Digitalization of russian art sales data: the problem of supply-demand mismatch

Abstract

The object of the study is the market of Russian art in modern conditions. Its subject is the pricing process and the factors influencing it. The purpose of this study is a comprehensive economic and statistical research of the Russian art works sales, implemented by testing hypotheses concerning the ratio of supply and demand in the Russian art market. The approach of the research was the group method, variational, correlation and factor analysis, applied in relation to the information base of the research – an open access Internet portal ARTinvestment.RU – the most complete (over 10,000 units) and qualitatively verified data-base of the Russian sales at the art auctions. Two factors were selected to determine the relationships. Two hypotheses were tested for each factor. Firstly, that the number of art works created by one master and exhibited for sale will have an impact on the total number of sales and their volume (physical and cost indicators). Secondly, that the artist’s place in the rating will demonstrate the impact on the number of art works exhibited and sold by his/her authorship. All four hypotheses were tested on the aggregate as a whole and its two halves (before/after the median). The paper formulates the following main original findings. First of all, the prices are higher for the heritage of the older Russian masters. At the same time, the more works of Russian artists are sold, the more they are bought; thus, the consumer demand for the Russian art is unlimited. Moreover, this trend covers not only the old masters works sales, but also the sales of the works of the living authors. However, the increase of the prices for their own works leads to the change of our contemporaries-compatriots tactics, namely, they decide to put up fewer works for the sale, thereby hoping for a more rapid increase of the price. This turns out to be a serious strategic mistake for the art market of our country: in the conditions of the limitation of the full selection of art works, for example, for the collection formation, the demand begins to stop.