Art Auction Houses Predict 25% Bump

Sotheby's and Christie's prepare for booming auction season—they hope

By Jim O'Neill, Newser User

Posted May 5, 2008 9:30 AM CDT

(Newser) – The New York art auction season begins today, and Sotheby’s and Christie’s say they believe the art market’s 5-year boom will continue, forecasting $1.8 billion in sales, reports the Financial Times. The prediction of a 25% boost over last year flies in the face of financial-market lassitude and nervousness among collectors and dealers. Prices jumped 18% in 2007.

“Our confidence has been driven by what we have seen in recent months," said Sotheby’s co-chair of Impressionist and modern art. "In London, we had a record-breaking contemporary and Impressionist sale in February, we had a record-breaking Chinese art sale, we had a very strong Russian sale.”

Andy Warhol's artwork Skull, left, and Ladies and Gentleman are due to be auctioned at Sotheby's in New York. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Visitors look at Jeff Koons' Caterpillar Chains at a pre-sale viewing of modern art works that will be auctioned at Sotheby's in New York. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

A Sotheby's security guard with Edvard Munch's painting "Girls on a Bridge" at the auction house's offices in London. The piece is estimated to fetch $24 million in Sotheby's forthcoming May 7 sale. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Mike Kelley's Memory Ware Flat # 2, seen here, during a pre-sale viewing of modern art works that are scheduled to be auctioned at Sotheby's in New York. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Andy Warhol's Statue of Liberty at a pre-sale viewing of modern art works before the woks are auctioned at Sotheby's in New York. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Andy Warhol's Ladies and Gentlemen and Richard Prince's Untitled, left, at a pre-sale viewing of modern art works that will be auctioned at Sotheby's in New York. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Fernand Leger's Cubist masterpiece "Etude pour La Femme en Bleu" is estimated to fetch $35-45 million in Sotheby's forthcoming impressionist and modern art sale on May 7 in New York. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

A Sotheby's employee adjusts part of the triptych by British artist Francis Bacon. The work with an estimated sale price of some $70 million is to be sold at auction in New York on May 14 . (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

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Art Auction Houses Predict 25% Bump

Sotheby's and Christie's prepare for booming auction season—they hope

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Rebounding Art World Expects Huge Spring Prices

A dozen works are priced near $20 million each at auctions

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Christie's Cuts Jobs as Art Sales Slump

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Sotheby's and Christie's prepare for booming auction season—they hope

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

art market • art • Sotheby's • Christie's • art auction • impressionist art

MOST POPULAR STORIES

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More Newser Stories

Rebounding Art World Expects Huge Spring Prices

A dozen works are priced near $20 million each at auctions

Strapped Art Market Preps for Auctions

Expectations low as auction houses try variety of tactics

Christie's Cuts Jobs as Art Sales Slump

250-year-old auction house downsizes to stay afloat

Masters Shore Up Shaky Art Market

Auctions break records, but living artists' work suffers

Spring Art Auctions Surrounded by Crash Talk

Writers keep predicting implosion, but it might never come

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