A new survey by online art sales platform Artsy has revealed that works by female artists accounted for just 6% of all works sold at auction between 2012 and 2022. Women Artists Market Report further found that of the five hundred most expensive works sold at auction during the decade, only fifty were by women, and none of them were in the “most expensive” category comprising the fifty most expensive works. dear. The $332 million generated from sales of the fifty most expensive works by female artists – among them Georgia O’Keeffe, Louise Bourgeois, Mary Cassatt and Frida Kahlo – was lower than the $344 million total return of the two most expensive works. more expensive. by male artists, by Andy Warhol and Georges Seurat. Yayoi Kusama has proven to be the top-selling female artist of the past ten years, with sales totaling $762 million; in contrast, sales of works by successful male artist Pablo Picasso during the same period brought in $5.2 billion.
The numbers for 2022 were slightly brighter for women. The percentage of works sold at auction by women artists rose to 9.3% that year; these sales accounted for $1 billion of the total auction market of $11 billion. The figure shows a 195% increase over sales of works by women in 2012, which stood at $350.6 million.
Another sign of progress last year was the strong representation of so-called ultra-contemporary female artists (born in 1975 or later), who represent 44% of works sold. To break it down further, female artists born in 1985 or later created 65% of works sold in 2022. Achieving relatively high sales alongside the young were the dead: Late female artists achieved total sales of $477 million , up 109% from $228 million. they collected in 2012. Both groups were strongly represented among female artists who set auction records in 2022, with Njideka Akunyili Crosby (b. 1983), Avery Singer (b. 1987) representing the former and Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975) and Leonora Carrington (1917–2011) the latter.
