Asia Week New York 2023, the first iteration of the event since Covid-19 travel restrictions and bans were largely lifted around the world, achieved over $131 million in sales as the U.S. market for Asian art is beginning to return to pre-pandemic levels.
At press time, 22 of the 26 galleries and five of the six auction houses participating in the event collectively reported sales of $131.2 million, the highest total since 2019, when sales of $150 million has been reported. Last year, auction houses and dealers reported relatively thin sales of $98.6 million.
This 18th-century Korean moon pot sold for $4.5 million at Christie’s in an auction dedicated to Japanese and Korean art. Courtesy of Christie’s
One of the drivers of the dramatic increase in sales this year is that Chinese dealers and collectors have been allowed to attend the event for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic triggered strict closures at across the country. It’s Asia’s first week since China reopened its borders this year, allowing citizens to travel abroad without quarantine requirements for the first time in several years. Earlier this month, the United States lifted Covid-19 testing requirements for travelers entering the country from China. China has the largest art market after the United States, totaling $13.4 billion and representing around 20% of the world art marketaccording to the latest edition of Art Basel and UBS art market report.
This year’s event felt like “going back to basics,” says co-founder Joan Mirviss, who operates a gallery on the Upper East Side specializing in Japanese art. “There is a tremendous dynamism. People come back to New York, but come back with money to spend. They didn’t come here just to watch, they came here to make acquisitions. Mirviss says his gallery has had over 90 sales (some still pending) and has been visited by representatives of at least 27 museums.
Heakyum Kim has also noticed the influx of curators into his gallery, HK Art and Antiques, and says many are looking to expand their institutions’ collections of specialized modern and contemporary Korean art. The United States has the largest market for Korean art outside of South Korea, Kim says, thanks in part to interest from museums. “It was a very successful Asian week,” adds Kim.
“Almost universally I have heard that [every gallery] did well this year and I can’t remember it happening for a long time,” says Mirviss, who has been organizing the event since its inception.
The Ink Studio gallery said it sold several paintings and portraits by Chinese artist Li Jin, including the print The Heart Sutra (2020) is presented here. Courtesy of Asia Week
For this year’s Asia Week, New York auction houses sent out more invitations to Chinese collectors – who usually need to apply for visas to visit the US – compared to previous years. , organizers said.
A rare copy of Katsushika Hokusai’s iconic Under the wave off Kanagawa sold for a record $2.8 million on March 23 at Christie’s New York after a battle between six bidders pushed the price past its estimate of $500,000 to $600,000. The most expensive before Big wave the print sold for $1.6 million in 2021, and this month’s result set a new record for a work by Hokusai – arguably the most famous historical Japanese artist – at auction.
“It was a superb print…definitely the best to go on public sale in the past 20 years. And it was way better than the one that sold for $1.6 million,” Mirviss said of the Big wave to print.
Overall, Christie’s Asia Week live sales totaled more than $6.3 million (including fees), although three online sales are ending this week. Sotheby’s sales amounted to $32.5 million (expenses included), driven by Bulls (1961) by Indian modernist MF Husain, which fetched $2.7 million and set a record for the artist at auction in a sale dedicated to modern and contemporary art from South Asia. Also at Sotheby’s, a jade ceremonial ax from China’s Zhou dynasty sold for more than $1 million, well above its estimate of $400,000 to $600,000. A large gray jade cong from China’s Neolithic period sold for more than 50 times its estimate at Bonhams, for $1.5 million in a sold-out auction of works by the gallery new -yorker JJ Lally & Co.
Fears of a waterfall banking crisis in the middle of Asia Week didn’t seem to dampen spending, according to Marviss, who says some visitors may have shopped to hedge against possible problems ahead. “Maybe people have decided, ‘I’m not leaving my money in the bank, I’m buying something tangible,'” she says.
Recent scandals involving looted art Southeast Asia also didn’t have much of an effect on Asia Week, she says. No gallery or auction sold the material during Asia Week, according to Mirviss, who described the market as “static” due to laws governing the practice.
Sales at Asia Week in New York peaked in 2017, when the collective total of participating galleries and auction houses reached $423.7 million, according to organizers. Sales had declined since then, even before the pandemic, in part due to tariffs imposed on Chinese products by the United States in 2018.
Christie’s will conclude two online auctions this week, while iGavelAuctions will continue to run Asia Week sales online through April.
