Click and collect: how to buy world-class art online
Thanks to the coronavirus, live exhibitions, auctions and art fairs have been cancelled. While some exhibitions can still be viewed by appointment, the main alternatives for art buyers are on the internet. The latest response to the virus is the staging of “closed format” sales – live auctions without bidders in the room. This afternoon Mark Poltimore, an auctioneer who likes to entertain his audience, is taking a “closed format” Middle Eastern art sale at Sotheby’s. “Click quickly,” I can see him intoning to his Arab clients at home on their laptops, as he solicits a £300,000 bid on the top lot, a view of the port of Piraeus in 1949 by the Egyptian artist Mahmoud Said.
Sotheby’s online-only sale of the week, however, is devoted to that sure-fire favourite Banksy – already a sell-out with four days to go.
Here is all the information you need to buy art online…
Aggregators
Barnebys.com: An online auction and dealer listing aggregator and sales database, with between 600,000 and one million searchable lots.
Invaluable.com: Works with more than 5,000 auction houses, dealers and galleries. In 2018 half a million lots were sold on the site – generating sales of more than $365million (£316million).
The-saleroom.com: A massive online auction aggregator and marketplace.
Galleries
1stdibs.com: The website brings together more than 3,300 professional dealers specialising in design and fine art, as well as collectibles.
Artnet.com: Online auctions, news, price database, art market analyses and gallery network.
Artsy.net: Larry Gagosian, Wendi Murdoch and Dasha Zhukova, the ex-wife of Roman Abramovich, are among the investors. Partnering international galleries, auction houses, art fairs and museums in an attempt to create the world’s largest art marketplace.
Masterart.com: More than 15,000 works of art from 300 of the world’s leading art dealers are available. Services also include virtual tours of the important fairs.
Fine Art auctioneers
Christies.com: Year-round, multicategory auctions backed by sophisticated online videos, interviews and magazine articles. Attracts 41 per cent of new buyers to Christie’s. The average sale price in 2018 was $8,357.
Heritage Auctions (ha.com): Based in Dallas, it covers a wide range of art and collectibles. Sets records for vintage
Superman comics. Online auction sales for 2018 totalled $487million.
Phillips.com: Live auctions supported by online bidding. Phillips’ online-only sales launched in 2018 when sales to online bidders totalled $50 million.
Sothebys.com: The online version of the famous British auction house. Clients who have registered for a paddle may place bids as if they were in the room. In addition, Sotheby’s holds regular timed online-only sales.
Artist platforms
Artspace.com: Connecting art buyers to more than 15,000 artists and more than 700 institutions and galleries. A magazine defining trends and spotlighting rising stars is attached.
Artellite.co.uk: The UK’S first online art gallery to take to market emerging student and graduate artists. There are more than 60,000 listed artworks.
Artuner.com: Founded by Eugenio Re Rebaudengo, the son of a prominent Torinese collector, Artuner curates selling exhibitions, online and through international pop-up exhibitions.
Saatchiart.com: Features the world’s largest selection of original art. The gallery offers more than 1.1million original paintings, drawings, sculptures and photographs by more than 74,000 emerging artists from over 100 countries.
Sotheby’s onlineonly sale of the week is devoted to Banksy – a sell-out with four days to go