record 21.9 million euros paid for an Eileen Gray chair at the YSL sale.

Christie’s figures include 265.7 million pounds of private sales conducted by the auction house and the London-based Haunch of Venison gallery, its wholly owned subsidiary. Private transactions represented 12.5 percent of its worldwide art business in 2009, said Christie’s.

Guarantee Outlook

Christie’s, along with Sotheby’s and Phillips de Pury & Co., abandoned guaranteeing minimum prices to sellers at the end of 2008. Many owners of high-value pieces, particularly contemporary works, turned to private transactions rather than risk high-value works at auction in a falling market.

“You will see guarantees coming back,” said Dolman. “But it won’t be like the height of the market in 2007. We’ll be looking to share the risk much more. The contemporary market will recover.”

Christie’s is currently discussing guarantees with certain sellers, Dolman said. It has no further plans for companywide staff reductions, he said.

Contracting demand for contemporary art saw Christie’s sales in New York fall 42 percent in 2008 to 599.6 million pounds. London had 524.3 million pounds of business and Hong Kong a further 217.6 million pounds.

The value bought by mainland Chinese bidders at Christie’s events increased by 94 percent in 2009. Russian buyers spent less than in 2008, said the auction house.

Chinese Demand

China will provide an increasing proportion of buyers at Christie’s auctions of 20th-century Western art, said Dolman.

“Chinese clients were buying and underbidding Impressionist and modern works in New York in May,” said Dolman. “It’s already happening.”

Clients from Greater China (Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China) were among the Internet bidders who secured 14 percent of all Christie’s successful lots. Online purchases increased 40 percent on 2008, said the auction house.

Christie’s is a private company owned by the French billionaire Francois Pinault. The auction house was bought by Pinault’s holding company, Artemis SA, for $1.2 billion in May, 1998. It doesn’t report revenue or profit, though it gives sale totals twice a year.

Christie’s said its policy, in line with U.K. accounting standards, is to convert non-U.K. results, using an average exchange rate, weighted daily by sales throughout the year. This would make the 2009 total of 2.1 billion pounds equate to $3.3 billion.