Artworks by Ladies Vastly Undersold at Public sale
A brand new survey by on-line artwork gross sales platform Artsy discovered that works by feminine artists accounted for simply 6 p.c of all works offered at public sale between 2012 and 2022. The inaugural Women Artists Market Report moreover discovered that of the 5 hundred most costly works offered at public sale within the decade-long interval, solely fifty had been by girls, and none of these had been within the “most costly” class comprising the most expensive prime fifty works. The $332 million generated by the gross sales of the fifty most-expensive works by girls artists—amongst them Georgia O’Keeffe, Louise Bourgeois, Mary Cassatt, and Frida Kahlo—was lower than the $344 milllion whole yield of the 2 most-expensive works by male artists, by Andy Warhol and Georges Seurat. Yayoi Kusama was discovered to be the best-selling feminine artist of the previous ten years, with gross sales totaling $762 million; against this, gross sales of works by best-selling male artist Pablo Picasso throughout the identical span raked in $5.2 billion.
Figures for 2022 had been barely brighter for girls. The proportion of labor offered at public sale by feminine artists rose to 9.3 p.c that yr; these gross sales accounted for $1 billion of the overall $11 billion public sale market. The determine reveals a 195 p.c improve over 2012 gross sales of works by girls, which amounted to $350.6 million.
Different indicators of progress final yr included sturdy illustration by so-called ultra-contemporary feminine artists (these born in 1975 or after), who accounted for 44 p.c of works offered. To interrupt it down additional, girls artists born in 1985 or later created 65 p.c of works offered in 2022. Attaining comparatively excessive gross sales alongside the younger had been the lifeless: Late feminine artists achieved whole gross sales of $477 million, up 109 p.c from the $228 million they reaped in 2012. The 2 teams had been strongly represented among the many feminine artists who set public sale data in 2022, with Njideka Akunyili Crosby (b. 1983), Avery Singer (b. 1987) representing the previous and Barbara Hepworth (1903–1975) and Leonora Carrington (1917–2011) the latter.
