Pandemic Paints New Era for Art Market
By: Geneva Bass The advent of the novel coronavirus initially paralyzed the global art market. The first half of 2020 saw fine-art auction sales crumble over 50% and the contemporary art market lose 36%, both scraping record lows. However, the global art market and the auction scene’s swift market orientation paired with a low-interest-rate environment, inflationary monetary policy, and consolidation of wealth quickly fueled a historic rebound for the largest unregulated financial space in the world, the art market, despite the global economy’s continued Covid-induced distress. The global art market’s nimble adoption of online auctioning proved critical. 2020 heralded a…