Art Auctions Research Articles

Misattribution stigma and contagion: How did the art auction market react to Australian “Black art scandals”?

AbstractIn 1999, two major stories hit the media concerning the authenticity of artworks by two of Australia’s leading Indigenous artists. The incidents were quickly tagged as ‘Black art scandals’, with the artists disavowing production of the artworks in question. We theorize the market impacts using the lens of stigma, given that, in the art market, uncovering fakes and forgeries may create a panic among buyers of an artist. Our proposed mechanism is that negative media attention about works misattributed to an artist stigmatizes the artist’s name and their artworks. We also note the potential stigma transfer to other artists in a style or genre (category-level contagion). Our results show a decline in the clearance rate and some weak evidence of a fall in the value of sales for auctions occurring after the news stories broke. We suggest stigma as a lens for future work in cultural economics.

Social signals predict contemporary art prices better than visual features, particularly in emerging markets

What determines the price of an artwork? This article leverages a comprehensive and novel dataset on art auctions of contemporary artists to examine the impact of social and visual features on the valuation of artworks across global markets. Our findings indicate that social signals allow us to predict the price of artwork exceptionally well, even approaching the professionals’ prediction accuracy, while the visual features play a marginal role. This pattern is especially pronounced in emerging markets, supporting the idea that social signals become more critical when it is more difficult to assess the quality. These results strongly support that the value of artwork is largely shaped by social factors, particularly in emerging markets where a stronger preference for “buying an artist” than “buying an artwork.” Additionally, our study shows that it is possible to boost experts’ performance, highlighting the potential benefits of human-machine models in uncertain or rapidly changing markets, where expert knowledge is limited.

Two-step model based on XGBoost for predicting artwork prices in auction markets

Art markets globally have grown, making artwork an investment of note. Precise valuation is pivotal for optimal returns. We introduce a two-step model with a two-level regressor, utilizing extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) for accurate artwork price prediction. The model encompasses a price-class classifier and regressors for individual categories. This captures diverse factor influences, combining predictions to reduce misclassification risks. Visual features further enhance accuracy through the second-step two-level regressor. Experiments on Korean art auction data demonstrate the superiority of our two-step model with the two-level regressor over one-step and two-step alternatives, as well as the hedonic pricing model. While visual features affected one- and two-step models’ training, they boosted performance when integrated into the second-level decision tree, reducing first-level residuals. This emphasizes the two-level regressor’s efficacy in incorporating visual elements for artwork valuation. Our study highlights the potential of our approach in the field of artwork valuation.

머신러닝과 통계 모형을 이용한 미술품 가격 예측

The art market is comprised of complex cultural, economic, and social characteristics and has recently received a lot of attention. Art transactions are carried out in a variety of ways, of which art auctions account for a large portion. We collected auction data on Post-War and Contemporary Art artists born after 1920 from Artnet and implemented an art price prediction model. In addition to the hedonic price model commonly used in existing studies, price prediction performance was compared using various machine learning models such as regression model, random effects model, regularization model, tree-based model, and SVM. To compare various machine learning models, RMSE and MAE were compared using two cross-validation methods. As a result, the nonlinear random effects model using author information showed the good performance. The impact of explanatory variables on price was analyzed using the optimal model. In addition, we were able to obtain price curves of various patterns according to the passage of time for each author. Among machine learning models that do not use author information, Bagging showed the best performance. As a result of measuring the importance of variables through Bagging, it was found that the size of the work had the most influence in predicting the price, followed by the artist's year of birth, the method of painting, the material with which the painting was painted, and the year of production.

Art in times of crisis

AbstractWe trace the long‐term performance of the UK art market across a broad set of crises: world wars, economic recessions, financial crises, inflationary periods, and changes in monetary policy. By means of digitalized historical auction archives, we construct art price indices from the early twentieth century onwards and disclose that annual art auction value grew, in real terms, more than seven‐fold over this period. The arithmetic annual real return and risk amount to 3.6 per cent and 20.1 per cent, respectively. Art returns plummeted at the onset of wars, but turned positive in the second half of wars when they outperformed stocks, suggesting that art was seen as a safe haven in times of political turmoil. During wars, smaller – and thus more transportable – paintings obtained higher returns. Art returns are sensitive to economic and financial crises, with the largest slumps occurring during the Great Depression, oil crisis, recessions of the early 1980s and early 1990s, and the Great Recession. We also document changes in art preferences for paintings’ sizes, schools, liquid art, and artists’ nationalities across crises. Art enters a broad optimal asset portfolio both in non‐crisis periods and during war times.

Investment Policy Impacts on the Australian Aboriginal Art Market

AbstractLegislation designed for one purpose may have unrelated side effects. In this article we examine the impact of recent changes in the application of the sole purpose test for artworks to be used as assets in retirement funds on the Australian Aboriginal art market. This is important since art sales represent a significant source of non‐government income for remote Australian Aboriginal communities. In this article we estimate the impact of this change and others on the price index based on the hammer prices paid for 13,555 works by 187 artists at art auctions from 1994 to 2019.

아트테이너 현상 연구

The purpose of this paper is to examine the changing characteristics of the art world and popular culture in the 21st century by tracking entertainers who are also active in the arts, also known as “arttainers”. The results of this study showed that most “arttainers” are young singers or actors with no academic art background, while 24% are art majors from prestigious universities. They are mainly active in commercial venues such as art fairs and galleries in Seoul and the Seoul metropolitan area, as well as in art auctions, NFTs, and home shopping. Their works are highly popular in the market and command high prices. Most of them participate in “group art exhibitions,” which are a kind of casual art event, but some celebrities consistently introduce their works at famous galleries and well-known art spaces. In addition, celebrities declare themselves to be “artists” without having participated in any specific art activities in their their public career. On the other hand, “arttainers” also present their works in spaces with a strong artistic character, such as art museums, art centers, and biennials, and are active in various charitable activities. In addition, a significant number of established artists present their works together with celebrities, forming an intersection between the art world and the entertainment world. In this way, this paper is significant in that it examines the characteristics of the 21st century art world and popular culture by analyzing “arttainers”.

Contemporary art from the Global South in the art auction market from 2020 to 2022

In recent years, emerging artists from the Global South have garnered substantial attention in the art market. This study seeks to examine the market value and ecosystem evolving around these emerging artists by analyzing the sales results of 51 artists between 2020 and 2022. This research aims to establish patterns linking unprecedented sales results with exhibition history and highlights the essential network required for these artists’ commercial success. The study reveals that the emergence of artists in the global art market results from a deliberate effort by a network of stakeholders. Our exhibition database led us to a group of 438 stakeholders who promote this sample of artists. By examining artists’ origins, backgrounds, and careers, this study provides context for analyzing the impact of artistic migration on artists’ visibility, the importance of being promoted by a variety of specialists, and the surge of African artists in the global art market since 2020. Our findings indicate that the structure of the art world has shifted toward a decentralized global art market characterized by a diverse range of actors and inputs dispersed globally. This diversification has disrupted traditional power structures in the art world, opening up new possibilities for emerging artists from the Global South, thereby contributing to a more equitable and inclusive art market.

Growth of Art Auction Houses in India in the Last Decade

Art Auction Houses are companies that allow the buying and selling of sought-after art pieces and collectibles. Today, the popularity of auction houses is growing at an extraordinary speed all over the world. There are a plethora of reasons for this fast growth. Some of these are access to popular and desired artworks, transparency in demand and pricing, and a simple purchasing process. In the last decade, India has seen unparalleled growth in art auction houses with a rise of about 265%. In addition to the boom in sales, the prices of the artworks have almost doubled.

Auctioning institutions in China: economic and legal aspects

Motivation: China is now the third largest art market in the world, and thanks to its long history, the country is able to offer a great artistic heritage. Chinese auctioning institutions have become one of the most significant in the world, having a massive global impact on art pricing. By establishing their sales infrastructure in new locales ahead of the traditional mechanisms of primary market commercial galleries, the Chinese auction houses have played a foundational role in the notional construction of new genres of art.Aim: The main purpose of this article is to present a detailed analysis of Chinese auction houses and other auction institutions, with regards to the economic and legal aspects of their operation. The article is cross-sectional, showing how China has become the fastest growing art market in the world. The analysis provides evidence for the existence of various factors that determine the dynamic development of the Chinese art auctions market and determines the differences in the functioning of Chinese and Western auction houses.Results: These results illustrate that exceptional economic and political factors made it possible to significantly develop the Chinese auction market in a very short time.

부르디외의 장이론으로 본 NFT 아트의 가치 정립

This study aims to gain insight into the reasons why art auction houses actively accept NFT art from a socio-cultural perspective. Drawing on Bourdieu's field theory, the auction house is viewed as an actor, and a qualitative case study on Seoul Auction was conducted. The study reveals that Seoul Auction does not simply introduce NFT to the field of art, but instead refracts it through an expert selection system commonly used in that field. As NFT art gains recognition in this field, Seoul Auction accumulates symbolic capital, which contributes to preserving its dominant position in the field of art. At the same time, Seoul Auction also faces a symbolic struggle against new platforms attempting to enter the field of art by trading NFT art. Furthermore, Seoul Auction is engaged in a symbolic struggle to legitimize NFT art transactions taking place outside the field of art through the media. The analysis of the acceptance of NFT art by auction houses contributes to a better understanding of the stratified order among actors in the field of art and the linkages between this field and the broader society that surrounds it.

A Few Notes on Art Auctions

Abstract The art market, following the example of financial markets, is divided into a primary market, where works are traded directly from artists, and a secondary market that is mainly the auction market. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and galloping inflation have influenced the creation of a bull market in artwork. The high incomes of some buyers and inflation have influenced the emergence of the so-called ‘glittery’ art market. Works by neglected artists have ‘very much taken on a life of their own’: fantasy art, works by young poster artists, casting ‘nightmares’ – have been selling well for more than a year. People terrified of inflation are putting their money ‘in works of art’. The auction market dominates the primary market because anonymity makes it easier to enter the art market. The gallery market does not guarantee this anonymity. Very often, the auction market for works of art is used for money laundering. The purpose of this paper is to show that auction mechanisms are a good tool for the efficient allocation of goods and money in an area of galloping inflation and most art auctions are asymmetry.

A Few Notes on Auctions: The Boom in the Asymmetric Art Auction Market

A Few Notes on Auctions: The Boom in the Asymmetric Art Auction Market

An Evaluation of Reputation Using Online Auction Data for a Group of American Watercolorists

To understand the relation between artistic reputation and sales prices from popular online auction sites, we analyzed over 3,000 online auction sales of 87 American artists who had expertise in watercolor using the websites eBay, LiveAuctioneers, and EBTH. Traditional indexes of reputation were measured by museum placements, as well as archival holdings, and book references and we also included the number of Instagram mentions. We used hierarchical linear modeling to investigate the relation of reputation with average prices as well as price trends over time, controlling for individual painting characteristics such as size and medium. All of our artistic reputation indicators, including number of Instagram hashtag references, were positively related to the average sales price per artist. Our results extend the literature on the role of artistic reputation to account for social media via Instagram, as well as provide one of the first empirical investigations of popular online art auctions.

Space for seduction: the redefining of auction houses’ role in the art market

ABSTRACT Technological and socio-economic changes have forced organizations in the art sector to redefine their function in the market, to strengthen their relationships with consumers and to appeal to a more heterogeneous consumer audience. The physical space of art organizations constitutes a major tool for them to attract and communicate with customers. Based on a multiple case studies approach, this article explores how art auction houses have rearranged their physical space in order to create an intended customer experience based on seduction. Our study contributes to Consumer Culture Theory research by illustrating how both the tangible and intangible features of the spatial setting are orchestrated by managers to facilitate an intended consumer experience. Space is organized in such a way that a heterogeneous customer base can co-participate in the game of seduction, and the artwork maintains its role as a catalyst of the experience.

Social robot advisors: effects of robot judgmental fallacies and context

The role of social robots as advisors for decision-making is investigated. We examined how a robot advisor with logical reasoning and one with cognitive fallacies affected participants’ decision-making in different contexts. The participants were asked to make multiple decisions while receiving advice from both robots during the decision-making process. Participants had to choose which robot they agreed with and, at the end of the scenario, rank the possible options presented to them. After the interaction, participants were asked to assign jobs to the robots, e.g. jury or bartender. Based on the ‘like-me’ hypothesis and previous research of social mitigation of fallacious judgmental decisions, we have compared participants’ agreement with the two robots for each scenario to random choice using t-tests, as well as analysed the dynamical nature of the interaction, e.g. whether participants changed their choices based on the robots’ verbal opinion using Pearson correlations. Our results show that the robots had an effect on the participants’ responses, regardless of the robots’ fallaciousness, wherein participants changed their decisions based on the robot they agreed with more. Moreover, the context, presented as two different scenarios, also had an effect on the preferred robots, wherein an art auction scenario resulted in significantly increased agreement with the fallacious robot, whereas a detective scenario did not. Finally, an exploratory analysis showed that personality traits, e.g. agreeableness and neuroticism, and attitudes towards robots had an impact on which robot was assigned to these jobs. Taken together, the results presented here show that social robots’ effects on participants’ decision-making involve complex interactions between the context, the cognitive fallacies of the robot and the attitudes and personalities of the participants and should not be considered a single psychological construct.

Empirical evidence of anchoring and loss aversion from art auctions

We provide evidence for the behavioral biases of anchoring and loss aversion in paintings sold at auction. We find that anchoring is more important for items that are resold quickly and that the effect of loss aversion increases with the time that a painting is held. This evidence contributes significantly to the empirical evidence of the endowment effect: of increasing loss aversion with the length of holding. However, we do not find evidence that investors can take advantage of these behavioral biases.

NFTs and Value

NFTs and Value

NFTs and Digital Art

NFTs and Digital Art

Situating Conceptuality in Non-Fungible Token Art

Situating Conceptuality in Non-Fungible Token Art