Shanghai's Art Market Flourishes

Image: The 11th edition of ART021 showcased over 160 galleries and institutions from 16 countries and regions, presenting a collection of over 15,000 artworks valued at more than 3 billion yuan ($414 million). Photograph courtesy of shanghai.gov.cn

Highlights from the Fifth International Artwork Trade Week

The Fifth Shanghai International Artwork Trade Week, held from November 9 to November 13, demonstrated a robust recovery in the city's art market, according to recent data released on Wednesday.

The event, comprised of over 100 art fairs and 30 auctions as part of the annual Artwork Trade Week, underscores the municipality's ambition to position Shanghai as a premier global trading hub for art.

During this year's iteration, two flagship art fairs, namely West Bund Art & Design and ART021, transpired from November 9 to 12, exhibiting on a larger scale than in preceding years.

David Chau, co-founder of ART021, expressed surprise at the more favorable outcome, stating, "We had hoped to witness a steady recovery in the market for this year, but things turned out much better than we expected."

The 11th session of ART021 featured over 160 galleries and institutions from 16 countries and regions, showcasing more than 15,000 pieces of artwork valued at over 3 billion yuan ($414 million). The fair attracted a daily footfall of more than 40,000 visitors and achieved record-breaking sales exceeding 1.2 billion yuan.

Chau highlighted ART021's constructive decade in nurturing the market, with many potential collectors transitioning into avid art buyers. He remarked, "Shanghai is actively growing into an important art center of the world, and I hope the city's art market would keep growing to reach 100 billion yuan in the next 10 years."

Opera Gallery, participating in ART021 for the second time this year, showcased creations from iconic artists such as Marc Chagall, Fernando Botero, and Chu Teh-Chun. Gilles Dyan, founder and chairman of the gallery, expressed the gallery's awareness of Chinese audiences' interest, noting that they had already shipped paintings from their galleries in New York, Paris, and Hong Kong to the Chinese mainland.

Dyan, encouraged by the enthusiasm of the Chinese market, expressed his hopes of opening "maybe more than one new gallery in the Chinese mainland" in the near future.

The other major fair, West Bund, marked its 10th anniversary this year, featuring an unprecedented 185 exhibitors, including 54 newcomers. Over the past decade, the West Bund area in Shanghai's Xuhui district has transformed from desolate industrial relic sites into one of the most dynamic art communities in Shanghai, housing institutions like Long Museum, Tank Shanghai, and West Bund Museum.

At West Bund, Swiss bank UBS presented key findings from its recently published Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2023. Marina Lui, head of wealth management, China, UBS Global Wealth Management, highlighted Asia's strong resurgence in art buying post-COVID, fueled by substantial spending, particularly from Chinese mainland collectors, surpassing Europe and the United States in certain sectors.