Exhibitor: Schönewald Fine Arts
Sigmar Polke, Quetta
1974 Watercolor and silver pen on gelatin silver print, 84 x 118 cm, 33 x 46 ½ inches
Provenance:
Artist studio
Private Collection, Germany |
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 TEFAF Art Market Study 2005
'TEFAF Study reveals The State Of The Modern and Contemporary Art Market prior to the introduction of Droit De Suite throughout The European Union'
The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) has commissioned Kusin & Company, researchers for TEFAF’s influential survey of the European Art Market in 2002, to examine in detail the global resale market in modern and contemporary art.
Its subject is of immediate relevance to the modern art market. On 1st January 2006, the European Union will introduce a common system of droit de suite (artists’ resale rights). Critics of this controversial decision have pointed out that it will add to the cost of transacting sales in the EU which will lead to the exodus of much of this market to countries where the levy is not charged.
This study, the most extensive of its kind ever carried out, is intended to serve as a benchmark against which any such future changes can be measured. It covers 146,753 transactions in 47 countries over the four and a half years from January 2000 to June 2004. It takes as its basis all sales of over €3,000, the level at which the EU Directive will be mandatory, and assesses each sale according in the context of the price bands laid out in the Directive.
Among the conclusions reached by the report are:
• Droit de suite overwhelmingly benefits the heirs of dead artists, rather than artists themselves. If droit de suite had been collected on all eligible auction transactions in the EU in 2003, heirs of dead artists would have received 81% of the proceeds.
• The number of living artists that stand to gain from droit de suite is much less than has often been estimated. Over the four and a half years covered by the survey, the works of only 3,876 living artists were in auction sales throughout the world for prices in excess of €3,000. During the same period the works of 9,987 deceased artists were sold.
• At higher price levels, sales were concentrated in locations where droit de suite was not levied. The average sales values of the work of living artists was the highest in the US, at €69,370. The highest within the EU was the UK, with €37,409. In 2003, New York captured over 60% of all sales of over €200,000, while the UK accounted for 27%. The six European states already charging droit de suite totalled only 7.4% of worldwide sales.
• Taking the 50 artists whose work sold for the highest sums, 95.2% of the Droit de Suite potentially payable on their sales would have been given to the heirs of dead artists. They would have received ten times more than living artists.
The report’s conclusions are discussed in an accompanying commentary by Professor Victor Ginsburg, a noted specialist in the field of cultural economics.
He notes that the European Union’s decision to proceed with the introduction of droit de suite, independently of many countries outside Europe, represents a clear risk that sales will be diverted from the European Union.
He contends that not only are droit de suite’s economic benefits for artists highly questionable, but that, far from benefiting the art trade within the European Union by smoothing out distortions of competition, its introduction will almost certainly result in the exact opposite, by shifting the distortion towards the international market, with the resulting loss of market share for all the countries of the European Union.
TEFAF is unique among organisers of art fairs in sponsoring regular research. Previous subjects examined have been the European art market and the impact of Valued Added Tax on the art market.
AXA Art is principal sponsor of TEFAF.
AXA Art is the only insurer in the world to concentrate exclusively on art. The company insures private collectors, museums, exhibitions, art dealers and corporate collections and has offices in Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, Hong Kong and the US. The head office is in Cologne. AXA Art is part of the AXA Group, worldwide market leader in financial protection and safeguarding property.
For further information please contact:
Cawdell Douglas
Diana Cawdell
10-11 Lower John Street
London W1R 3PE
T: +44 (0)20 7439 2822
F: +44 (0)20 7287 5488
E: diana@cawdelldouglas.co.uk
TEFAF
Titia Vellenga / Denise Hermanns
Broekwal 64
5268 HD Helvoirt
Netherlands
T: +31-411 645 090
F: +31-411 645 091
E: press@tefaf.com
For further information on TEFAF visit:
tefaf.com |
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