CHINA: NEW GLOBAL ART MARKET LEADER
The global art market has experienced a revolution in recent years, as the Chinese art market rose to be one of the world's top art markets in 2010.
China now leads the world's fine art auction sales with an annual fine art revenue totalling 3 billion U.S. dollars in 2010, overtaking the United States, which now finds itself in the second position with 30 percent of the global revenue. Britain ranked the third with a global share of 19 percent and France the fourth.
The Chinese art market experienced its exploratory, developing and flourishing stages since 1992. China opened its own auction markets for art in 1993. And from then on, the Chinese art market saw an increase in artwork prices, transaction varieties and the number of participants, auctions, galleries and exhibitions.
"The global market center has moved from the West to the East. In this aspect, China is the most representative power," said Zhao Li, a professor of China Central Academy of Fine Arts.
Within less than 10 years, Hong Kong has evolved from a small center with 40 million to 50 million dollars worth of auction in good season to an important international auction center and even an art center estimated at around 500 million dollars, said Francois Curiel, president of Christies' Asia, one of the world's top three auction houses.
Chinese artworks and Chinese buyers have started to lead the international art market trend, said Henry Howard-Sneyd, Sotheby's vice chairman of Asian Art.
Art travels to where economies are strong, said Colin Sheaf, chairman of Bonhams Asia.
As China becomes stronger economically, Chinese buyers are more capable of buying Chinese cultural treasures in international auction centers and return them back home, thus playing a significant role in heritage recovery from abroad, he added.
Source: Xinhua
Editor: Xu Xinlei
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