Photographs courtesy Bonhams Skinner.
Record prices tell a story. The top auction price for a painting in 2022 was $195,000,000 (yes, that”™s millions) for Andy Warhol”™s 1964 “Blue Marilyn.” About the same time, the record price of $92,500,000 (also millions, but a lot fewer) was paid for a 15th-century portrait by the great Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli.
The market for art, like the market for just about everything, is constantly changing. But as this price comparison shows, the trend of the last few years has been a steadily increasing interest in the recent and the now.
That holds true for museum attendance and also for sales at galleries, art fairs and auctions. Yes, when an Old Master comes up for sale, it gets a lot of attention and brings a staggering price. But the liveliest segment of the art market is in much more recent pieces. Think 20th and 21st centuries, specifically work created in the last 150 years.
Artworks of this time span are generally categorized as “modern” or “contemporary.” The two words may sound interchangeable, but in art-speak, they have different meanings.
In broad terms, modern art is work created between the 1860s and the 1970s. It was a period of political and economic ferment but also cultural and scientific innovation ”” ferment and innovation often going hand in hand. The leading artists rejected traditional subject matter and methods. Historical themes and conventional perspective, for instance, were replaced by new “isms” ”” French Impressionism, Postimpressionism, American Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism, Abstract Expressionism and Photorealism, along with Pop art.
Contemporary art consists of works of the last 40 years. It is what”™s happening now, frequently the work of living artists. Often experimental, it emphasizes the process itself, the concept behind the artwork and its effect on the viewer. It”™s very much wrapped up in the technology that develops alongside it.
As recent sales show, the prices for iconic paintings by the best-known modern and contemporary artists have entered the stratosphere. But plenty of approachable 20th- and 21st-century art is out there. This is especially true of works on paper, fine art prints and drawings.
A Bonhams Skinner auction on Wednesday, March 15, will be offering a wide range of exciting examples, including works by such well-known artists as Alexander Calder and Christo as well as newer names like Walasse Ting and Theaster Gates.
Kathleen Leland, a Bonhams Skinner specialist in modern and contemporary art, notes several trends in this active niche. “American collectors now have easier access to a broader array of international artists”¦ (There”™s great interest in) African American art, contemporary African art and women Surrealist artists like Gertrude Abercrombie, Meret Oppenheim and Dorothea Tanning.”
Because the time frame of this collecting area, especially for contemporary art, is so recent, there are a great many artists and works available to be discovered or rediscovered.
For buyers who trust their own taste and judgment, and potential sellers who want to take advantage of a rising market, it”™s a good time to look around and check the state of the art. The experts at Bonhams Skinner https://www.bonhams.com/stories/34976/ are close at hand and ready to help.
For more, contact Katie at katie.whittle@bonhamsskinner.com or 212-787-1114.
