The art market in China has achieved extraordinary growth over a 30-year period to become the second largest market in the world. Its two largest local auction houses, Poly Auctions (launched from 2003 to 2005) and China Guardian (founded in 1993) are now ranked as the third and fourth largest auction houses globally after Christie’s and Sotheby’s.
This report, through in-depth research and conversations with key market players, aims to elucidate this phenomenon by presenting an historical review of how art commerce in China started in the modern era and eventually developed and evolved into the market we recognize today. The report includes a survey with leading art collectors in China to show why they collect, what they are collecting, and what they plan to collect in the future.
This report is broken down into five chapters:
• Chapter One provides an overview of the Chinese art market.
• Chapter Two describes how the art market emerged after the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and evolved through the decades in different stages.
• Chapter Three presents a survey of top art collectors and museum owners on their collecting behaviors and plans for their private museums.
• Chapter Four offers an outlook on the market based on conversations with market makers and market participants.
• Chapter Five provides in-depth interviews with key market players including their observations on how the market grew over the past decades and where the market is trending towards in the future.
The report will be launched at the TEFAF Art Symposium with a presentation by Kejia Wu. This will be followed by an interview with Kou Qin, President and CEO of Guardian Investment Holdings Co. Ltd and General Manager of Guardian Art Centre and a panel discussion Collectors and Collecting: The Landscape of the Art Market in China, moderated by Thomas Marks, Editor of Apollo. TEFAF is delighted that the eminent collector, Liu Gang has agreed to 2 join the panel discussion. The TEFAF Art Symposium will take place at the MECC, Maastricht at 10am on 15th March 2018. Registration for the Symposium is via the store tab at TEFAF.com.