Country for PR: United Kingdom
Contributor: PR Newswire Europe
Monday, May 13 2019 - 21:57
AsiaNet
Artprice: Sculpture, the Medium of Tomorrow
PARIS, May 13, 2019 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

Le Messager 
The Abode of Chaos collective work / thierry Ehrmann - Rémy Teulier 
[https://imgpublic.artprice.com/img/wp/sites/11/2019/05/le-messager.jpg]

thierry Ehrmann: "Apart from commemorative statues that can be found in nearly 
all the towns and cities in the Western world and elsewhere, big cities have 
always been fond of large and monumental sculptures in public spaces. In New 
York there are works by Robert Indiana, Alexander Calder, Jean Dubuffet and 
Pablo Picasso, while in Paris you can find works by César, Daniel Buren... and 
soon, Jeff Koons."

Indeed, considering the number of works that have occupied public places in 
major cities, either temporarily or permanently, it is not surprising that some 
have elicited controversy... and sometimes, quite heated. In recent years, 
France – and Paris in particular – has been the setting for a number of art 
controversies such as those surrounding Paul McCarthy's Tree (2014) on the 
Place Vendome, Anish Kapoor's Dirty Corner (2015) at Versailles and Joep Van 
Lieshout's Domestikator (2017) in front of the Pompidou Center. 

The sheer size of these monumental works often adds to their "shock effect" as 
they dominate the local urban or landscaped environments. Arman's sculpture in 
Beirut, Espoir de paix (1995), a 32-meter-high concrete tower containing dozens 
of real tanks, is a good example. 

There are more and more spaces devoted to sculpture around the world: permanent 
exhibition sites, such as the Gibbs Farm (http://www.gibbsfarm.org.nz/)in New 
Zealand or Naoshima and Teshima Islands (http://benesse-artsite.jp/)in Japan, 
as well as annual events such as Frieze Sculpture 
(https://frieze.com/sculpture-2018)held every autumn in London. 

Thanks to these new opportunities in places designed specifically for the 
purpose, sculpture is definitively liberating itself from architecture and 
painting.

Sculpture on the Art Market

Collectors have long been intimidated by a medium that is more complicated to 
display, store and transport than two-dimensional works. However, between 2003 
and 2008, the volume of auction turnover generated by sculptures multiplied 4.5 
times. In just five years, worldwide sculpture sales on the secondary market 
rose from $245 million to $1.1 billion. 

Stalled by the financial crisis, sculpture sales immediately recovered and then 
enjoyed two particularly good years in 2014 and 2015.

thierry Ehrmann, Artprice's CEO and founder, explains: "The sculpture market is 
moving in the opposite direction to dematerialization: in a world of 
almost-instant flows of information, images and money, the massive weight of a 
steel or bronze sculpture has greater significance. 

"For centuries, drawing and painting dominated the Art Market for practical 
reasons; but it is perfectly normal to see sculpture returning to the forefront 
today. A 3-dimensional work expresses greater freedom, and, in the 21st 
century, logistical considerations are much less challenging."


Global auction turnover from 
sculpture[https://imgpublic.artprice.com/img/wp/sites/11/2019/05/artprice-sculpt
ure-en.png]


Kitsch leads Contemporary sculpture market

On 15 May 2019, one of Jeff Koons' three 1986 Rabbit sculptures will be offered 
for sale at Christie's in New York with an estimated price range of $50 – $70 
million. This exceptional 1-meter high stainless steel work (from an edition of 
3, plus 1 artist's proof), is arguably Jeff Koons' most iconic work, and 
perhaps Contemporary art's most iconic work as well (at least insofar as 
Contemporary means post-modern, conceptual or its less intellectual 
brother-in-arms, kitsch...).

Six years ago, Jeff Koons became the most expensive living artist on the Art 
Market with his Balloon Dog (1994-2000). The orange version sold for $58.4 
million on 12 November 2013 at Christie's in New York. It is unlikely that 
Koons will recover his "most valued living artist" title; to do so, his Rabbit 
(1986) would have to fetch over $90.3 million, the amount paid for David 
Hockney's Portrait of an Artist (1972). However the piece may well revive the 
Prince of Kitsch's market, as well as all the Contemporary Art as a whole.

Alberto Giacometti, the undisputed leader

The top three prices ever recorded at auction for sculptures were all hammered 
for works by Alberto Giacometti. With three results above the $100 million 
threshold, Giacometti is one of the most expensive artists in history and, 
without a doubt, the most successful sculptor on the secondary market.

But how did his L'Homme au doigt (1947) reach $141 million at Christie's New 
York in May 2015 when there are five other versions of the same work (plus an 
artist's proof)? In price terms, sculpture's reproducibility is often seen as a 
weak point, but the same characteristic can also be its strength. Because 
owning a work like L'Homme au doigt (1947) is to share a work with the greatest 
museums in the world, including the MoMA, the Tate Modern and the Des Moines 
Art Center.

Brancusi dominates 2018

Measuring just 55 cm high, Constantin Brancusi's The Sophisticated Girl 
(Portrait of Nancy Cunard) (1928) was acquired for $71 million on 15 May 2018 
at Christie's in New York, propelling the Franco-Romanian sculptor to the 
forefront of the global Art Market. It was the year's best sculpture result and 
the 8th best Fine Art result in all categories.

In 1927, the "Brancusi versus the United States" trial marked a major turning 
point in Art History. For the former US Customs Service, Brancusi's sculptures 
were not, strictly speaking, artworks... but the trial forced the authorities 
to broaden the notion of an artwork. Ninety years later, not a shred of doubt 
remains: Brancusi is celebrated as one of the most important artists of the 
20th century. The American Supreme Court had just defined the 'cognitive value' 
of a work of art.

Artprice and the Demeure du Chaos/Abode of Chaos

In 1999, Artprice set up its headquarters within the Organe Contemporary Art 
Museum, which manages the Demeure du Chaos/Abode of Chaos. This open-air museum 
of 9,000 square meters, both free in spirit and free for visitors, is home to 
5,400 artworks, 720 monumental sculptures (from 5 to 120 tons) with one 
currently being prepared to celebrate its 20th anniversary: a steel sculpture 
weighing 235 tons (measuring 3.33m x 3.33m x 3.33m). 

All the raw steel sculptures on the site have been created by thierry Ehrmann, 
CEO and founderof Artprice, but also a sculptor since 1980, which means 
thirty-nine years of a passion for art that he gladly shares with visitors from 
all over the world.

Copyright ©2019 thierry Ehrmann – www.artprice.com

Try our services (free demo):
https://www.artprice.com/artist/23640/baishi-qi

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About Artprice:

Artprice is listed on the Eurolist by Euronext Paris, SRD long only and 
Euroclear: 7478 - Bloomberg: PRC - Reuters: ARTF.

Founded by thierry Ehrmann (see Who's who certified Biography ) (c) 
https://imgpublic.artprice.com/img/wp/sites/11/2019/03/2019-bio-whoswho-thierry-ehrmann.pdf.


Dicover Artprice in video: https://www.artprice.com/video

Artprice is the global leader in art price and art index databanks. It has over 
30 million indices and auction results covering more than 700,000 artists. 
Artprice Images® gives unlimited access to the largest Art Market resource in 
the world: a library of 126 million images or prints of artworks from the year 
1700 to the present day, along with comments by Artprice's art historians.

Artprice permanently enriches its databanks with information from 6,300 
auctioneers and it publishes a constant flow of art market trends for the 
world's principal news agencies and approximately 7,200 international press 
publications. 

For its 4,500,000 members, Artprice gives access to the world's leading 
Standardised Marketplace for buying and selling art. Artprice is preparing its 
blockchain for the Art Market. It is BPI-labelled (scientific national French 
label) Artprice's Global Art Market Annual Report for 2018 published last March 
2019: https://www.artprice.com/artprice-reports/the-art-market-in-2018

Artprice is associated with Artron Group the Chinese leader in the Art Market, 
its solid institutional partner.

About the Artron Group:

"Artron Art Group (Artron), a comprehensive cultural industrial group founded 
in 1993 by Wan jie, is committed to inheriting, enhancing and spreading art 
value. Based on abundant art data, Artron provides art industry and art fans 
with professional service and experience of quality products by integrated 
application of IT, advanced digital science and innovative crafts and 
materials. 

Having produced more than 60,000 books and auction catalogues, Artron is the 
world's largest art book printer with a total print volume of 300 million a 
year. It has more than 3 million professional members in the arts sector and an 
average of 15 million daily visits, making it the world's leading art website."

Artron's Web: www.Artron.net

Artprice's Contemporary Art Market Annual Report for 2018 - free access at: 
https://www.artprice.com/artprice-reports/the-contemporary-art-market-report-2018


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http://web.artprice.com/video, which headquarters are the famous Museum of 
Contemporary Art, the Abode of Chaos: 
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Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/885863/le_messager.jpg

Contact: thierry Ehrmann, ir@artprice.com 

Source: Artprice
Translations

Japanese