Decoding the art of online buying

The most noteworthy development in online buying in 2019 lay in the affordable art segment. There was a surge in the sale of artworks priced under ₹5 lakh—a total of 907 were sold last year through over 43 auctions, according to the Artery India Annual Market Report 2019. The report, to come out in February, features collated data on sales available in the public domain. Though a sizeable number of works in this segment were acquired by dealers and mid-market operators with the intention of reselling within the short term for minor profit margins, this sharp increase in count—up from a mere 363 works sold in the same price slab in 2018—is also indicative of the rise of early-grade collectors and younger art buyers, as seen from interactions with sellers, including auction houses, galleries, dealers and artists. With traditional investment avenues yielding disappointingly flat results, entry-level investor-collectors are now turning to works valued at less than ₹2.5 lakh—considered the entry tier of the art market trading sector.

The Artery India Knowledge Report, which is part of the annual market report, further validates this trend. It states that between January 2017-December 2019, all-time high price records were established for 169 artists—figures for 68 of them stood at ₹10 lakh. Clearly, this is indicative of a widening pool of interest, and of growth in the second and third tiers of the asset pyramid.

However, things don’t seem so buoyant for online buying and selling overall. The 2019 report reveals a slide in the turnover of online sales—it is pegged at ₹203.4 crore for 2019, down from ₹338.3 crore in 2018. This despite the fact that the number of works traded online had increased significantly in 2019—from 814 artworks in 2018, to 1,319.

The collective turnover for the year also declined from ₹704.2 crore in 2018 to ₹591.07 crore in 2019, predominantly due to an extremely sluggish year-end closing, with the final three months recording a lacklustre performance.

The leading artist in turnover from online sales was S. H. Raza, with ₹39.1 crore from the sale of 23 works. In fact, the most expensive work sold online in 2019 was from a lot featuring two acrylic on canvas works by Raza from 1976. This realized ₹13.8 crore at the Saffronart Spring auction.

In terms of online turnover, Raza was followed by V. S. Gaitonde, with ₹21.06 crore, though this was from the sale of eight works. The artist with the distinction of having the highest number of works sold online in 2019 was F.N. Souza, with 94 works that fetched ₹20.4 crore.

Astaguru retained its position as the top auction house in the online domain with a turnover of ₹102 crore in 2019, though there was significant drop in its performance from the previous year. Saffronart held the second position in online sales, with sales totalling ₹72 crore, from its previous year’s total of ₹109.08 crore.

Modernists continue to rule the roost online, clocking ₹175.6 crore from 947 sold works. However, the category has witnessed a slide—in 2018, it recorded a turnover of ₹285.1 crore from a comparatively lower work count of 574 objects.

A similar trajectory can be seen in the contemporary segment. Last year’s sales of ₹12.76 crore were realized from 449 works. This is a steep decline from ₹19.8 crore in 2018, which came from less than half the number of works.

There has been a sharp drop in the turnover of works by female artists. In 2019, 173 works fetched ₹8.43 crore, compared with ₹24.07 crore in 2018 from 98 sold works. The singular reason for the triumph in 2018 was the presence of works by Amrita Sher-Gil. A single canvas of hers sold for ₹11.98 crore, and three works on paper did well too. In 2019, the late artist marked her presence with only four works, which sold online for ₹67.6 lakh. In fact, the most expensive work by a female artist to be sold online in 2019 was bindis on plywood titled Folie by Bharti Kher, which sold for ₹91.08 lakh, followed by an oil on masonite by Anjolie Ela Menon, which got ₹73.9 lakh.The three leading female artists in 2019, in terms of turnover, were Menon, B. Prabha and Kher.

Arvind Vijaymohan is CEO of Artery India, an Indian art intelligence firm.