• Join Puck

    Directly Supporting Authors

    A new economic model in which writers are also partners in the business.

    Personalized Subscriptions

    Customize your settings to receive the newsletters you want from the authors you follow.

    Stay in the Know

    Connect directly with Puck talent through email and exclusive events.

  • What is puck? Newsletters Authors Podcasts Events Gift Puck Careers

Fall’s Art Market Awakening

A wealth of new offerings at Christie’s and Sotheby’s aim to rouse the art market from its recent somnolence, with a spate of attractively priced major works in the mid-range. Is the market on the verge of a real rebound, or merely enjoying the artificial uplift of a manufactured narrative?

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
2024 is shaping up to be Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s best year yet on the auction market: In 2023, the British painter saw combined sales of almost $9.25 million, a peak for the artist at auction. Photo: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images
Marion Maneker
September 22, 2024

For some, autumn is back-to-school season. For those of us fixated on the art market, it’s back-to-the-action-house season, with dozens of high-profile art sales spanning multiple continents. Of course, while we’ve had a few art fairs to gauge the current mood, no one ever really knows what’s real or what’s stage-managed by savvy intermediaries, some of whom hold the announcement of private sales in order to massage the market narrative. Especially in these lower-value mid-season sales, the numbers are much harder to analyze. Still, the sales offer some useful directional information. So let’s take a closer look.