China Guardian 2011 Fall Auction

Recently, European Art Fund, the sponsor of the world’s leading fine art and antiques fair, TEFAF (The European Fine Art Fair) has issued a report, The International Art Market in 2011, Observations on the Art Trade over 25 Years, in which it is noted that the proportion of China in the global art market rises from 23% to 30% in 2011 and becomes the largest fine arts and antiques market for the first time by surpassing USA.

As for the saying that China becomes the top one in the global art market, Zhao Li, an associate professor of China Central Academy of Fine Arts and director of AMRC Art Market Analysis & Research Center, remarked that after the industrial revolution, Europe and U.S. have dominated the central position of the market for a long time. However, in the wake of the 21st Century, the competitive power of the global art market comes from other countries with the rising of emerging markets. The rise of China is the symbol of this stage. The rapid development of Chinese art market is a miracle; its proportion in the global trade is 1.7% in 2006, 7.4% in 2008, 23% in 2010 and 30% in 2011, while China surpasses France in 2008, Britain in 2010 and USA in 2011 thus becoming the top.

We have a lot of things to do in order to become the trade center of the global art. More and more people come to realize that it is the top priority to bring policies, the rules and regulations and the industrial management into full play and complete the regulatory, legal and logistic systems while carrying out a standard management on the Chinese art market.

“It is impossible for the market to be so hot always. In the spring auction, many auction firms exclaim the difficulty of gathering the items. They downsize the scales and cut down the amount. Perhaps, it is the good opportunity for the market to have necessary adjustment and embark on the new journey again with the view to returning to the steadiness and arriving at another height of development.” Gan Xuejun, president of Beijing Huachen Auctions Co., Ltd commented. As the Chinese art market is still at the initial stage, it is very necessary to have the self-regulation for all the participants of the market. Just as Clare McAndrew, editor-in-chief of the report, remarked, “All the regions will face their own challenges in 2012. As for Chinese art market, it is a question how to deal with the issue of the overheated market in the past in order to ensure its stability and development in the long run.”