UK Gaining on US as Top Art Market

The Antique Trade Gazette is reporting on a recent study showing the UK is very close to equaling the US in art sales by value. Keep in mind the ATG is a British publication, but they do report on a study by The European Fine Art Foundation which claims the two countries are locked in what might be considered a statistical dead heat for art sales by value. The report sates the US has 30% of the sales by value, closely followed by the UK with 29%, and China a distant, although growing third with 14%.

The ATG reports

The changes have taken place against a significant fall in the value of the global market, which rose to 48.1bn euros in 2007, before dropping back to 42.2bn euros in 2008 and then descending dramatically to 31.3bn euros in 2009.

Other headline statistics show that the UK art market employs more than 52,000 people directly in over 9000 businesses, generating more than 14bn euros in auction and dealer sales in 2008. And when the market was at its peak in 2008, close to two million people were directly employed by the art market worldwide.

The 69% share of the European Union market that the UK enjoyed in 2008 fell to 57% in 2009, almost wholly because of the 374m-euro Yves St Laurent sale staged in Paris in February that year. However, that is expected to rise again in 2010.

To read the full ATG article, click HERE.