Is a guaranteed sale fair?

Rufus Bird asks if auction house practices are distorting the picture

THE GLOBAL ART MARKET is worth about $60-70bn annually, and the two major international auction houses turn over about $12bn between them each year: there is usually a few million dollars’ worth separating each. Christie’s turned over $6.2bn last year and Sotheby’s — which won the right to sell the late Emily Fisher Landau’s collection of modern art which totalled $406.4m — will no doubt claim the top spot in 2023. Auctions are often considered the most open and transparent form of art transaction and many purchases rely on auction sale prices as valuation evidence. But how does the often shady and unregulated world of the art market really operate? Who is buying all of this art, and why, and where and what should savvy readers of The Critic buy…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, February 2024

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