by The Frieze Art Fair’s big tent in Regent’s Park should at least keep visitors dry as the art world descends on London this week for the annual event, which comes amid one of the wettest autumns on record. But outside the marquee, London’s art world faces fierce headwinds.
There has been a gloom over the state of the capital’s art market over the last 12 months ahead of the 21st edition of the fair, which has now spread to four cities around the world and brings week-long celebrations as well as sales.
Several galleries, including the 80-year-old blue-chip institution Marlborough, have been forced to close, leading to layoffs. Brokers have also struggled: Christie’s auction sales fell 22% in the first half of 2024, while the Financial Times reported that Sotheby’s core revenue fell 88% (an auction house spokesperson told the Guardian that the FT report was the same). “context” was missing, including the significant investments the broker had made in its flagship locations of New York, Hong Kong and Paris).
This environment has led some commentators to say that “troubled times lie ahead,” while the Wall Street Journal declared that the “art market is in shambles.” A more subtle FT claimed that there had been a “market slowdown” in the lead-up to Frieze.
At the start of this year’s trade fair at the Royal Academy, RA managing director Axel Rüger was in a defiant mood. “London, despite what the newspapers say, is still one of the most important art capitals in the world,” he said. “We need to be proud and hold on to this before these other art fairs and capitals elsewhere try to encroach on our turf.”
While the saber rattling sounded ironic, there was a serious point underlying his comments.
Rüger didn’t mention any other fair by name in his opening speech, but that was because he didn’t have to: everyone knew he meant Art Basel Paris.
Since its launch in 2022, the event has become a new contender among European art fairs. London currently accounts for about 17% of the art market, while Paris accounts for about 7%, with both countries behind the US and China.
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“I think there is room for two cities that can be great together,” said Frieze director Eva Langret, who along with Parisian director Clément Delépine has denied any rivalry. “It’s a different offering, you don’t see the same artists when you go to Paris.”
Asked whether the emergence of Paris would harm another European trade fair, Delépine recently said: No, but Brexit has “enabled the emergence of a second European capital” as the UK’s tax rules make it a less attractive place for the trade fair buying and selling works.
Gus Casely-Hayford, the director of V&A East, who has attended all 20 previous editions of Frieze, says the “Paris vs London” narrative is misleading. “If you look at something like London Fashion Week or Paris Fashion Week, there are some designers who choose one or the other,” he said.
“But that helps give each of these different fashion weeks a certain local flavor, and that’s likely to continue to happen as the offering in Paris increases.”
London’s cheerleaders regularly point out its uniqueness (art schools like Central St Martins, established galleries, international outlook), but it’s not just Paris and Brexit that pose a challenge to the capital’s art sector.
Clare McAndrew, founder of consultancy Arts Economics and author of the annual Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report, said the main reason for the market downturn was the decline in high-end sales: those multimillion-pound deals for blue-chip companies Pieces that have become a staple of London auction houses.
She said: “When you talk to dealers, they say that at some larger trade shows people are comfortable spending five and six figures, but when it went over a million they were a little more cautious.”
This hesitation was seen across the market, with negative headlines and uncertainty caused by various conflicts around the world, high interest rates and a pivotal US election giving buyers pause.
As one dealer recently said, “It’s a psychologically stressful time, and I think that’s affecting the psyche of the art world too.”
However, McAndrew believes some of the headlines about the decline of London and the art market are largely premature. “I don’t want to sound like an old grandma, but I’ve seen it a lot worse,” she said, adding that it’s the lack of mega sales that’s affecting the general market.
“Frieze offers a wonderful balance of different prices and different galleries between fairs,” she added. “So it covers a lot of different values.”
Whether buyers are cautious or confident, Frieze appears to be a much-needed pick-me-up for a market that has lost some of its feel-good factor after a year that has been a disaster for many.
