Art market a safe haven amid volatility
New Zealand’s secondary art market more than doubled in value in the space of one year, according to recently released data. The market was estimated to be worth about $67 million in 2021, up from $31m in 2020, the data from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage shows.
The 2021 figure was about half the value of the Australian secondary art market in the same year. The Australian market was valued at $121m, up from $107m in 2020.
There was also a big increase in the total sales value of New Zealand artists’ works that were sold in 2021, at $48.32m, up from $21.05m in 2020. The actual number of New Zealand artworks that sold last year also increased.
The figures support what those in Aotearoa’s art world have been saying throughout the pandemic, that the market has been extremely buoyant.
Since 2000 the value and number of New Zealand artists’ works sold on the secondary market has fluctuated but grown overall.
But officials said it was unclear what exactly drove the local art market growth
over 2021, as the global art market shrank. There were suggestions the growth was linked to art buyers having more disposable income due to Covid-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions.
It was also unclear whether 2021 was an ‘‘outlier’’ year or indicative of a ‘‘rapidly increasing trend’’ in the value of the country’s art market, officials said.
Several individual artworks sold for substantial prices in 2021, which would have skewed sales figures.
The International Art Centre had observed that artworks this year were selling for similar prices as in 2021, its director Richard Thomson said.
Inflation had affected the art market as it had everything else, Thomson said, adding buyers were more interested in New Zealand’s cultural heritage than ever before.
The art market was a safe investment when so many other markets – including the sharemarket – appeared unhealthy and fickle.
New buyers and collectors had also entered the market, he said, including Kiwi expatriates. The art market always outperformed other markets in times of economic uncertainty. ‘‘It’s simply because art is like gold ... art can become family heirlooms.’’
Death, debt and divorce were three areas driving the market’s growth, Thomson said.
But Art+Object director Ben Plumbly said many collectors who amassed paintings by New Zealand artists in the 1950s to 1970s were dying and subsequently, the works were being sold.
Buyers were prepared to pay more for these highly valuable artworks as it was unknown when another one would come to market, Plumbly said. ‘‘We’re getting works of very high quality that are increasingly rare.’’
Plumbly said its average sale price jumped in 2021 but had dipped slightly this year, although was still far up on 2020 levels. Last year it auctioned the collection of Adrian Burr and Peter Tatham, which would have added $15m alone to last year’s national sales data.
And this year Webb’s auctioned the former BNZ art collection to the sum of $15.3m.
‘‘These are once-in-a-lifetime collections,’’ Plumbly said, adding that outside of those, it was business as usual for the art market.
The slumping housing market and artist royalty scheme due to take effect in 2024 would create uncertainty.
Dunbar Sloane Jr, of Dunbar Sloane, said the 2020 lockdown caused the art market to suddenly become ‘‘the flavour of the month’’. Things were now slowing down, and he forecast a minor dip looking ahead to 2023.
Auction house sales are thought to account for 80% of all secondary art sales in Aotearoa.