Artprice100©: The Art Market's Blue-chip Artists Yield Nearly as Much as the Top Performing Companies in the American Economy

PARIS,July 15,2019 -- thierry Ehrmann,Artprice's founder/CEO,highlights the art market's excellent performance in H1 2019: "A collector who,at the start of this year,invested in the 100 most successful artists of the last five years (2014-2018),would already be looking at a value accretion of almost a sixth in the value of his/her portfolio."

Artprice100© versus S&P 500 since 2000

The Artprice100 © index gained +16% over the first half of 2019 while the S&P 500 added +18% over the same period. The similarity in the performances between the American financial markets and a portfolio of works by the world's top performing artists (defined in a purely objective manner) proves the undeniable attractiveness of the Art Market as an alternative investment.

Fewer transactions

The performance of the Artprice100© over the first half of 2019 was driven by exceptionally strong demand,barely satisfied by supply. The supply/demand imbalance,generated a rapid increase in value,particularly on works by the 100 top performing artists on the global secondary art market.

The turnover slowdown recorded in H1 2019 by major auction houses,including Sotheby's (-9%) and Christie's (-28%),reflects a less dynamic high-end market than in previous years. However,prices have shown no signs of fatigue and the contraction in the volume of sales is a reminder that the art market is directly dependent on the number of works in circulation.

In a financial context of sustained negative or near-zero refinancing rates,some collectors are probably preferring to hold certain artworks and not cash in on investments that remain highly competitive. Moreover,the persistence of extremely high transaction costs,both in galleries and in auction rooms,is discouraging short holding periods (under five years),and tempting some collectors to consider private transactions as an alternative.

The Artprice100© index driven by Warhol,Zao Wou-Ki and Wu Guanzhong

Heavily weighted in our Artprice100© index with 9.1% of the portfolio,Pablo Picasso has not contributed to its value accretion for several years. As we have seen over the last four years,his prices contracted -2% in the first half of 2019.

However,Andy Warhol,Fu Baoshi,Zao Wou-Ki and particularly Wu Guanzhong have all clearly enjoyed value accretion,providing the main thrust for the progression of our Artprice100© index in H1 2019. Without setting any new auction records,these artists have all enjoyed strong price inflation. The sale of major works by these artists will no doubt confirm the trend.

On 2 June last,a large drawing by Wu Guanzhong entitled Lion grove garden (1988) fetched $20.8 million at China Guardian. It was previously acquired for $17.8 million on 3 June 2011 at Poly Beijing. Adding 17% over the last eight years,the drawing generated,in financial terms,an average annual return of +1.9%. However,another Guanzhong resale suggests that the bulk of the value accretion on his works has occurred in the last 6 months: an important Guanzhong work entitled Two Swallows was purchased for $7.1 million on 3 June 2011 (at the same sale as Lion grove garden) and fetched $7.8 million in December 2018,an increase of just +9.8%.

Paul Cézanne and George Condo

Investments in Modern artists carry the least risk and demand for their work is continuing to grow steadily offering attractive returns over the long term. Claude Monet and Paul Signac have both signed new auction records this year. Similarly,2019 is already proving to be a superb year (the best since 2000) for Paul Cézanne. His painting Bouilloire et fruits (c. 1888-90),acquired for $29.5 million in 1999,fetched $59.3 million on 13 May 2019 at Christie's New York,generating an average annual ROI of 3.6% over 20 years.

At the other end of the spectrum,Contemporary artists offer striking returns in the medium and short term. The most spectacular entry into the composition of the Artprice100© index this year is undoubtedly George Condo. The American artist enjoyed a massive secondary market success in 2018with 78 paintings and 34 drawings selling for more than $63 million,and on three continents (America,Europe and Asia)! The Condo phenomenon has been clearly illustrated by a number of rapid resales of small works including Soft Green Abstraction (1983),which was purchased for $17,000 in April 2017 in Munich and resold a year later in New York for $46,000.

In total,there were seven changes this year in the composition of the Artprice 100© index.

In

Out

George Condo

Huang Binhong

Giorgio Morandi

Huang Zhou

Robert Motherwell

Anish Kapoor

Jean Paul Riopelle

Li Keran

Rufino Tamayo

Xu Beihong

Frank Auerbach

Pieter Brueghel II

Hans Arp

Giorgio de Chirico

Four women... and two Old Masters

Unfortunately,we see no change regarding female artists. This year again,only four of the artists in the Artprice100© are women: Yayoi Kusama (Japan),Joan Mitchell (US),Louise Bourgeois (France) and Barbara Hepworth (UK). Yayoi Kusama now represents 1.3% of the index compared with 0.9% last year. Her price index rose 20% in H1 2019.

The relegation of Pieter Brueghel II for reasons relating to market liquidity has exacerbated the rarity of Old Masters in the index. Numerically,the composition of the index is dominated by Modern artists,numbering 49,followed by Post-War artists (29),Contemporary artists (12),19th century artists (8) and lastly... Old Masters (only 2).

Composition of Artprice100© index for H1 2019

Artist- Share - Period

Pablo PICASSO (1881-1973) - 9.1% - Modern

Andy WARHOL (1928-1987)- 6.4% - Post-War

Claude MONET (1840-1926) - 4.5%-19th Century

QI Baishi (1864-1957) -3.9%-Modern

Jean-Michel BASQUIAT (1960-1988)-3.7% -Contemporary

Gerhard RICHTER (b. 1932) -3.3%-Post-War

ZAO Wou-Ki (1921-2013)-2.9% -Post-War

FU Baoshi (1904-1965)-2.5%-Modern

Alberto GIACOMETTI (1901-1966) - 2.4%-Modern

Amedeo MODIGLIANI (1884-1920)-2.2% -Modern

Cy TWOMBLY (1928-2011) - 2.2% -Post-War

WU Guanzhong (1919-2010)-2.1%-Modern

Roy LICHTENSTEIN (1923-1997)-2.0% -Post-War

Lucio FONTANA (1899-1968)-1.9% -Modern

Alexander CALDER (1898-1976)-1.8% -Modern

Marc CHAGALL (1887-1985)-1.8% -Modern

Joan MIRO (1893-1983) -1.7% -Modern

Willem DE KOONING (1904-1997) - 1.7% -Modern

Henri MATISSE (1869-1954)- 1.5% -Modern

Fernand LÉGER (1881-1955)- 1.4% -Modern

Christopher WOOL (b. 1955) 1.4% -Contemporary

Yayoi KUSAMA (b. 1929)-1.3% -Post-War

Jean DUBUFFET (1901-1985)-1.3%-Modern

René MAGRITTE (1898-1967)-1.2% -Modern

Peter DOIG (b. 1959) -1.2% -Contemporary

Wassily KANDINSKY (1866-1944) -1.2% -Modern

Jeff KOONS (b. 1955)- 1.2%-Contemporary

David HOCKNEY (b. 1937) - 1.1%-Post-War

Henry MOORE (1898-1986)- 1.0% -Modern

LIN Fengmian (1900-1991)-0.9%-Modern

CHU Teh-Chun (1920-2014)- 0.9%-Post-War

Paul GAUGUIN (1848-1903)-0.9%-19th Century

Pierre-Auguste RENOIR (1841-1919)-0.8%-19th Century

SAN Yu (1895-1966) - 0.8% -Modern

Richard PRINCE (b. 1949) -0.8%-Contemporary

Sigmar POLKE (1941-2010)- 0.7%-Post-War

Joan MITCHELL (1926-1992)-0.7%-Post-War

PU Ru (1896-1963)-0.7%-Modern

Auguste RODIN (1840-1917) -0.7% -19th Century

Edgar DEGAS (1834-1917)-0.7% -19th Century

Paul CÉZANNE (1839-1906) -0.7%-19th Century

Yves KLEIN (1928-1962)-0.6% -Post-War

Camille PISSARRO (1830-1903)-0.6%-19th Century

Richard DIEBENKORN (1922-1993)- 0.6%-Post-War

Ed RUSCHA (b. 1937)- 0.6%- Post-War

Keith HARING (1958-1990) - 0.5% - Contemporary

Martin KIPPENBERGER (1953-1997)- 0.5% -Contemporary

Louise BOURGEOIS (1911-2010)- 0.5% -Modern

Alberto BURRI (1915-1995) - 0.5%- Modern

Frank STELLA (b. 1936)- 0.5% -Post-War

Damien HIRST (b. 1965)- 0.4% - Contemporary

Egon SCHIELE (1890-1918) - 0.4% -Modern

Ernst Ludwig KIRCHNER (1880-1938)- 0.4% - Modern

Georges BRAQUE (1882-1963) -0.4% -Modern

Georg BASELITZ (b. 1938)- 0.4% - Post-War

Pierre SOULAGES (b. 1919) -0.4%- Modern

Juan GRIS (1887-1927) - 0.4% - Modern

Salvador DALI (1904-1989) - 0.4% -Modern

Edvard MUNCH (1863-1944)-0.4%-Modern

Paul SIGNAC (1863-1935)-0.4%-Modern

DONG Qichang (1555-1636) - 0.4% -Old Master

Fernando BOTERO (b. 1932) -0.4% - Post-War

WEN Zhengming (1470-1559)- 0.4% -Old Master

George CONDO (b. 1957)- 0.4%-Contemporary

Sam FRANCIS (1923-1994) - 0.4%-Post-War

Alighiero BOETTI (1940-1994) -0.4% - Post-War

Bernard BUFFET (1928-1999)- 0.4%- Post-War

Max ERNST (1891-1976)-0.4% -Modern

Robert RAUSCHENBERG (1925-2008) -0.4% -Post-War

CHEN Yifei (1946-2005)- 0.3% -Contemporary

Maurice DE VLAMINCK (1876-1958) - 0.3%-Modern

Barbara HEPWORTH (1903-1975)- 0.3% - Modern

Pierre BONNARD (1867-1947)- 0.3%- Modern

Donald JUDD (1928-1994)- 0.3% -Post-War

Max BECKMANN (1884-1950)-0.3%- Modern

Tsuguharu FOUJITA (1886-1968)- 0.3% -Modern

Alfred SISLEY (1839-1899)- 0.3%- 19th Century

Laurence Stephen LOWRY (1887-1976)- 0.3%- Modern

Morton Wayne THIEBAUD (b. 1920)- 0.3% -Post-War

Nicolas de STAËL (1914-1955)- 0.3%- Modern

Enrico CASTELLANI (1930-2017) - 0.3%- Post-War

Anselm KIEFER (b. 1945) - 0.3%- Contemporary

Michelangelo PISTOLETTO (b. 1933)- 0.3%- Post-War

GUAN Liang (1900-1986)- 0.3% - Modern

Kees VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)-0.3% - Modern

Francis PICABIA (1879-1953)- 0.3%-Modern

Piero MANZONI (1933-1963)- 0.3% - Post-War

Tom WESSELMANN (1931-2004)-0.3%-Post-War

Giorgio MORANDI (1890-1964)-0.3% -Modern

Günther UECKER (b. 1930)- 0.2%-Post-War

Josef ALBERS (1888-1976)- 0.2% -Modern

Robert MOTHERWELL (1915-1991)- 0.2% -Modern

Rufino TAMAYO (1899-1991) - 0.2% -Modern

Hans ARP (1886-1966)- 0.2% -Modern

Emil NOLDE (1867-1956)-0.2% - Modern

Paul KLEE (1879-1940)- 0.2% - Modern

Jean-Paul RIOPELLE (1923-2002) -0.2% -Post-War

Alexej VON JAWLENSKY (1864-1941)- 0.2% -Modern

Albert OEHLEN (b. 1954)- 0.2%- Contemporary

Frank AUERBACH (b. 1931)- 0.2% - Post-War

Copyright ©2019 thierry Ehrmann –www.artprice.com–www.artmarket.com

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